My Ruffle Wreath

I started my adventure on needing a new wreath for my door and finding inspiration on Pinterest.  I was bogged down with having to change my wreath for each season or Holiday (but I will not be giving up my Christmas wreath...it's just my idea of the season).  There are many reasons that I came to this conclusion.  One, we move a lot and never know how much storage we have and  two,I am also trying to simplify.
So, one day while on Pinterest, I somehow came upon this wreath.  Well actually, it wasn't the wreath that was pinned, just embellishments.  It was pure genius.  One wreath with different clips (home made hair clips to be exact) for each season.

Now I could store those (or take them from my kids).
So luckily for me there was a link on the page to her tutorial on how she made her wreath.  So I set off to the store to get my wreath and fabric.
So I followed the tutorial and this is what was starting to come together.

I referred back to her original image.  Her tutorial was on a NEW wreath she was creating, not the original.  It was different.  Things were NOT matching up to the original.  So I set it aside for a good week.
After looking at the original wreath and mine, I noticed what was wrong (and I have just realized something new..but it may leave it).  The outside ruffle was laying flat.  She also had the raw edge standing up, perpendicular to the wreath, not parallel.  SO, I took off the outside edge and started over.  I also, had done a little on the inside and thought about making it match the outside ring.
So after undoing and redoing the wreath this is what I came up with..

Now for embellishments.  Currently we are heading into St. Patricks day.  Seeing that my husband is half Irish...we really enjoy showing our (uh hmm...the girls) Irish pride.  So I found these cute felt cloverleafs.

(please note that for my larger clover I used a 1.5 inch heart..it would help if I would go back and read directions before I start a craft)

I set off to get my supplies.
While shopping I found a few other things that I started to think about adding to the wreath. So I have a few questions for all of you reading this...
Do you think I need to do a tutorial?

and

Done?

Done?

Done?

Getting the kids to keep their room clean..no screaming needed (by me that is)

After talking with a few moms about ways to keep our kids room clean I share what has been working for me for quite awhile now.  The feed back I get is, "That's a great idea!".  So I thought I would share it with you.

First let me give you just a little back story..so while the hubby was deployed (I KNOW, it seems to be a running theme) we like to count by weekends. I find the great number of days is overwhelming and somehow doesn't seem quite as bad looking at only the weekends.  Also, the weekends are when his absence was noticed the most, so I tried to make it something fun to look forward to and celebrate, not something to merely count down and be sad that dad is away.
One thing we started was breakfast for dinner.  That is something we just don't do when dad is home.  So we would have omelets, hash browns, cereal or toast (and the cereal was our weekend cereal..the junk cereal!).  The kids loved it and it was one way we got to have fun and do all the things we can't do while dad was away.  So instead of being sad that we have 90 days to go until dad gets home, we say we have only 12 more weekends to have breakfast for dinner.
The other thing we started is Friday Night Movie Night..with pizza!  The girls loved it and it was easy for me to just throw in a frozen pizza and be done after a crazy week.
After the hubby came home Movie Night continued (breakfast for dinner did not) and then after a rough day with the kids my husband said..."The kids don't earn anything they receive".  Now the girls had their things to do, empty the dishwasher, put away any laundry I asked them to, make their beds in the morning and was TRYING to get them to keep their rooms clean, but some days I got a lot of push back.  The bed making had become habit, but the clothes on the floor, stuff not in there homes hadn't yet, but I KNEW they could become habits and this is when my idea was born.
I decided to make movie tickets for the kids to earn and then turn in on Friday in order to watch the movie, to do something fun with the family.  My criteria was it needed to be simple to start, simple to continue and easy for them to see.  I always have these grandiose ideas that become impossible to keep up with due to the demands of raising a young family.
So first I needed to decide how much each ticket was worth.  I decided on 15 minutes per ticket because if you multiply that by 7 days you get 105 minutes.  Most old school Disney movies are 75 minutes ("Sleeping Beauty") and some new ones like "Toy Story 2" are 92 minutes..but others like "The Incredibles" and "Cars" are 115 minutes. I don't get too picky on the time...as long as they earned ALL their movie tickets, but if they didn't earn one..depending on the movie, they don't get to watch the whole thing.  So even if they had one day where they didn't earn a ticket they could still watch a whole move, IF they pick the right movie.

