Getting children to obey

I am the mother of 7(so far) blessings, and have been in some sense of the word a single mom for a while now. My DH is in the Reserves and is a over the road truck driver, which means he's just not really home a lot.

Over the past 3 months, we've been able to have 1 full two day family weekend-and that was back at the beginning of August. So I am often left to double parent then children and when needed, he is able to talk to them over the phone. It's really a good thing that our cell company offers an unlimited plan.

In the last, oh probably 6 months the attitudes in this house have been just terrible. No one does what they are asked or told to do without some whining/grumbling or complaining. And I am tired of it all.

So next week we are going to begin a program called Bootcamp. More or less they are all going to be treated as if they were in the military-which most of them say that they want to do that anyway. So for the next 6 weeks they will only be able to say "Yes, Mom", "No, Mom" and Yes and No Dad when they see him or speak to him on the phone. Then after some time, once they all understand that this is the way life will be, they will be allowed to appeal or ask questions to the task(s) that they were given.

They are able to speak out of turn in an emergency. Like if I asked someone to change a diaper or bring me the supplies and we were out, or they weren't able to prepare a meal because something was missing.

I am praying that this really works, because they are getting old enough that this is going to effect their work habits later in life and I wand they all to be happy in what ever type of job/career that they seek out.

So for tomorrows game plan, we will not be heading up to my BF's place, the responsibilities that they have all know about since Sunday are still not complete. We are going to complete them and we are now working on a point system, as long as they do everything they are asked/told to do in the next 14 days then we will try to go then. (secretly I will probably go then anyway, but they will not be allowed to what they would normally be)

Please forgive me if there are spelling errors, I am really tired and will proof read tomorrow.

Have a blessed evening.

It looks like I'm going to Best Buy again

This morning Prince A was holding Princess R and she knocked over my coffee cup onto the laptop.

And now it's dead.

Ugggggg.

mid afternoon snack

For the past couple of years I find that around early afternoon, anywhere from 2-5pm I get super sleepy.

I have tried turkey and cheese on crackers, PB&J on bread or crackers, even those Slim Fast bars.

Well last week I was at the Pharmacy looking for fish oil tablets like the ones that I get at GNC, they didn't have anything close. I turned on a different isle and saw the energy bars.

Our Walmart has a rather large selection of single bars that you can get, so I picked a handfull of different companies to try. I got a Zone, one by Kashi, and three different flavors from Cliff Bar.
The Kashi one was gross as far as I am concerned, the Zone would run a very close second on the ick factor. The first Cliff bar was ok, but I don't remember why I didn't like it. I think that one actually had peanut butter and chocolate. The second one was just chocolate chip and it was my favorite, and today I ate the last one called crunchy peanut butter-this one was pretty good. But as I sit here I am finding that I have a funny after taste.

I need other ideas for snacks that are high in protein, because I find that if I eat junk food it makes me feel worse.

Yes, I have had my sugar checked and I am fine. I just think that for me, I get up very early 4.45-5.00am and I am busy all day. Untill about that time of the day, which is quiet time or at least it is supposed to be. Prince C & The Princess both understand that have no problems, it is the older Princes that have a problem with doing quiet activities, they got out of the habit last year, around this time and it's been hard to get them back on track, but they are getting better at it.

He's on his way!!!!!

Well after what looked like he wasn't going to make it home, he is currently on his way. He should be here by probably 10 tonight.

So that means we will get all day together as a family. The best part is that it is Princess R's 1st Birthday!!! Yeah, not sure what we are going to do yet, but it should be a good time together.

