Monthly Archives: October 2009

Ch-Ch-Changes….

Posted on October 26, 2009 by LaShawn

We are about a month away from moving into our brand new home. I am very excited about this. Not excited enough to pack up my kitchen yet though. It needs to be done. Volunteers?

Speaking of kitchens. Here is a sneak peek of my yet to be finished kitchen. I think I’m in love!

I have been evaluating things that are working for us as a family and things that are not. My plan is that new changes I would like to make will be implemented in the new house. My thinking is that it will be easier to say, “New House, New Rules”. Some of the changes are small and not that big of a deal. Such as, no drinks, even water, outside of the kitchen. Now that Evan is almost two I am including sippy cups in this as well.

Some of the other changes will take more time to implement. Jason and I have both decided that in the new house our room will be off-limits for the most part. Our room has turned into Grand Central Station. I am not sure how that happened, but it has. That is a major change that will take a lot of reminding on our parts to get that to be a habit. We are also changing our chore system and refining the way we “do school”. The biggest change is going to be bedtime routine for the two littlest ones. We have let them get into some bad habits where that is concerned and it is time to remedy it.

I am so ready for CHANGE!!!!

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Sometimes Quiet is Better…

Posted on October 20, 2009 by LaShawn

I’m a talker.

Anyone who knows me in real life is not surprised by that statement. The running joke is that I came out of the womb talking. Only it isn’t really a joke. I am loud, I talk to myself, and yes, I even answer myself on occasion. I talk back to the news and I sing constantly.

Imagine my surprise when I woke up yesterday morning and in the place of my voice was a squeaky air filled sound. Much like a whisper but with squeaking. Laryngitis has set up residence in my throat.

At first it was quite comical. My mom called me to hear what LaShawn with no voice sounded like. In 29 years this has never happened. I have had my share of sore throats and have gone hoarse after concerts. Silence? Never.

It has been interesting parenting without much of a voice. My children are used to Loud Mom. This Quiet Mom thing has them a little confused. Especially my 3 and 2 year olds. I am using a lot of hand gestures and glares. Thankfully I have a pretty good glare. Since I homeschool my kids I have had to get creative. My older boys can read well so having them read what I am supposed to out loud is helpful as I can only interject when needed. The little ones and I have done a lot of drawing and hands on play that doesn’t involve me talking a lot.

I have learned something through all of this. I yell too much. The fact that I CAN’T yell and my kids are behaving pretty well points to the fact that when I do yell it isn’t doing much good. I am naturally loud so yelling comes way too easily. Mom of the Year, right? I have had to work extra hard to get their attention and calmly squeak out my corrections. Guess what? It works most (of the time).

Once my voice returns I hope I can remember that my kids actually do listen to me….even when it is squeaked out. I am sure my kids will appreciate a little less yelling. I think I will appreciate having to yell less.

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Just me and my boys…

Posted on October 12, 2009 by LaShawn

So, Daddy is away on a trip (that will hopefully get its own post when he gets back). So it has just been me and the boys. The weather here has been cloudy and dreary for weeks now. Seriously, the sun has abandoned Texas. I love the cooler weather, but I would like the sun to return. Any time now.

I tend to be very disorganized and a little scatter brained when my husband is gone. I am not sure why that is. Maybe it is the lack of routine of Jason coming home in the evenings. I am not sure. During this time of disorganization and insanity I sometimes forget to grocery shop (forget=don’t feel like it). So we woke up Sunday morning to a house with no milk, no eggs, no cereal, and no syrup. Mom of the Year anyone? So, I loaded the boys up pjs and all in the car for a bit of a road trip. I love Rudy’s BBQ. There happens to be one near where we are building our new house. They have killer breakfast tacos. Oh so yummy. Who says brisket isn’t for breakfast?

Breakfast in our PJs and a BBQ joint…yup pretty good Sunday morning.

Brodie obviously was digging it…

He stopped just short of licking the table…just short.

Austin was too mesmerized by the hunting program on the TV to realize he ate three tacos….so good.

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Zoo Day…

Posted on October 6, 2009 by LaShawn

As if we needed more reasons to love homeschooling, I have found another. We went to the zoo Friday and it was EMPTY. We got there right when it opened and had the whole place to ourselves for almost two hours. It was awesome. We have a yearly pass and will definitely be making more weekday morning trips.

We had an up close and personal conversation with the gorillas without feeling rushed to move on. If you know Chase, then you know this is pretty much the highlight of his life right here: