living the freeman life

Happy New Year! I love New Year's Day...probably for the same reason I love the first day of school. It's a fresh start. I love making resolutions (and honeslty, don't really get that "down on myself" if I don't keep them). This year I picked out four...and blogging weekly (at least) is one of them. I know, I know...I vowed to do this awhile ago and then got out of the habit. BUT, I'm hoping to actually keep it up.

Today, we continued our tradition of playing board games at the Rogers' house with Nana & Grandad. We ate lots of yummy food and played a variety of games. Adam started us off with a rousing game of BINGO. Here he is calling out the numbers!

 Thought this was a great picture of Nana and Grandad. We taught them to play "Farkle"- a fun risk-taking dice game that we got for Christmas, thanks to Eric's mom. We all have loved it!

Caleb goes back to school tomorrow...which is sad. I've enjoyed having him home. He is such a big helper and loves to play with Adam. Adam goes back on Tuesday. Both boys are sleeping in until at least 7:15am (HUGE improvement from 5:30am like it used to be!). They play very well together 90% of the time. Their favorite thing to do is play "spies" with each other. This usually involves packing their spy bags with notebooks, pens, binoculars, etc. and making up stories. I love listening to them as they chatter downstairs about the various villains they are trying to find and how they are going to apprehend them.

We also just started (as of today) chores and allowances.  We have a wipe off chart for right now (soon to be improved to a magnetic chart just for ease of use) for each of the kids. They have a couple of morning chores (feed cats, put dirty clothes in hamper, etc.), a couple of afternoon chores (homework, straighten room), and a few evening chores (wipe off kitchen table, sweep under kitchen table, etc.). They each have a couple of weekly chores including wiping down sinks, collecting trash, etc. I also included a list of "extras" that they can do for 50 cents a piece if they want extra money. We implemented the system this morning and surprisingly they loved it. They liked having a visual reminder of what they were expected to do (instead of me nagging reminding them). They also loved being able to earn extra money. Caleb opted to vacuum his room (!!) and wash the windows, and Adam chose to wash baseboards. It was amazing to have them as helpers instead of adding it to my "to do" list. No, they do not do it perfectly, but it's nice to see them willing to help out. We did communicate to them that chores and allowances are not related. You do not lose your allowance if you do not do your chores. (However, they can lose privileges). Allowance is used to teach budgeting (i.e. tithing, saving). We'll see how that goes. :)

Caleb showing off his pretty teeth!

"Oooh! Prizes!!"

Adam, the last three years

Caleb- the last three years

 Adam only sucks his thumb when he goes to bed.  He used to suck his thumb way more often, and then he only did it when he was tired and was holding onto his blanket.  Now, he won't even do it unless we are laying him down in his bed.  I usually find him like this at nap time when I have to wake him up.  Sorry it is so out of focus...he hates using covers, but will allow you to pull his "snuggle blanket" (a cheap, thin fleece blanket I got for $2 at A.C. Moore) over him.  That's the blue/yellow plaid thing you see in the picture.

Such a cutie!

Finally finished!

 This week was eventful!  Eric had a GI bug that lasted Sunday night.  Starting Monday morning, while I was working, Adam had a (very short) stomach bug episode. We thought Caleb had bypassed it, but all Monday night, he got it too.  Thankfully, and strangely, I didn't get it. We had a great week following that, and even got to go to Charlotte Friday through Sunday.  Adam by that time had contracted a horrible cold/cough, but was in pretty good spirits during the day.  Here are some pictures from throughout the week!

Miss Chris & Allie-- Can't you tell how much they love each other??

Adam and Mikey (hiding in the curtain's shadows) snuggling.

"She found us!"

"Uh, is this a smile, Mom?"

"I'm having fun!!"

"Look- I'm a monkey!"

"Awww..he's so cute!"

Ribbit, ribbit...

Quack, quack...

 And here are some pictures from their Build A Bear experience the next morning. Caleb made a leapord named Cubby (he wanted to name it Leppy...but we changed it to Cubby).

The new year is upon us and this is when I usually think about what I want to make as my resolution. I can't even remember what last year's resolution was, but I like the idea of a resolution. I like the challenge. I like the freedom of giving it up. (Ha.) There are a few things I want to do differently this year...we are in a new house, our boys are growing up fast, and I feel like there are parts of our life that could be simplified. Therefore, come January 1st, I have decided to TRY (that's the operative word, right?) to:

1) Blog at least once a week and post pics...this is to mainly help me remember what's going on my kids' lives...it is hard to keep up with it all! Maybe Sunday will be my day to do so since it is the least hectic...

2) Find ways to simplify our lives...not just MY life, but our life as a family. This may mean 1) saying "no" to something when we normally would say "yes", 2) decluttering so as to make it easier to keep our house a little more organized (notice I didn't say "clean", but rather "organized"..there's a difference!), 3) menu planning and sticking with it, 4) budgeting, and sticking with it, or 5) not "overdoing it" every day, but rather finding small, simple ways to gradually simplify our lives. I tend to go overboard and think that I have to do it ALL, perfectly, from the very beginning...which means if/when I fail, I tend to give up very quickly because I realize how high my standards are. It is hard to create new habits (or break old ones), so I need to realize that small, simple goals are best.

...I was going to add a third, but I think #2 qualifies for at least 3-4, so I'm gonna stop right there. :)

I love that resolutions give us a chance to start "anew", although I realize that we can do this at any time, not just on January 1st. I can't wait to see what the new year brings! :) Have a Happy New Year!