Today

Today, well it began with me waking at 4 something, looking out at the moon and really wishing that I could take some photos, it's been hanging out of my bedroom window the past few mornings and is just beautiful.
Just when I thought that I could sneak off to the kitchen I realized that Princess R was awake and looking at me. So I had to grab her and Prince M meets us in the kitchen. We all head to the bathroom, where she gets to tub surf-I don't like putting her on the bathroom floor, I know don't ask.
Today was Prince A's 10th birthday, well it seems that they didn't get any thing done from the night before. So the morning bell went off at 5.30am, Princes J & C were left in bed as J had done quite a bit last night, and with C only being two, I just left him.
They weren't too happy to say the least, but you know what I am getting tired of assigning chores only to have to finish them myself. They are all old enough to do what they are told, when they are told to.
Prince A did get his gifts, a new Lego Star Wars sleep shirt, and an action figure from one of the Star Wars movies, his Great Grandmother called and wished him a happy day and said that his card should be here today-it was and he got $10.00. Which he spent at Barnes and Noble, he got this wonderful little blank journal, that I am sure will end up being filled with drawings and short stores of the Stars Wars nature and a Strawberries and Cream Frappachinio.
I found a new homeschooling magazine-it was the only one that I was able to find, it might not be that new, but it's new to me. Looks pretty good, so far I have only managed to read one article, I am really looking at all the ads.
We did get almost all of our schooling done today, they didn't get Science. I am trying to decide how I want them to do the Radish project from Sonlight Core 3-groups, individually, or just one and we all use just that.
That and I am going to buy a huge storage building that they sell/rent to own around here and make my own little school house. Because I know without question, that if I were to remove all of the schooling stuff from our home, we would have room to move. LOL! It is so funny, we have so many books, games, and other educational stuff that we really just don't have the room to move. It might have something to do with the fact that the house is only 913sq ft.
My friend Deanna, was just looking at one 12x24 and she thought that it was really nice and she too wants to get one to use as a school house. Just pop a little ac unit in for the summer, maybe a little wood stove for winter and we are ready. Eat breakfast in the house, keep the playpen set up for naps for the Princess. Then when I want something I can go well it's over there, not like today when I went looking for something only to remember that it is in town at the storage place-I was in tears, how can I teach them well when I can't keep everything in one place? UGGGGGG. I need to get my act together.

off to the computer hospital it went

Well the new power supplies arrived today and nothing happened. So I loaded everyone up and we went to Tupelo and Best Buy, where they also tried to power it and well of course nothing happened. So 85.00 dollars later it is going to be sent to Louisville, KY-which is funny because neither of the ladies could say it right.
Anyway I guess the only good thing is, I have DH's laptop until he leaves on Mon. Then I am chained to the old desk top.
We need another laptop here at the house. I can't get anything done when I am stuck in one room, while the children are running around.
So my wish list of things to get just keeps getting longer.
Newer/larger van
front loader washer
Digital SLR camera
another Laptop
Macmini
Macbook
iPod classic
iPhone for DH
3500 sq foot addition
pigs to the butcher-this one really needs to be up at the top.
well you get the idea

I've really become spoiled with my laptop.

Yesterday my laptop was knocked off the end couch(I had it opened because I was listening to some music-which is why I need an iPod) and I guess it messed up the power cord. I am praying that is all it is. I quickly searched over on EBay and found two new ones, DH's had died a few weeks ago and well honestly it wasn't placed high on the fix list. Praying that it arrives quickly. Add to the fact that my battery is dead, I bought a new one but something is wrong with it too, so I am sending it back to get it replaced. I am having to use this one and it has been a long time.

Everything about this computer is strange, the keys, the noises it makes, the screen is probably the biggest thing that is bothering me. It is a 17", but it is older and a box. I should look into getting a flat panel then that would make it better.

I am also looking at working our way over to a Macmini in the next few months. I really like the looks of the Mac's and so I am going to start there, well really DH is going to be getting an iPhone this weekend while he's home. I can't wait because I want to play with it before he leaves on Mon, I will probably be getting one also, but I still have a few months before I can make an upgrade.

So our new computer shopping list is looking like this, iPhone, Macmini, iPod Classic, then perhaps a Macbook, I would love to get the Macbook Pro, but we will have to see, if I can get DH to go Apple I know that he would get the Macbook Pro, just because he does a lot more than I do, but ya know maybe if I had a computer that was easier to use the maybe I would use it a lot more than just blogging, reading my different forums, and getting activities for our school.

Off to get the children feed, so that we can start school and I have some dresses that I am making for some ladies.

Have a wonderful day.

Not sure WHY I was trying to start yet another blog?!

What was I thinking?? I really don't know, even though it might say that I have two, for now I will only be posting on this one.

I just spent about 10 minutes trying to find the perfect name for another blog, boy was it hard. There are a lot of titles that I would have loved to use but they were all taken, and then I thought why not try 6toads1princess, it surprisingly was not taken. However, I can not call my boys toads, so what made me think of that in the first place?

Well in the last week they have found several toads, and these toads sound like birds. They are the coolest toads. When I was little I lived in FL and I of course had a little sand pail. This pail was often the home to toads and frogs, but my Mom would almost always tell me to put them all back. She told me a few years ago that she always felt sorry for the one on the bottom, because he/she was usually half dead by the time I got around to setting them all free.

