Lesson Well Learned!

This week started out with Craig and I scrambling around to get a science project done for Liesel. Both Craig and I are notorious for procrastinating. When you have kids though, it really is not fair to punish them for your bad habits you created over your whole life. Liesel had been reminding us that her project was due ever since the assignment came home in her folder. The assignment was "Trash To Treasure" and the task was to take any items that were considered trash and turn them into treasure. I guess you could have figured that out on your own from the title. LOL!!!!  It was due Wednesday and I got on google over the weekend and spent at least an hour looking at all these cool ideas to do and got so sidetracked loving all the creative ideas. I came away with NO decisions made!!!! I was going to go to Craig with all these great ideas that were basically rabbit trails but I decided to leave it up to him b/c he is good with stuff like this. Lesson # 1 learned this week: Keep it Simple Heidi! It is a first grade project.
Craig's grandfather apparently made pinwheels out of aluminum cans but Liesel and I tweaked the idea to make them look like flowers. Craig used a razor blade to cut off the top of the can and Liesel helped him cut strips with scissors. He spray painted them white and Liesel painted them.We used an old fabric softener container for the flower pot stuffed with plastic and shredded paper grocery bags. Craig attached the flowers to twigs with pipe cleaners. Here is the final project:

This picture was taken today after we picked it up from the education expo at her school. The flowers were more spaced out nevertheless it only became mangled a little bit.

I love the creativity in her painting. The project was a great success. Yeah!

Later in the week I sat down to play a game with Caedmon. Caedmon has traits of my personality in which he loves to sit and play games. I love games as well! Sometimes I get so wrapped up in to-do items around the house that I forget to stop and enjoy my kids. I have focused since the new year on scheduling out my day so that every day certain goals are accomplished. One thing I am proud of is that I am remembering that the schedule is not set in stone. It is simply a guide to help stay on task. I have scheduled times during Jensen's naps to do preschool work with Caedmon and play games with him. One day this week I had been working on something for a half an hour and it was time to get in the shower. After the shower I was going to have my precious Caedmon time. Well, Caedmon had a better idea. Instead of watching the show I wanted to put on for him so I could shower, he wanted to play a game then. I actually told him "After the shower buddy." I stopped for a second to look at his sweet but sad face and realized that this was a time that my schedule needed to be thrown out the window! My son needed me then and who cares if I am still stinky at noon when Jensen gets up from his nap.
Caedmon chose Hi Ho Cherry-O to play. If you have ever played that game you would agree with me that it is all about the luck of the spin. Can I take 3 cherries off my tree to put in my bucket or am I going to have to dump out my whole bucket and put them back on the tree? I get very frustrated when I get to one or two cherries on my tree and on that last spin I get the dreaded bucket!!!! LOL!! I have to start all over..... :(  If you know me at all.... I am slightly competitive. If Craig reads this post, he will probably comment that "slightly" is not a strong enough word. I have been known to ruin many fun games by getting mad at losing. Recent examples come to mind of my beloved Carolina tarheels losing last week instead of getting to the final four. Craig leaves me alone when I watch the games b/c he does not like to be around me. I tell him "You knew what you were getting when you married me." HeHe!!!!  Another recent time we were playing monopoly with our good friends Scooter and Jeni and nothing was going my way or Craig's way. Well Craig began mortgaging his property to pay them but I refused and actually left the table. I think I said "I will not sell my property" a few too many times. I am over it now. It was traumatic!! LOL!!! Scooter and Jeni have forgiven me but they bring it up when we play other games now to remind me how stupid I acted and to make fun of me.
Wow, I have really digressed. The point of all this was to tell you that when we were playing Hi Ho Cherry-O nothing was going Caedmon's way and he never got that upset. He takes after his dad on that one. :) He had the best attitude and would dump out his bucket many times and put those cherries back on the tree. I ended up winning the first two games. By this point he was getting a little frustrated but SO mild in comparison to well......me! I told him he would eventually win and we could keep playing until he did if he wanted to do that. He agreed and kept saying, "I will win soon Mommy!" After I won for, yes the THIRD time, he said "next game" and reminded me of the time we played Toy Story Yahtzee together and he won 3 straight games. In conclusion I learned two very valuable things from my four year old son that day. Lesson # 2 learned this week: my relationship with my children is much more important than housework. He will only be little for so long. Lesson # 3 learned this week: "I will win a game soon!" is a great motto to have when playing games.  Having a good attitude makes it much more fun!

Now I cannot say that my ultra competitive nature is going to subside from this one game with Caedmon. However, my sweet Caedmon's face of determination will be in the back of my mind when I am tempted to throw cards at someone when I am losing. LOL!!!!

Last but not least. Our third child Jensen achieved a new milestone this week. He is sitting by himself now. He still falls at times, but we are making progress.

I hope to learn a few more lessons in this great adventure called parenting :)

Last lesson learned this week: It is okay to do things out of your comfort zone if it benefits your family. You may in the process become proud of yourself.
Let me explain. I have been trying to cut costs anywhere I can in our family budget this year and also eat healthier. I had read on one of my friends blogs a while back about buying chicken breasts with the bone in and cutting it yourself and how much money you can save by doing it yourself. Well, crazy as this is, and I am sure others can relate, I hate the feel of raw chicken. IT freaks me out! I saw that Kroger was having split chicken breasts on sale for 99 cents a pound. My mom said she would help me. So Friday we worked together. I spent $11.50 and got 9 HUGE breasts, 15 tenderlions and then I boiled what was left of the breast/bone and pulled enough meat off of them to make two chicken pot pies with the meat. Thank you mom for your help! I am very proud of myself.
FYI: My friend Christa who gave me the great idea has a great blog. You should check it out. http://feedingfourfood.blogspot.com/