Decluttering and the Buzz

Well, nothing like finding a new house you want to buy to get motivated to declutter! We have been toying with the idea of selling our house and moving to a bigger one for a few months now. (We've outgrown the one were in . . . too many kids and too much CRAP!) Well, we went to an Open House on Sunday afternoon, and found an AWESOME house! We've been to look at it again, and we think it's a great fit for our family. Now we just have to sell our house, AND we can't put it on the market until it's decluttered!! So, the spring cleaning has begun at our house! We've been busy this week cleaning out closets, the garage, flowerbeds, you name it! I've been working fast and furious. Hopefully we can get it finished after this weekend so we can get it on the market next week! I'll keep you posted!

Okay, now onto the buzz.

Evan's been at it again!!! I got a call from his teacher during the day on Monday and she proceeded to tell me that Evan had decided to give himself a haircut with his kid scissors. She told me that I would need to go get him a haircut, because he did a number! Aren't kid scissors supposed to be dull? Well evidently, these were sharp enough to cut about an inch width of his bangs all the way to his scalp!

I did take him to get his hair cut, and because it was in the front, the only thing they could do was shave his head! So now he has a buzz cut!! Just when his curls were starting to grow out again!! Oh well it's just hair right?!!! It's actually cute. I kinda like it. The girl that cuts his hair said he looked liked a mini David Beckham. . . not a bad thing!!

I'll post a pic as soon as I can get on my desktop again. It's giving me fits, and I haven't had the time to sit with it long enough to try and figure out what's wrong with it.

Flat Stanley

Well, Ethan's Flat Stanley project is finished!

Flat Stanley is a series of books about a boy that is flattened by a billboard, and his family takes him all kinds of adventures. He can do all sorts of different things because he is flat.

Well, all the third graders made their own "Flat Stanley" and had to take him on adventures over Spring Break. They were encouraged to take pictures, etc. and they had to do a project that described the adventures they went on with Flat Stanley. We did have lots of fun taking Flat Stanley with us various places over Spring Break.

Because we took so many pictures, we decided to make a scrapbook. That's where the fun began. . .notsomuch! Let's just say that my idea of a scrapbook project and Ethan's idea of a scrapbook project were not the same. We did get it finished, and it turned out really cute if I do say so myself. It just took several frustrating hours of trying to get an 8-year-old boy to write descriptively and trying to get him to concentrate on the project instead of what his brother was doing and what he may have been missing out on!

But, now it's finished and the big lesson I learned from this project? Don't wait until the last two days before it is due to do a school project! (You'd think I'd know this by now, but once a procrastinator, I guess always a procrastinator!)

Severe Weather. . .Coming to a town near you!

Well, we had a very exciting and late night Thursday! About 9:30 the tornado sirens went off. We had no idea there was bad weather around. We knew it was storming, but the TV wasn't on and we were trying to get the kids in bed. As soon as we realized the sirens were going off, we tuned into local weather and they said there was a storm with tornados about 30 miles south of us, but that it was heading our way. About that time our satelite goes out. . . of course! The kids are terrified so I got on the computer to try and track it, and Rion called his parents to see if they were getting TV. The boys looked outside and said in a relieved voice, "Well, it's stopped raining, and the wind isn't even blowing anymore! " I thought "Uh oh, the calm before the storm!" I got Aaron out of his crib and gathered the boys up and went into the office. After about 5 minutes in there, the TV came back on and said that the storm was passing over a local municipal airport about 2 miles from our house! We stayed in the office until we knew the storm had passed us and then got everyone in bed.



When we woke up yesterday morning there were reports of heavy damage all around us! The airport had lots of planes twisted and flipped and damage to their hangars. After the storm passed over the airport it moved onto a school complex and baseball fields. The baseball fields were destroyed and the high school lost its roof. This was the same high school my husband graduated from many moons ago. There was lots of property damage to homes as well. Thank God there were no injuries or deaths! We feel very blessed that we escaped this devastation by the hair on our chinny chin chins!



Here are some pictures of the storm:



The ballfields

The airport

The High School

Money in the Bank. . .

NOT!! Try Evan's stomach instead! This lovely event happened yesterday evening about the time the doctor's office was closing. I hear him coughing and crying in his bedroom so I rush back there and he proceeds to tell me that he had a penny in his mouth and accidentally swallowed it. Of course he is hysterical and afraid he is going to die all because he swallowed a penny! I convinced him he was going to be okay. I couldn't get a hold of our pediatrician, so between our Dr. in residence (Rion) and the ever-useful Internet we deduct that it could probably wait until today. We traipsed off to the Dr. today for an x-ray to make sure it had traveled all the way to his stomach (which is where you want it. It would be bad if it got stuck in the esophagus). Our Ped said it should pass. So now we get to monitor Evan's bathroom habits and watch for a penny in his deposits. FUN FUN!! This is the same boy that has stuck a bead up his nose, a rock in his ear, broken his femur, and busted out his tooth! I think I may see a pattern here. . .

Needless to say, I felt compelled to pull out my Bringing Up Boys book by Dr. James Dobson. Great book so far! I've had it on my bookshelf for years. I don't know why it's taken me until now to read it!