Tomorrow after I pick up my camera from Wal-Mart tomorrow I will share a few pictures that we took of the first one that they had found. He was played with for a little while but then quickly returned to where he was found.

Today as a treat we had Subway, I don't usually get fast food of any kind. But I was really in the mood for a sub. Since there is a Firehouse Subs anywhere close to us, Subway will have to do. It was really good considering it has probably been a year since I've had one.

The rest of the treat will be tomorrow when the children are allowed to have a glass of Coke.

Sometime at the end of December 2006, I happened to catch the movie Super Size Me on tv, and boy did it open my eyes. I decided that in January we would not eat out for the whole month, no fast food and I stopped drinking Coke.

The good news was we made it through the month, I stopped the Coke consumption and lost something like 21lbs. WOOO HOOO!!!!

Better yet was in March we were blessed to find out that I was pregnant with our first daughter. Princess was born 19 Oct and will turn 1 in 6 days, I can't believe how fast this year has gone by either.

So because of that movie, and moving out to the country so much of our lifestyle has changed:
we rarely eat out
drink Coke or really any sugary drinks
eat sugary snacks
drink things with red dye
listen to the radio-we do listen to music, mostly classical, hymns, and other uplifting pieces
we are working on limiting TV to just a few hours a month, including DVD's that are not school related.

I am sure that there are many others but those are all I can think of right now.

It is a family weekend, DH will be home for his first weekend off in almost 3 months. Because he drives a big truck he is always at work, then he also has Drill weekends and because of how they fell he wasn't able to come home every two weeks like normal. But this week he will be home on Friday-we are praying that it is early enough in the day that he will get to spend almost 2 and a half days with us. It is also a very special weekend as Thursday Prince A turns 10, and of course Princess turns 1.

So we will be cleaning like the cleaning service is here, to make sure that the house is nice for DH while he's home. There is a lot to do, not including the projects that I am working on. Part of me just wants to say lets just load up and go somewhere to really have fun with him, but then I know that he probably has a list of things he'd like to get done around here. It should be fun to see what we end up doing.

Off to get everything ready for the boys to get their school work done tomorrow. I am looking at possibly taking them into town for a 4H club meeting on Friday. I don't know that they are ready to do the work though. They have been very lazy with their school work lately and that concerns me. Probably has to do with me being lazy with my work, say a prayer for me that I am able to find my focus and get back on track.

God Bless.

Deanna's family

My friend Deanna and her family, only she's a child short. Where's Emily? You really need a new photo!

I should post the last family photo that we had taken, LOL I am about 5 children short.





Yes I took this from your Photobucket, among other things.

Now Mary knows what you look like. LOL!!!!

ETA: Actually I was pregnant with Prince N, but you probably would not be able to tell except for the dress I had on. It was from Motherhood Maternity, but you probably couldn't tell that just by looking at the picture. I will see if I can find it tomorrow.

Running around outside

The boys are all running around outside, it is twilight and they could careless. Last night they were all there past dark, running in circles around the tent that is set up in the front yard.

We have been so blessed with the current weather, today it did look as though it might rain, but it never did. The clouds would cover the sun, and then the sun would burst through again to say hello, on and off all day.

I would have taken pictures of them playing outside but I still can't find the camera. I am so sad about that. There was something like 90 pictures on it and I hadn't copied them to the computer.
I am still praying that we will be able to find it though. I am going to call Walmart and see if perhaps someone might have turned it in. PRAISE THE LORD they have it!!!!!!!!! I will be going there to get it tomorrow. God is so good.

I think that I am going to work on my Nephew's blanket. I am crocheting it and I have two more scans of yarn left. Then I am going to start a blanket for Rachel, and a quilt for Caleb. Once I am done with those we are going to work on quilts for all of the older boys, but they are going to be the ones cutting their squares and sew the pieces together. Then I will probably do the actually quilting, they will get to try some I am sure.

Today is the day that I can't find the camera

Yesterday we went into town and got some pictures developed and while we were there I was going to look at what was on the camera and try to make a scrapbook page. Well I decided to just come back home and do it from here and just send it to the store.

Only now we can't find the digital camera. I am a little stressed about this as the camera is only about 6 months old and I happen to like it. I am looking at getting a SLR Digital hopefully for Christmas, but until then this is the only camera that I really have.

I also was planning on posting some pictures here today as well. Off to look in the van, maybe I missed it.

Pray for me that we are able to find it and soon.

Cleaning house

What do ya'll think?