Whew, it's been kind of busy 'round here, but it's not really going to get any less busy this week, so I decided to get up early so I don't miss posting this week.
Here's what I loved about last week (May 7 - 13th):
1. Allowance. We actually started this LAST week, but I forgot to write about it, so I'm including it now. Since Ira is 6, we decided to start giving him an allowance of $1 each week. (I know, inflation, sheesh, when I was little, I got a quarter a week.) A friend's book review got us talking about it awhile back. We liked her idea of dividing out the amount amongst jars, so here's how we have Ira doing it: 4 jars; one for tithing that has 8% written on it; one for charity with 2% written on it; one for saving with 50% written on it, and one for spending with 40% written on it. We give his allowance to him in change and he has lots of fun (and good math practice) divying it up between the jars. Our hopes are that this starts him down the road to a good understanding of money and finances and that this makes it easy for him to tithe as he becomes older and the amounts grow larger.
2. Rubyisms. Ruby has been wearing disposable diapers a lot lately (rash issues, stink issues with the cloth diapers) and the other day she kept asking for "Buzz Affinity Beyond" wipes. It took me the longest time to figure out that that's what she was saying. Although we normally use cloth wipes, we do have a tub of wipes that has Buzz and Woody (who she is VERY familiar with because of Ira's toys) on it. What cracked me up is that "Infinite Beyond" wipes actually sound like they could be a real product.
3. "Motshell." or "Muhshell" Another Rubyism. One that I love to hate. She's been calling me by my first name lately. Don't know what wild hair made her decide to try that (although with her personality it doesn't really surprise me.) Not a habit I want to encourage. At first I told her that I would listen to her when she called me the right name, now I've taken to ignoring her request until she calls me the right name. And you know what, she gets it. She'll correct herself now when she notices me ignoring her. Even just over the last few days I've noticed her doing it less. Thank goodness!!
4. Watering system. Andy had the genius idea of running pipe underground from our well head to our garden (so that there doesn't have to be a hose strung over the ground that we have to move every time we mow or need it elsewhere.) Let me tell you, it is the most awesome system. He ran pipe to the garden, but then also ran it across the front of the garden and put a pipe and a valve up to each bed. All I had to do was run a soaker hose through each bed. Now we can turn each bed on and off individually. It is a really nice system! My hubby is so smart!
5. Mother's Day. Andy and the kids REALLY exceeded my expectations this year. They treated me like a queen, letting me sleep in, fixing me french toast and orange juice, spoiling me with sweet, thoughtful presents (several new varieties of Stash DeCaf tea, new hotpads and oven mitts, dark chocolate, and a homemade trivet and poem from Ira), letting me take a nap in the afternoon, and taking care of bedtime/cleaning up duty so that I could watch the series finale of "Desperate Houswives." I know, seriously, I watch that crap. It was such a nice, relaxing day. More than anything, I just felt blessed to be a mom to two sweet, precious, amazing kiddos here on earth.
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| Love sweet Ira's face in this picture. He probably hugged me and told me "Happy Mother's Day" no less than 50 times during the day. |
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| My new trivet (which I'll hang to avoid scuffing/fingerprinting up any more) and my poem which reads: "My mom is Michelle She likes to cook She always talks Sometimes she plays with me The best thing about my mom is that she is my mom." |