Now ticket design.  I decided I would make them and mount them on their door.  I had thought about making a container to keep them in or hand them out, but that would end up being too hard for me to keep up with on a daily basis, you use them how you want.  So on one side of the ticket would have the picture and the time value and on the back would have the day of the week.  I would hang up the ticket with the day of the week showing, and as I walked by their room, after they left, I would go in and flip it over if it was acceptable.  If it wasn't, I didn't flip it over, and they could see that they didn't earn a ticket that day and hopefully, get their act together.  Most of the time I tell them, that it wasn't acceptable and tell them what I found wrong.  I am starting to do this less and less for Jillian...she's old enough and she knows what is expected (I asked her...she does).  If you look at the picture above you can see that Wednesday didn't get turned around...she didn't earn her 15 minutes that day but turned it around on Thursday.
So I went to google and did a search here for a ticket.  Once I found the image I wanted I clicked on it to make it large (each picture was different so I cant tell you exactly how to do it) but once I had the large image I right clicked and saved it. Then go to word and open up a new file. I selected two columns. Next I went up to insert and selected picture from a file.  Then find where you saved your ticket and keep doing this changing the shape as you go if needed.  Play with it.  After you have all your movie tickets on the page, I then inserted a text box, on to each ticket, where I added "15 minutes"(or how many minutes you want). (Sorry no pictures)
After you have your tickets how you want them, print them and cut them (I used zig zag scissors on the short end).  Now, to find the time to go to a copier store to get them laminated.  You don't have to, you could print them on card stock, but when cutting out, leave room to punch a hole (if you are going to hang like mine).  So if you are having them laminated, have the copy store leave room between the tickets so that you can cut them out leaving a small margin around them and a one short end long enough to hole punch through it.
So after shopping..I mean waiting for an hour, I took home my laminated tickets and cut them out.  I used a straight cut for the long sides and then I used my zig zag scissors on the short ends (again, leave one side a lot longer for the hole punch).

After cutting out the tickets I hole punched them and then found some of my small 3M hooks (I love them..I have used the heavy duty ones to hold a curtain rod in one of houses that had flat walls..no nail holes!) and just quickly put them up on the outside closet door.  My kids doors slide over one another so make sure it is the one on the outside (I have made that mistake before...just wasn't thinking!)  I tried my best to make it straight, but I really didn't want to pull out the level..I just wanted to get it started..it was Saturday..day one of keeping the room clean.
Before I hung the tickets on the wall (now you could do this before laminating..I will tell you why I didn't) I wrote on the back of each ticket a day of the week.  The reason I left it until after is because I may change it for something else, once this skill is ingrained in the kids and I know how to remove permanent marker from dry erase boards and laminated surfaces...want to know my trick?  Go here.  Shhh...don't tell the kids!

