a few things

I've been clearing out the house. Lots of paper memories, clothing, stuff from the kitchen and stuff from the attic (who wants an ice-cream maker?) and especially stuff from our clutter-magnet room: the computer/school room. I could bore you with a list of all the stuff that I've managed to let go of, but instead, I'll bid a fond farewell to my favorite T-shirt for the last 10 years. (Anyone else still have their Padre '99 shirt?) It will get some final use as a grease rag in the garage.

If you have small children who are easily influenced, you may want them to leave the room before scrolling down to the next picture. I'll take up some space with my great new idea:

The girls don't put away their stuff and it has been driving me crazy! I couldn't see the floor in their room on Saturday so I cleaned it out. Books went back to the (locked) closet. Clothes went in the hamper to be washed (and reduced in number). Toys went in a bucket under MY bed. The kids want something - they have to earn it back. Catherine picked up Anthony's train track (which is now confiscated for the week because he wouldn't pick it up) and got to pick out a toy. The girls cleaned up the porch and everything that had been thrown off the porch and each got to pick out a toy. I figure if I keep cleaning up their room - they'll lose enough stuff and in earning it back, the cleaning they do around the house will come out in my favor! Either that, or they'll learn to put away their stuff - and that wouldn't bother me much, either.

Now, Teresa is usually my "alternative" artist, but today Catherine was inspired to use Stephen as her canvas:

Stickers. Yum.

Finally, since we've been helping Stephen learn to sleep in the bottom bunk (Anthony loves being on the top bunk) the girls have been camping out on a couple of crib mattresses on the floor to keep him company:

You probably wouldn't notice a book on one of those mattresses if I didn't point it out, so I will. It is called Kipper's A to Z by Mick Inkpen and is a clever little alphabet story. Stephen has been devouring counting and alphabet books from the library. We all really liked this one. Check it out if you can.