01/05/2013

1.  Work day!!  We did a bunch of stuff.  Picked up the house, swept the floors, put all the Christmas boxes in the attic, swept out all the leaves from the front courtyard (Joseph did this-- big job!), mowed the lawn (Brigham did this), and grocery shopping.  Hmm, that doesn't seem like all that much now that I write it out, but it took all day.  This year one of my goals is to have the menu planned for the week so I don't have to make more than one grocery run, and so our meals can be better planned and organized.

2.  The boys helped with chores, as well as spent a fair amount of time on the computer, especially Brigham and Mosey.  They were working on Rosetta Stone, which is fine, but there was also a fair amount of Tanki playing.  I HATE tankionline.  It is such a waste of time, and it causes me major stress having to police it.  I want to ban it, but I keep thinking that I've got to be able to figure out a way to bette rmonitor my boys' usage (especially Mosey) so that he can play it a little.  He and I had a long talk about it after he had a major melt-down about getting off the computer.  It's the equivalent of junk food and it makes his brain flabby.  Flabby brains get bored and otherwise healthy fun things seem boring in comparison.  I don't always want to be the mom that says "no" to EVERYTHING.  I'd really like him to be able to keep playing, but in moderation.  I'm not doing a great job monitoring his use right now.  So do I ban it?  I do get the make the rules, I guess.  But part of me thinks it's not fair to ban him just because I"m not doing a great job in setting boundaries and limitations...  For now I told him he can play before breakfast on school days or before noon on Saturdays.  If he can't limit himself, it has to go away, I guess.  It's getting to be like TV-- I just couldn't/didn't monitor it effectively and it was easier to simply take it away altogether.

3.  Tomorrow church starts at 11:00!  Yay!  My favorite church time.

4.  I never posted any pictures from Thanksgiving.  I need to go back and do that.  Here are a couple of my nephew Miles, the sweetest little 3 year old boy since my boys were 3.  :-)  He can come and live here any time he wants, and here's why:

I remember when my boys thought it was the greatest thing ever to vacuum and help do other household chores.  What happened??  Anyway, Miles is obviously awesome.  And obviously adorable.