Once you have this in place, you deem what is a clean room.  You can make it age specific.  For a three year old, have them just pull the sheets up and the comforter and make sure all their luvies are on the bed.  As they start having success with each task, you can slowly start adding more.  Remember that all kids are different.  My five year old keeps her room cleaner than my 8 year old.  Some of it has to do with amount of stuff (like a desk to keep neat) but some of it, I feel, is a result of early training.  I started training (age appropriate) Jenevieve at the same time as her older sister, Jillian.  As we have gone along I have added some new requisites.  It has spread to their drawers.
I feel like I am teaching some life lessons that are better learned early.  I think it is important that kids learn that I am not going to follow them around and pick up after them forever.  Cleaning and organizing are skills that are learned.  Some people are just that way...and many are not.
I have to tell you that this system has really taken the pressure off (more recently because I stepped back and stopped cleaning their room if it wasn't clean, so therefore they do it while we watch the movie).  Jillian, had only earned two movie tickets (and that was by my grace).  So I warned her on Sunday that her room was not acceptable and I would no longer mention it.  So each day I would go in, and not be able to turn over a movie ticket.  At the end of the week (by Thursday she got it when she saw all the white tickets hanging on her door and cleaned her room) she had 45 minutes.  The expectation had been made but it was HER choice not to meet it.  I was expecting lots of crying and screaming when the timer went off, but she didn't.  She knew that she didn't earn it and I had warned her before the movie started.  Now, I can't say it is always like that, but if you stick to your guns, your kids will clean their room, you will enjoy a movie together as a family and your kids will a learn a skill that will last the rest of their lives.

Discipline Board and Caring board

After one of our wonderful times at MOPS, our topic was discipline.  I have found a hybrid system works the best for me.  As you read the parenting books keep that in mind, it ALL may not fit into your family.

What I took from our discussion and have implemented is my four top grievances.  I also got the two older kids together and talked with them about what they thought were the biggest problems.  These are the four we came up with:
#1: Disrespectfulness
#2: Disobedience
#3: Hot hands (using any body part in anger)
#4: Selfishness

Now that we came up our list we assigned punishments.  This will be different for each family, but you rank your problems and the thing that tops the list with get the hardest punishment.  Make it clear and ask the kids what would be the worst thing and go down the line.  For Jillian one of the worst things is losing her luvies at bedtime, but for Jenevieve, it is going to bed early. So you need to figure out what would be a more driving factor for each kid.  So those are their punishments for our #2 problem.

Once I had the grievances and the punishment I made a board on a blank dry erase chore chart.  I listed the grievance and the punishment below, for each kid.

I put checkmarks up as the punishment is delivered. If they did #2-#4 again that day, the got the punishment for #1. I find my kids are very visual.  For Jillian I used to put faces on her chart when she was little and she couldn't wait until the end of the week to erase it.

I decided that instead of having just a punitive board I wanted to reward them for good behavior.  That positive reinforcement that therapists love to used.  So I made an "I caught you caring" board.

I wrote on a dry erase board with permanent marker (so were the punitive labels) and made a grid with 35 squares.  Each time I catch the kids doing something that I really want to reinforce I tell them I am putting up a puck and why I am.  I never take them away..they earned them!





As for the permanent marker on the board, don't worry you can remove it!

My husband taught me this trick.  All you have to do is rub a dry erase marker over the permanent marker.

  Wipe if off right away.
The alcohol (or something) removes the marker.  If you have areas that don't come off right away, do it again.

I have found that it works for the dry erase marker that was left on too long and doesn't completely come off.





And there you have it.  Take it all, take some, but make it work for you.  Every family, every child, ever phase is different.  Just be consistent.

Laundry Organization

So I love to organize..yes I am weird.  I get great satisfaction from getting my house in smooth running order, so that it practically takes care of itself...well, not really, but MUCH more manageable.  Well, I take for granted that I either know how to do it or implement other ideas well to work for me...there are others, like one of my dearest friends, who I wont mention (but you know who you are), just lack the skill to organize.  I thought I would share today what has done wonders for me in the laundry room.

First, just in case you haven't noticed...I have three girls.  Rewind back to March of 2011, and my husband was returning home from deployment and the two older girls are now only separated by one size.  Sorting their socks and underwear had become quite the challenge these days, but I had gotten used to it.  I knew which color belonged to which girl (most of the time).  With my husband returning and getting my helper back (I have been blessed with the most helpful husband...when he's home.  He will even tell you that he tries to be SUPER helpful when he's home, because he is away so much...I got a good one!) and one thing he does help with is wash and fold the laundry (putting it away is not his thing..so I'll take what I can get and really the girls can do it themselves).
So one day as I am sorting socks and the girls underwear, and getting ready for the upcoming reunion I stare at the socks thinking...this is going to be tough for him.  I am having a hard time how is he going to fare?
So he comes home...

and I actually have a minute to look through one of my Better Homes and Gardens magazines that I had piled up over those months, in hopes that I would get to look through them.  So I grabbed the latest issue and there it was.  The answer to my problem in the March 2011 issue of BHG.

