Town and Cleaning Day

As I was writing the title for this post my mind automatically thought of Town and Country. Funny how our minds do that, eh? Scott and I must be getting old because we were both asleep by 7:30 last night. Missing my nap for a couple days makes me ready for bed a lot earlier than normal and I've found that, although having the kids helping with chores means less work for me physically, it's quite tiring mentally. Always trying to keep one step ahead of them, thinking of more chores for them to do when they ask or start to get too mischievous:). It's been a good week overall. I'll start with Town Day. For those of you who might be expecting pictures, I have to say, "Are you crazy?" I think we'd definitely have some kind of accident if I tried to play photographer while doing errands with all 5 kids;).

"TOWN DAY"
By: The mom

Once upon a time, there lived a mum, not to be mistaken for a mummy, although I'm sure my kids would like to wrap me up in toilet paper some day, that's beside the point and I've just given you the perfect example of a run on sentence:))). So, back to the story...

Our day started at 6:30, yes, you read that right, 6:30. We were up, fed, dressed, teeth brushed, chores done and the majority of our school assignments completed by 10am. We did one final check to make sure that we had everything we needed and we were off for one of our big adventures! Okay, so to some it would just be called "errands", but "Town Day" seemed to hold so much more excitement for the kids.

First stop-Bottle Depot: The amazing place that takes all our old jugs and bottles and gives us MONEY! The kids were VERY excited about this. Elyssia helped me with most of them, but I took Caleb in with the last bag to give him a tour and help him to see what he would be helping with when it was officially his turn. He LOVED it:).

Second Stop-Post Office: We had LOTS of cards and a tax package to send. Caleb was my helper for this one and did an excellent job of putting the stamps on each envelope. He was quite excited, but also took the time to talk to the post office lady.


Third Stop-Thrift Shop: Garrison is growing out of all his shoes and I told him that we would look at the Thrift Shop. We had almost $5 from the Bottle Depot and I let him know that we could get shoes if they cost less than $5. The Lord had them ready ahead of time and he LOVES them. They're size 13, Adidas tennis shoes. They look brand new and they were only $3! Amazing. I've been teaching him to tie them since we got home and he's almost got it. Most of their shoes don't have laces or he'd probably have learned sooner...


Fourth Stop-Grocery Store: I kind of wish that I'd had the camera for this stop. I had Garrison hold Kiersten's hand and Elyssia hold Caleb's hand. Thankfully it worked this time because I told Caleb that we would not go in at all if he refused to hold his "buddy's" hand. He willingly took hold and behaved quite well through the store. I let Elyssia get one of the "shopper's in training carts", you know the ones with tall flags that poke the parents in the face if they walk too close?:) Caleb decided that he would like to sit in it and Elyssia was more than happy to let him. He held the food until we needed the extra room, then walked beside the cart the rest of the way. Thankfully 2 of the kids let me know that they needed to use the washroom at this point and we headed to the back. The kids thought it was amazing to see all the boxes in the back. I didn't know it would be so exciting:). When we walked past the deli, one of the ladies offered them suckers. That definitely made it one of their favorite stops.

5th Stop: Daddy's work. Scott asked me to bring them by so that he could give them "The ROYAL TOUR" of the job he's working on:). This also proved to be quite exciting. They exclaimed that it was cool and that Daddy was doing a good job. Scott had time for his lunch break and played with the kids while I fed Adelaide and took about 15 minutes to rest my eyes.

6th Stop: The Library. My first trip with all 5 by myself. I'm thankful that they all did really well. I let them each pick out one book and we spent the rest of the money from the Bottle Depot. We were there for about an hour, reading some of the books from the children's section. The hard part was when I said it was time to go. Kiersten thought it would be a good time to hide and Caleb thought he might join her. Thankfully Caleb stopped when I gave him "the look", which doesn't always work:). Adelaide slept the whole time, which made it quite easy to pick up Kiersten and head out.

Overall I'd say that they did great on our outing. Caleb and Kiersten slept on the way home, but woke up and stayed that way for the rest of the afternoon and early evening. We read books, finished the last bit of schoolwork and made chicken fajitas for supper. The kids are getting really good(and fast) at doing the dishes. I try to get them to beat the timer, but remind them to make sure that they clean the dishes really well.

The End



Cleaning day wasn't "AS" exciting as town day, but we still had quite a bit of fun. The kids really liked washing the windows and using the vacuum cleaner. We had a Tea Party when we finished, which was kind of a reward for all their hard work, but also something that we'd like to do each Friday and eventually invite friends and neighbors over for as their manners improve. They seem to really like drinking tea and I read a chapter from a book to keep their minds occupied while they're eating. Elyssia was full of questions about what the queen would say if we had tea with her:). Little girls dreams are lots of fun:). Kiersten spilled hers at first, but drank every last drop, then asked for more.

A couple funny things that happened today... I gave Elyssia the task of cleaning around the toilet. She went in there, looked at it, came back out and said, "It scares me!". It stinks. I replied, I know it doesn't smell pleasant, but that's why we need to keep it clean. If we work together and do it more often it won't be so scary:). I think it's mostly because of a certain little boy, but we'll leave it at that...

I showed the boys how to put their tooth brushes upside down with the suction cups. They say they're hanging their "bats" up for the night:). It's hard to get Kiersten to give her toothbrush back. I think she could keep brushing for an hour if we let her.

We've had a very nice week, even with the windy days. The Lord has been good and we've made lots of great memories. I've been asking the kids each evening what their favorite part of the day has been. They surprise me with their answers sometimes. Today, Caleb's answer was, "Cleaning the entryway floor". Garrison's was washing the windows. I think they're enjoying having more play time with me. I know that I am:). Taking more time to enjoy the day together instead of me sending them off to play while I work. It also means less disputes to settle because they aren't often playing out of my sight anymore. I have lots of volunteers to entertain the baby too, which is quite a thing to see. They each have their own connection with her and she enjoys "almost" every minute of it. She often smiles patiently at Kiersten, who is a cheek pincher, and Kiersten giggles when Addy pulls her hair. I'm wondering who Addy will be closer to when she's older. Hopefully they'll all be quite close, but we shall see...

Well, an afternoon nap only lasts so long. I really should go for now. I'm looking forward to visiting with the ladies coming for the Epicure Party tomorrow. Happy Weekend!