Secret Life of a Mom of 4: June 2013

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Lesson Learned

I try to limit my kids' screen time, but lets face it. Sometimes screens make my life MUCH easier. During the weekdays my kids aren't supposed to watch TV or play video games, but when I need them to be occupied they can play educational games on my phone or the computer.

This morning, I needed to get myself and the babies dressed and ready to go. So I handed Aaron the phone.

Me - Aaron, you may play educational games for the next 15 minutes.

Aaron - Like my Mater Racing game.

Me - No, like an ABCs game, or reading or math or puzzles. Anything in your "educational games" folder on the iPhone.

Aaron - Well we need to move that Mater racing game out of the non-educational games folder and into educational games folder, because it is teaching me how to drive. And driving is important.

Monday, June 3, 2013

Tie Shoes

Peter and Aaron desperately need new sneakers. They have been begging me to take them to get new ones, so I figured this was a good time to teach them a new skill.

Their whole lives they have had Velcro sneakers, never learning how to tie shows. A friend of mine recently told me that her son's school had a practice shoe box with laces for the kids to practice on, so I thought I would try it. As an incentive, they would be allowed to go pick out their new shoes as soon as they learn how to tie. This is the response I get:

Me - Here is the plan, as soon as you learn how to tie the practice shoe, I will take you to pick out any pair of sneakers that you want.

Aaron - Weeeeeell, I think my old shoes are juuuuust perfect. Have fun with that, Peter.

06.03.13

"Mom, I Jake pirate!"

06.02.13

Caught picking.

Sunday, June 2, 2013

House for Sale

After almost 26 years living in my childhood home, my mother bought a new house a couple months ago. This July she will be moving from the 6,800 square foot house my father and uncle Jim built, to a new construction luxury town home in the Mosaic District. Her new home will be just 4 miles from us (as opposed to the current 8.4) as well as minutes from her work.

My mom had a lot of stuff to get rid of to get the house ready for sale, so I was there many days last month cleaning, organizing and packing. It was a HUGE job, but we got the whole place clean, staged and ready for sale.

Here is our listing, and here is a slide show of photos a photographer took. We had an open house today, so hopefully she will sell quickly, so my mom can get ready for her big move.

Here are some before and after photos from the clean up:

Main Floor Office: