My last blogger post!

This is my last blogger post....

But have no fear!

I will be back in a few days, with a new, improved blog 2.0...with Wordpress!

 

I am making the switch tonight with the help of my dear friend Courtney and her awesome hubby Matt.  I have a temporary theme all set up and will be using that until I design my "dream theme" in a few weeks.

 

I am excited for this switch for many reasons, but mostly the fact that this means my little blog is getting bigger!  I will be having my own website as well: www.ourthreepeas.com.  Yay!

 

Blogger has been good to me and was an excellent platform to begin with, but I am anxious for bigger and better things!

 

My goal is to get everything switched over tonight and then tweaked tomorrow, ready to go live for Friday!  So bookmark my site now...it's going to be epic :)

 

Never ever ever {link up}

 

I orginally wrote this post a week or so ago, but knew it was perfect for this one-time link up with one of my favorite blogs, A Complete Waste of Make-up.

 

The theme is things you would say "never ever ever"...and this is my "mommy" version.

 

 And now for your reading enjoyment...things no mother would ever, ever say!

 

We've all seen this type of e-card...the ones that end on "said no one ever...". I can be easily amused so these crack me up. Most e-cards do. In fact, if you check me out on Pinterest my ha ha funny! board is chock full of these!

See? Funny.

As a mom, there are about a million of these I could write....

"Sure! I LOVE cleaning all that pee around the potty every day!" said no mother ever.

"The best part of my day is when my kids are suppose to be tucked in bed and sleeping, but instead I am repeatedly telling you to get back in bed." said no mother ever.

"Waking up before the sun rises is the best. ESPECIALLY when it's on a weekend!" said no mother ever.

"I just can't wait to sweep after every.single.meal because a meal isn't complete until I've had to spend 30 minutes cleaning up after it" said no mother ever.

"I love talking to myself. Please, continue to ignore me." said no mother ever.

"Yea, I totally want to wipe your bum after you've pooped. It's the best." said no mother ever.

"Please spill that juice on the carpet I just cleaned. It looks better stained." said no mother ever.

"Don't forget to squeeze half the toothpaste on the counter while you are brushing your teeth!" said no mother ever.

"Would you stop being so quiet?" said no mother ever.

"Why aren't you fighting with your siblings?" said no mother ever.

"Yea I wasn't watching that show, I'd much rather watch Mickey Mouse." said no mother ever.

"I love having no social life." said no mother ever.

Yes, continue to leave a giant mess in every room because I live to clean." said no mother ever.

"No, no, no...you don't have to eat that meal I prepared and cooked for over an hour. Why would I care?" said no mother ever.

I could go on and on...I should write a book; but that would allow me to focus on me, and why would I want that? said no mother ever...

Mission: Be a Better Mommy {part 2} CHORE CHARTS

A few days ago, I ranted on about how my kids can be a$$holes and that it was my fault.  Part one of my mission was the Toy Jail, to try and teach the peas the concept of responsibility and to eliminate the stress of me constantly having to ask, beg and plead them to pick up there toys. 
**UPDATE: So far, not a single toy has been sent to Toy Jail.  They have been picking up their items promptly.  I have seen some sabotage though!  Hannah had purposely tried to leave one of her sibling's toys out for them to go into toy jail!  What a brat!  I didn't fall for that trick! Hopefully, they will continue to pick up their crud on their own.

For many months, I had been wanting to make the kids chore charts.  FINALLY I finished them.  I was going to do a long tutorial on them, but they didn't quite turn out as nice as I would've liked, which is fine by me, but I don't want to share a long tutorial on something that doesn't look perfect!  I will give a quick synopsis on how I made them, though.

I wanted them to be magnetic, so I bought three thin sheets of magnetic metal (not all metal is magnetized so be sure to check!) and mod podged scrapbook paper on top,  I allowed the kids to pick what ever kind of paper they wanted.  I then bought three cheap frames and placed the metal inside of it, sans the glass.

 

I then glued the kids names and "to-do" and "all done" on them.  Afterwards, I made the chore magnets.  I used a thick foam board and glued the chore on the front and the magnet on the back.  I also mod podged the front of the chore "buttons" so they didn't get dirty.

 

 

 

The part that didn't quite turn out the way I wanted was that the paper kind of wrinkled some when the mod podge went on.  You can see it on Hannah's more because of the color.  The kids don't mind and I don't either.  I hung them in the hall way by the kid's rooms.

 

I made the chores be fairly basic, for now.  Some of them are the same for all three kids and then I have some other special chores that I rotate between the kids so they all take turns having a chance to do them.

 

The chores I chose for all three were:

make bed

clean room

put toys away

put clothes in dirty basket

homework & reading (just reading for Hannah)

 

The "special" chores are:

feed Biscuit

water inside plants

water outside plants

vacuum couch

get mail

sort laundry

dust living room

dust bedrooms

wipe down cabinets

 

So far, so GREAT with the chores.  The kids really like doing them and have been makng their beds without me even asking!  If they finish all their chores in a day, then they get to pick a reward for the next day, like stay up a few (and by a "few" I mean like 5) minutes later, a quarter for their piggy bank, extra tv/computer/phone time, or dessert after lunch. 

