A calm down basket

I came across the idea of a calm down basket. It includes some reading books, coloring books, a candle, a mind jar, a jar with slips of paper with calming ideas, a rice container (dried rice with lavender bits that they can sift through to find marbles and other "treasures"), a seek-and-find bead bag, soothing music CDs, a puzzle.

The kids will go to it on their own sometimes (or we remind them) when they are upset. The biggest hits right now are the candle (matches) and coloring books.






It has helped.

No joy right now

I am weak. I am worn out. I am tired. I get angry. I yell. I threaten. I can't find it in myself to stop. I know I need to. I want to. I hate the way I react to my children's behaviors. I try to talk to them, see what they need. They shut me out. I walk away.

I can't wait until they go to school each day. I don't look forward to having them home in the afternoon. I anticipate the time when they are in bed, asleep. I stay up late wanting the peace to last and not wanting to go to sleep and wake up to do it again.

Everyday is a challenge. Everyday I fail.

Don't try to fix it. Don't give me advice. Don't tell me it will be okay. Don't mention this post to me at all.

I just want to say this on here for myself. It's my blog and I'll rant if I want to.

Let sleeping cats lie

Taking a cat nap in the warm sunshine.

Eating from the freezer

The freezer was too full. And I didn't even remember what we had in there. I emptied it and identified all but one thing, making a list.








I was surprised that all this came out of that small space.


I picked out some kielbasa and diced green peppers, corn and peas for dinner. I put some beef stew in the frig for Gary's lunch tomorrow.

We will continue to eat from the freezer.

Something Interesting

I don't know if she just likes looking at herself or if she finds the fireplace doors nice to look at. She sits here often. Just staring at the wall.

Asleep

We kept Josh home from school today to make sure everything is out of his system. He's watched some TV. I did dishes and took a shower.

When I came out from my shower, the boy had fallen asleep. He finds the most interesting places to take a nap. I guess he's like his Poppop and his great-grandfather, sleeping anywhere.





This was another time when he was sick.

Here he is taking a break from playing.

Even at a Phillies game, the boy takes a nap.

We decorated

We have our tree up and other decorations. The kids have been asking to decorate. Usually we have Christmas music laying in the background and it's a festive time.

This year we had Ice Age 2 playing instead.





This is the angel I use for the Nativity set. Obviously it didn't come with the set, since it is actually a silver candle snuffer. I noticed that it was tarnished. [It's hard to tell in the photo.]

Here you see it cleaned. [Again, hard to tell.] Next to it is what I cleaned it with. Toothpaste. You can bet your teeth are clean too, I guess.

Turned a corner?

Dare I say, Josh has turned a corner in the potty department. He's used it properly three times today. But he still had to change underwear, because of . . . not making it in time due to intestinal issues. The poor guy.