I couldn't wait to get on this project! (now it has almost been a year of using this method and I have to say it has been great).  It consists of mesh bags to collect socks and underwear and a sort station (not that it's a new concept but the bin was the correct size and multi purpose for those like me who move a lot..things have to do double duty depending on space available).
 So I went to Target and picked up a couple of packages of lingerie bags for the laundry.  And deemed a colored ribbon for each girl and got to sewing.

First you have to determine how long you want your bag to hold from you hook.  I ended up attaching the hooks the door of the laundry room because I didn't want my kids reaching for them over the laundry bin and pulling or yanking on them.  So I got my 3M detachable hooks (from a move ago) and first eyeballed how they would look with two over each other.  Once I determined the placement of the hooks (cant be too high or too low) I figured out how long the ribbon should be.

One thing to note is that I needed to have 3 sets of bags on the door so I staggered them.  I put two sets at the same levels on the outside edge of the door and then the middle set up higher (and the oldest child would use this).

I cut my ribbon and slid it through the zipper and pinned so you could see where I was planning my stitch.  My ribbon didn't have sides, but if yours does put right sides together.

You don't need to use the machine but I had it out so I used it.  So I did just a plain simple straight stitch trying to secure the ends with a back stitch (it is not easy for me to use the machine on such a small piece of material).

Once I had finished and turned the ribbon inside out so that the right side of the ribbon is facing out (if you have a right side). Then straight stitch 1/4 inch to secure it again.  This doesn't have to be pretty it just needs to hold.

 Then I ordered the Canvas mega sorter from Land of Nod.  At the time the blue one was out of stock, so I had to wait.  It was so worth it.  I made some quick labels (seeing that only one kid was reading at that time) but trained the girls to put their clothes into each bin.  Whites, colors and darks.

They were to hang their socks in one bag and their underwear in the other.  I am having to change that since some of their underwear is colored and some isn't (same with the socks).  So I am making a colored one and a white one.  You just do what works for you.
This works so well for me because my laundry is on the same level as the bedrooms.  So my kids just get undressed on their way to the shower they sort their own laundry (even Juliet is starting to do it..she's two).  They used to have bins in their room but I would get so overwhelmed with the laundry because all of a sudden I had 5 loads to do.  I got turned on to flylady.net during deployment because I was struggling keeping my house clean and one of her tips is "a load a day keeps the CHAOS (Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome) away".  Boy, with three girls and a husband who's shirt and pants make one load, this was life saving advice.  Now with the laundry sorter, I walk by and can see one of the bins getting full and just throw it in.  If you go back to the first picture of the clothes sorter you will see that my darks are going to need to be done soon and that the whites were just recently done.
With the bags, if it is a white day, I just find the bag that has whites in it, close it and throw it in with the wash.  When I am done I can either be nice and fold it all for them, OR have them do it.  I just hand them the bag.
This last step has saved me so much time.  I would dread doing the socks..I swear it would just be a pile of all these mismatched socks staring at me.  Now I just open a bag and there are only a few pairs to match up instead of a dozen.

I also put a bin in the laundry room for missing socks.  If I don't have it's mate I just throw it in the bin.  The other day I cleaned out Juliet's drawer and found TONS of the other pairs.  So now my sock bin is at it's lowest level but I am sure (with the way my kids leave their socks all over the house..my next obstacle) it will fill up again soon.
You too can be the master of your laundry..happy washing.