 

The end goal is for them to move their chores all on their own, with little intervention for me.  On our busier days, I haven't pushed them, but they are really taken to wanting to help out.  Hopefully I can keep up with it, so they will continue to be successful with them!

 

I want my kids to understand the meaning of "helping out" and to grow up to be well-rounded, kind people....and not selfish jerks.  This is a good step! :)  Don't want your kids to grow up to be jerks??  Make them help you around the house, it builds character.

 

Sunday Social #4 {link up}

  It's Sunday again and that means its time for Sunday Social!   This week's theme appears to be about rebellious childhood behaviors so this one may not be too interesting, haha, because I was not a rebellious child. I was a good girl :)  But we can give this a whirl, because it's fun to take a stroll down memory lane.   Did you sleepwalk as a child? No, but my brother did!  It was funny.  Thankfully i did not and my kids don't appear to much, but on occasion have come out of their beds and been walking around like weirdos.
Did you ever try to run away or sneak out of your house? Again, no.  I never snuck out once.  My mom was fairly lenient with us, and I hung out with a good crowd so that was that!  Bored yet?? My son did try and leave us once.  He wanted to go on a plane and go to Massachusetts and see his cousins so he packed all his crap and walked out the front door...then promptly turned around and came back in crying. Poor kid!
Did you have any imaginary friends? No...I was cool and had REAL friends. haha
Did you ever go toilet papering? Wait for it....no!  Why the heck would I want to do that??  BUT I do remember a time that my high school friends and I had eaten at The Outback (I think?) and had leftover steaks.  On the drive home in my friends awesome van, the boys decided to pull over, open the door and throw their steak at someone walking down the street- what dicks we were!  But, let the record show: I did not throw the steak.
Did you ever sneak tv shows you weren’t allowed to watch? Ummm...who wasn't allowed to watch Save By The Bell and Dawson's Creek??  No, I never had to sneak a show in.    Ok...yes, I was a good girl but here were some things I DID do:   - skip my last class in high school to go get dairy queen (I was already 18 so I could just sign myself out AND my last period physics teacher didn't really care, as long as I brought him back a blizzard too- yes, you read that correct: I skipped class, got DQ and then went BACK to school!)   - Throw the best-to-date New Year's Eve party sophomore year.  My mom came home to some one throwing up in the snow on the front porch and all's she said was to have it cleaned up before she got home a few hours later- best.mom.ever!)   Annnddd...I can't think of anything else! Hopefully all that great behavior will be passed on to my kids.  For sure with Abby...probably for Jake, but Hannah will probably answer "yes" to all above questions.   Were you a well behaved child??  Hopefully because Karma is a b*tch!

Mission: Be a Better Mommy series {part 1} TOY JAIL

Here's something you don't always here a mother say (but I'm sure most think from one time or another): My kids can be such a$$holes.  Seriously!  I mean, I love them to death, but honestly, they can be such little shits some times.  Their teacher's would say I was crazy since they are perfect little angels all day with them, but at home with me it's a different story.  They used to be so much nicer a few years ago: they listened more, almost always cleaned up after themselves, ate most of their food.  Now, they argue with me about everything, barely eat their dinner, demand dessert after every meal, and I have to practically scream at them to get them to pick up their crap. 

Don't get me wrong, I know kids who are WAAAAYYYYY worse than my kids, so I'm not complaining too much, but their behaviors have been less than desirable lately and it's time for me to fix it.  And by fit IT, I mean fix MYSELF.  Any parent that is having behavioral issues with their kids, whether it be major or minor, needs to look in the mirror because it is NOT the kid's fault; it's OURS.  Our kids are born ready to learn and soak up the world like a little sponge and how we parent directly correlates to their behavior and attitudes towards society.  There are a million types of discipline methods and I am not here to say what is best for your family.  I do know that I am not happy with how my kids have been acting so I am on a mission to try and fix it!

I have been trying to think about why my kid's behavior has changed and I have discovered two changes: one (and the more major one) is my lack of patience.  Blame it on being stuck at home with three kids day in and day out with very little time away, or just the daunting repetitiveness of all their demands.  Maybe it's the lack of adult time or all the driving and rusing around we have been doing.  Perhaps it's a combo of it all.  I love being a stay at home mama but it certainly isn't easy, but that's not a good reason for me to be slacking on my job.  I need to find more patience and find it NOW.  The second thing is my oldest daughter has been more trying than usual, and I know that comes with her getting older.  She is an amazingly smart and wonderful girl.  She is an awesome big sister and so helpful to me. She can also be a whiny brat and major pain in the you-know-what when she wants.  That's another issue for another time though.

Back to the mission at hand: being a better mommy.  Being a better mommy means not raising little shits that are going to be assholes when they grow up: not demand things from society, not understand that hard work pays off, not be spoiled brats and not just to "expect" things to be done for them.  This concept (and Pinterest, of course) is what sparked my first step on my mission.

