Six Down, Five to Go

Notice how the numbers flipped there and suddenly there is more weeks behind us than in front of us. The stores are filled with school supplies and I am already getting phone and email messages from the school. (Which is annoying because I have two kids in there and I always get two calls and two emails. Good thing we sent June to another school.) I know there is still some summer left, so we better enjoy it while it is here.

And we plan to, by George. In fact, Tyler took off the end of this week, which totally disrupts our normal schedule, but we have planned some other fun activities that should keep the girls quite content. Plus, the added bonus of having Dad for anything always makes it exciting.

I apologize that I am not going to finish up last week for a while. The kids went to their movie, dutifully, but I stayed home and put together bags of homemade ice cream to take to Girls' Camp. Well, it was more milk than ice cream, but with the help of salt, ice, and a whole lot of shaking, it was a scrumptious treat. It was really fun to go see the girls at camp. They were moved from our normal camp location because of fires, and they were roughing it a little more than planned. But the leaders were amazing and the girls seemed in good spirits. The food was fantastic and out ward's skit was the best of the evening, hands down. It is exciting for me to think that my girls are only a few years away from getting to participate.

Friday, we did do a craft, but I am not sure where it is going in the house. So, you get pictures when I find our project a home. Plus, it almost didn't happen because some mom was VERY cranky on Friday. (Don't ask me why...it was just one of those days.) I haven't been that out of sorts for a while and I am glad it was only 24 hours of unbearable me.

But this week has dawned clear and sunny (disposition wise, because it actually rained some today. Yay for rain, though.) Daisy is four (as evidenced by earlier birthday post) and we are back to the schedule. I really feel like I should make Daisy work more now that she is older, but it is hard enough getting three kids to finish chores, that I find it easier to turn on Diego for Daisy while I hound the older three. I am sure that something isn't fair here, but that it just the way it is. Don't worry, when school is back in, Daisy will suddenly stand out because she will be top dog still at home. I am sure I can find her some tasks to do.

Today we deep cleaned the kitchen. There is so much that could be cleaned in the kitchen that I simply took four problem areas and assigned each child to one. Let's look at the before and after shots, shall we?

Robyn tackled the top of the fridge.

Really that means I needed to get rid of some stuff and dust. And of course dusting is not the right term since kitchen dust is greasy. I sent her up there with some 409 and a cloth and I was impressed with the results. You can't tell, but those cereal boxes and sitting on a very clean fridge top.

June cleaned out my red box.

It is one of those places where I put things that have no home. It is possible that some things still don't have a home, but at least they aren't in the red box anymore. (They are just somewhere else in the house where I will probably find them and put them back in the box. Yes, I know myself well enough to see this coming.) June was frustrated since she spent the majority of her time asking me, "Where does this go?" over and over again.

Daisy does not clean so well, but she is really great at taking things out. So I had her empty the Lazy Susan.

Mainly I wanted to attack all the crumbs in there. Since we stash cereal in that cupboard, there was a nice mix of Honey Buzzers, Coco-Roos, and Crunch Berries wandering around. (Please don't judge...I already have mentioned several times that breakfast is NOT my forte.) Plus, I don't think I have ever wiped out the Lazy Susan and we have lived here...long enough that that is really gross. But now it is crumb free.

Lastly, Ivory helped me organize the utensil drawer. Wow, it was not looking good.

I would always have to search deep to find my small measuring spoons. But no longer. There is still plenty of stuff crammed in that drawer (I could really use two) but now it is much more organized.

So happy Monday. I hope you got something checked off your list. And make sure you plan something fun to do this week. We are on the down side of summer. It is all one big slippery slope from here.