by jcastles | Sep 21, 2013 | Family, Household Tips, Uncategorized
Yes that title explains me completely. I over organize everything! I even took pictures of my kids rain jackets this year so if they became lost I could send a picture to their schools to help retrieve it. I know that sounds silly but last year my youngest had lost his jacket at his new school in Washington. No big deal normally…well sorta….but we just moved here and all our stuff wasn’t here yet. We had no extra’s of anything. Luckily I’d found a picture of his jacket online and with that they were able to locate it very quickly. Yes, I know….a little over the top.
In addition to over organizing I thrive on routine. I’ve always been that way. I have set days I clean, do laundry, etc. I’m open to change but with little wiggle room. If I start something I am most likely to complete it. Even something as simple as cleaning. I like to clean the house in 1 day. If I’m going to sweep/vacuum I want to be able to mop the floors the same day. Cause if I were to mop the next day the floors would have dirt and dog hair on them…you can’t mop floors like that! I always say I’m just going to clean this little mess in the living room….then I wind up vacuuming the entire house! I just can’t stop once I start. I like it all done at the same time. I definitely got that from my momma!
Because I am this way it brings it’s problems too. I like things done a certain way. It’s hard for me to let someone else do a task that I can get done in no time. I know I have to let my kids grow and learn so I let them do the chore/task and then when they’re at school or in bed I go back and complete/correct it.
It’s also hard for me to understand how someone loses things. I do not lose many items if at all. I notice if something is out of place usually right away. So when one of my kids comes home from school and they don’t have their jacket in their bag I’m like ummmm, I sent it with him, he’s in preschool why can’t you keep track of it?!
When I worked in a preschool class I always made sure my kids that came in left exactly the way they came or better. Their clothes, jackets, toys, cups, etc were never misplaced and I had up to 22 two year olds. I know it’s hard but it’s dedication. These parent’s left their trust in me to care for their child day in and day out. It was my job to care for them and their things. I treated every one of them as if they were my own and I do expect that from any teacher that comes in contact with my kids. I know that it won’t always be like that and I try to make my kids accountable for their own things but sometimes they do need an adult’s help.
So there you go….you’ve just seen a glimpse of what’s in my head. If you know me you know I have a clean house all the time. And you should also know that it doesn’t bother me that your house isn’t spotless!
by jcastles | Sep 19, 2013 | Crafts, Family, Uncategorized
So for the past month i’ve been working in my office on my son’s Mickey Mouse birthday party. I tried to sneak down there but a few times I was caught by the kiddos. Don’t get me wrong I’d tell them i’m going to my office to work but I’d make sure they were busy with something before I went. I’d at least get 45 min of steady work done doing it that way.
Of course they wanted to do stuff in there while I was. But my desk had my computer on it and my craft table had the projects I was working on. If they worked on the floor the dog would eat the paper so they used the top of a crate I had in the room. It’s funny because they didn’t care as long as they got to be creative and the dog didn’t’ eat any paper….they were fine.
Funny thing is they really weren’t “creating” anything. They are fascinated with the paper cutter and that’s all they wanted to do. So I gave them old ugly scrapbook paper that I won’t use for anything and they cut and taped and cut and taped. They had a blast and that was good enough for me. I hope it’s one of those things they remember when I’m old that was one of their favorite things to do….was to cut paper while mom worked.
by jcastles | Sep 17, 2013 | Family, Uncategorized
I recently updated my kids chore charts. My 5 year old just got his printed chore chart this past week and we’ve successfully completed one week! I’ve had him doing chores but nothing was set and he was asking for a chore chart so after his 5th birthday I decided it was time.
I found this super cute chore chart online that works great for us! For my youngest son I did have to alter it a bit and add pictures since he’s autistic and pictures definitely help since he can’t read yet but it’s the same chart. I put X’s in the circles on the days they don’t need to do the chore and they check off the chores they’ve done.
I gave my youngest son (now 5 yrs old) the chore of swiffering the floors and it’s so funny cause he wants to do it every day! He doesn’t do a great job but he does a good enough job to understand what he’s doing. He also helps stock toilet paper throughout the house, helps with laundry-mostly getting the baskets and moving doggie gates for us to carry it all downstairs, brush his teeth, make his bed-the best he can but with my help, and clean up all his belongings before bath/bed time. So far he’s doing fantastic with it.
So in addition to chore chart changes going on my middle son has been wanting to walk home from school. He’s actually always wanted to but some schools were just a little too far for our comfort or it didn’t work with our schedule. The location of our school and house here are perfect for it. It’s pretty much a straight shot but we’ve had a bit of crime in our neighborhood lately that now I don’t feel all that safe in our neighborhood. So I told him I’d let him walk down the street from the school to a closed grocery store parking lot. It’s literally right down the street. He crosses the street from the school via 2 adult crossing guards and walks a short .2 miles to the next crossing guard and i’m in the parking lot right there. He’s seen by the crossing guards the entire way and I can see him before he crosses with the last crossing guard. It helps give him his freedom and keep my mind at peace.