I decided to finally make that awesome "toy ransom" box that I pinned AGES ago.  The concept behind the box is to stop all the asking, pleading, and in my house, yelling that comes along with trying to get your kids to pick up their things and put them away. 

The rules are simple:
- Mom sees a mess, gives the kids a warning to please pick them up and put them away.
- After a period of time, one that mom sees fit, if said toy(s) are still out, mom places toy in Toy Jail.
- In order for child to get their toy back, mom will chose a chore from the list for child to do.
- There are no re-picks, you get what you get.
- If it is a cleaning job with "spray" (like cleaning the front of the fridge) MOM sprays, because it's fun to spray and this chore isn't suppose to be fun!
- Once the chore is complete, child gets toy back.
- If there are unclaimed toys in the box after a week, they get donated.

Here is my box.  I found this cute little poem at Just Another Day in Paradise

 

My list of chores are:

Clean the tub

Pick up the dog poop

Rub Dad's feet for 5 minutes

Clean the potty

Clean the kitchen floor with a cloth

Wipe down the front of the fridge

Wipe down the garage door in the kitchen

Pick weeds in the backyard

Pay mom a quarter from your piggy bank

Brush Biscuit for 5 minutes

Clean the kitchen chairs

Do 25 jumping jacks

Clean your sibling’s room

Shake out the kitchen rugs

Shake out the kid’s bathroom rugs

Clean all the doorknobs

Wipe baseboards in kitchen

Wipe baseboards in living room

Wipe baseboards in hallway

The genius of this box is it's simplicity.  One warning, no yelling, begging, nagging. They don't clean it up? Into the box it goes!  Sure they may throw a temper tantrum but that doesn't bother me.  I am hoping that this box helps to bring back some of my patience because my blood wont boil so much when no one listens to me. Also, they were learn the all-important lessons of RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY.

 

To go along with this "responsibility" lesson is the chore charts I made for my kids. I'll share those in my Mommy Mission, part 2 on Monday.

 

I don't know about you, but I cannot WAIT for the first kid to leave a toy out and I hope the chore is "pick up dog poop": that'll show them I mean business!

Happies and Crappies #8 {link up}

Is it Friday already?
That week went by fast!!

This week was busy as usual....I don't know why I always say YES to everything!

Happies:

- I have been up to my eyeballs in helping to plan my kid's school carnival put on by the PTSA...thankfully this event is TONIGHT!  It will be fun but I won't lie that I'll be glad when it's over! Then I will have a week reprieve before it's onto teacher appreciation week and then a helping with the preschool ice cream social for their annual art show...is it summer yet??

- Yesterday was "Take your child to work day" and the kiddies go to spend the morning with Daddy at work.  They did noodle art, toured the kitchen and storage areas and got to have a yummy lunch.  It was fun and they really enjoyed themselves!

 

 

Cute huh?

- I have managed to run almost a week straight on the treadmill...which is quite a feat!  Mind you, none of these runs are more than 3.5 miles but that's because it's pretty much the most I can do without losing my mind.  This is also a huge accomplishment since I haven't had a day without the kids.

- We went to the Pima County Fair this week, and despite spending a flipping fortune, the kids had a blast and are starting to get braver on the rides.  It will be good practice for Disney in the fall.

- In preparation for my big switch to Wordpress this next week, I have been searching high and low for a theme I want.  Finally after consulting with some friends last night I have decided to settle on an "ok" theme for now and then in the summer really plan one that I want.  This way I can take my time and not be rushed :)

- Yesterday I did a guest blogging for Totsy and I am so excited for it!  It seems that people really liked my writing and I am hoping they ask me back again and that this opens more doors for me in the future. You can read my post here.

Crappies:

- Still no date night...hopefully some day before I have gray hair, Mr. Pea and I can have a nice night out together...with no kids!

- A very good friend of mine is going through a not-so-easy time in her life right now and I wish I could do more to help!!!  Unfortunately, in this situation, there is literally nothing I can do, except be a good friend and listen.  I am praying for her daily and hope that she gets the good news soon that she deserves <3

How was your week??  Hopefully you had more happies than crappies!!

It's ok Thursday! #3 {link up}

 

Remember this Thursday...

 

It's ok...

 

- to eat half your kids pasta at take your child to work day...you know they aren't going to finish it anyways!

 

- to run over a random kids foot with the stroller by accident at the fair because you were mesmerized with the chick at the fair wearing FUZZY PURPLE SOCKS AND MATCHING SLIPPERS. Wtf?

 

- to eat a mini fried dough alone at the above stated fair and not share with your kids because:

 

- to be so excited for your writing to be "published" on a big-named blog!!!

 

- to make everyone you know comment on the blog so it looks popular!

 

- to do shorter runs on the treadmill because you can't bare doing a longer one! (4 miles is my MAX)

 

- to feel completely overwhelmed with my upcoming move to Wordpress!

 

- to not be satisfied with ANY theme you have found thus far :/

 

- to long for a vacation...even though there are none in the near future.

 

- to be obsessed with strawberry-banana-yogurt-chia seed smoothies

 

 

What's ok with you today??