Getting into the Christmas spririt

The last several days have been filled with preparations and decorations for Christmas.  I am usually the first one to hop on the "let's decorate for Christmas," bandwagon. But this year, despite having a beautiful new house to decorate, I hadn't been too excited about it.  But then my mother-in-law told me she was going to get rid of her 10 foot pre-lit Christmas tree, and for me, it was free. 

Now, I am definitely a real tree kind of girl, buuuuut, we have a two-story foyer that is just begging for a nice, tall Christmas tree.  Of course, I wasn't going to spent hundreds of dollars on a fake, pre-lit tree, and I we didn't want the mess/hassle/expense of two real trees, so I thought we would just have the one tree in the living room this year and be happy. But, my in-laws made my dream of having two trees come true!  :-) So I set out to decorate it beautifully but cheaply. For several years in my old house, I had decorated in the dining room with just silver and white, so I had collected quite a few ornaments in those colors.  Next, I hit the dollar store and found a bunch more, and some snowflake garland and some pretty ribbon.  It turned out really nice.

So now comes the difficult part; keeping the kids from touching, grabbing, pulling, batting and just generally destroying TWO Christmas trees.  Caleb is not much of a problem.  He might touch now and again, but he's not really destructive.  Quinn, on the other hand, doesn't have the nick name "Quinnosaurus," for nothing.  Needless to say, there have been lots of time outs and lots of smacked hands.  :-(  It is getting better though.  Today is day four and he is was only interested for the first few minutes after he woke up. 

So I am officially in the Christmas spirit. The trees are decorated, the stockings are hung, andthe presents are (mostly) bought.  Looking forward to a little more shopping, some cookie baking, and spending time with friends and family soon. 

Merry Christmas everyone!

Re-decorating

Well, as promised, I am taking my job more seriously from here on out. Yesterday we had a successful trip to the grocery store, no meltdowns and no fighting! Yay!   This morning the boys and I have spent our time moving the computer desk, printer, file cabinets, etc out of the "office," and moving in the toys!  We are converting our small front room from an office into a playroom.  I think this will be great for the boys and for me.  Right now, we have a storage ottoman full of toys in the living room, and all the other toys are in their rooms.  So, whenever they are in the living room, Caleb wants me to turn on the T.V.  I am certainly a fan of T.V., but not all day long.  I usually let them watch about an hour in the morning and then one show before nap, and one show before bed.  If I let him, Caleb would watch it constantly. 

So, now they have a place to play with their kitchen, the easel, and we are going to set up a little spot in the corner for reading books.  I just need to find some pillows and/or cushions.  Hmmmm...  Not sure where/how to get those. We might decorate a bulletin board and the window too, what the heck.

Patience is a Virtue (I don't seem to have)

I've always known I wasn't the most patient person, but lately I've come to realize I don't seem to possess an ounce of the stuff!  Why can't my kids just listen to me the FIRST time I ask/tell them to do/stop doing something?  It really would make life easier.  However, this is not likely to happen, at least before they turn 30.  So, how do I learn patience?  Hmmm.... that is what I have been trying to figure out. 

So far, I have discovered I can learn something from my children.  I need to take more cues from them and go with their flow.  Not mine.  I have to give up my idea of how the day should go, and plan it around them.  This is not easy for me.  I came into this whole SAHM thing thinking I would have more time for things like laundry, picture albums, Christmas cards, etc.  I am finding out this is not true.  (And if anyone says I told you so I will scream).  I am discovering this is a whole new kind of job.  It's not "watching," the kids while my husband is at work.  It's not "hanging out," with the kids all day. It actually requires a lot of planning and yes, patience.  So far, I believe I am failing miserably at both.  Our days have been peppered with whining, nagging, yelling, time outs, and frustration. But I think I may be figuring out some things for myself.  Some things that are going to help me "turn this ship around," as someone I know often says. I am going to try this new approach, treating this like a full time job.  The pay isn't great, but the rewards I will receive, are more than worth the effort. 

So, here goes nothin'.  I will keep you posted.