The kids are also liking playing outside more and more. With the highs being in the low 70’s lately it’s been real nice. As long as they get their homework and chores done they can play outside until dad gets home. We’ve had a few busted lips, skinned knees, and tears but I’m glad they’re getting to experience it w/out the Texas heat.
It’s also time to up the 9 yr old’s chore difficulty…..but I’ve got time…..I think, lol!!
by jcastles | Sep 12, 2013 | Uncategorized
Now that schools been in session almost 2 weeks here in Washington State I wanted to get more info from our kiddo’s teachers. More personal info that is. Like their birthdate, their favorite drink, and other similar things. I truly believe that we should give our teachers little treats throughout the year because they deserve it. They work hard teaching our kids and knowing someone cares just might help them be a better teacher.
So! I made a form and wanted to share it with everyone. I hope you all like it.
Click Teacher Questionnaire for the form!
Hope you all have a great school year!
by jcastles | Sep 3, 2013 | Crafts, Uncategorized
In a few hours from now the kids will be going back to school for the 2013-2014 school year! It will be our first full school year in Washington! This time last year I was very very sick so I wasn’t able to do everything I wanted to for my kids teachers but I did what I could and I think they were totally fine with it.
This year I’m not sick and I’m much better using my Silhouette Cameo so of course I had to do as much as possible, lol!! I made each main teacher a bag filled with the extras that they usually ask for and my own special back to school survival kit. Well, I didn’t actually make the bag I bought canvas bags from Michaels and used printable transfer sheets. I used my silhouette to design the bags. I gave them each a hershey’s, skittles, chips, gum, lotion, travel hand sanitizer, bandaids, tylenol, pencils, disinfectant wipes, kleenex, and a personalized cup! I’m so pleased with it all. Since I put the images on canvas the images came out with a real weathered look. I love that!
Here are all the little projects I did for the teachers. Ignore my paneling background please…..I rent my house and my office is in the basement……so ummm, yah, I can’t change much of the walls. 😀
by jcastles | Sep 1, 2013 | Family, Uncategorized
I want to start off by saying Tuesday can NOT come soon enough!! I need a kid free pedi and quiet…plain ole quiet!!!
Well that dreaded time has come…..back to school shopping! Back home in Texas we usually buy shorts, a few t-shirts, socks, underwear and shoes for back to school. Then in late November we usually have to buy the kids a few pair of jeans and that’s it. But now that we’re in Washington (incase you’ve been in a hole or forgot!) we had to buy for an actual fall/winter! So strange!!
A few weeks ago we found out that a city about 40 min away had a Dickey’s BBQ Pit. That’s our go to bbq place in Texas so we knew to go especially since it was by the mall we needed to go to. So we planned our shopping around a lunch trip to Dickey’s! OMG that was absolutely worth it! I haven’t felt so stuffed full of food in 4 months!!
We had a short list for today since I took the boys during the week to get jeans. The top items on our list today were rain jackets and shoes. The first place we hit was Burlington Coat Factory. School starts Tuesday and our boys are not use to being in the rain. Luckily we found one for the youngest really quick. After about 3 others stores we wound up paying a little more than normal one for the middle kiddo but his little tubby tummy was hard to work with. And we actually found a winter jacket for the middle kiddo…..that he liked!! That’s like the hardest thing to buy this kid! Besides shoes. I’ve never seen a kid so picky especially a boy about shoes and jackets. So even though we weren’t prepared to buy a winter jacket we did it anyway. And of course we hit Famous Footwear to cover our precious kiddos feet and they had a buy one get one 1/2 off deal going so I was determined to make the kids settle but they actually found some they liked. And BONUS! As we were standing in line I found a coupon online for 20% off for rewards members and 15% off for non reward members. So duh! I signed up at the register and got my 20% off the already awesome deal!
Then of course since it’s almost September the Halloween stores are opening up. And we were suckered into one, lol! We are always scrambling to get Halloween costumes….find the right size..etc. So this year we decided to buy 2 months early! Crazy, yes. Happy about it, yes! I’ll have a black morphed kid and a mickey mouse this year!
To end our exhausting day we decided we needed to be stuffed one more time. We hit The Outback Steakhouse and OMG OMG i’m so glad that we did. I ate so much!! We started with the bread, salad, bloomin onion, steamed broccoli, sweet potato, and a steak……well half of it came home, lol!! But it was absolutely worth it!!
Now I have a tiff about the jeans I bought earlier this week. Old Navy jeans fit my kids really well. So of course with their $12 a pair sale I got them each 5 pair. Each friggin pair had 3 tags on them!! WHY?!! If they reduced it to 1 tag per pair i’m quite sure they’d save a ton of $$ and could charge us less. Look at this pic! This is all the jeans….just 10 pair of jeans!!! Crazy!!!
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