I don’t have photos, becuase of the lovely computer situation, but the past month has been filled with one tackle after another.  My sister was coming over to help me manage the jungle and get it under some control.  The lovely “Mattress” post was born from one of these “sessions”. 

This past weekend, hubby pressure washed the driveway and house, then we painted primer on the front and side.  We have a long way to go, but the house was never painted correctly in the first place, so even the primer is a huge improvement!  The paint was flaking off and it was painted right before we purchased it three years ago.

This week I will go to the local paint recycling center and find as much neutral inside paint as I can and hopefully a similar shade of yellow for the outside and white for the trim.   It is a little country house and I actually think pale, buttery yellow is a great color for a ”Cottage” LOL! 

In the process though, I have a bit of a dilemma … What color do I paint the front door?  Right now it is green, not the most attractive green either I might add … just dark green.  I want a color that says “Buy Me Now” … does that exist?  If so I want it!!! 

Hubby and I went away for the weekend.  It was for a wedding, but we made it a “trip!”.  Just the two of us for three whole days (almost) and oh-my-goodness was it ever nice.  Yes we missed the kids.  I had never been away from the twins overnight so that was a smidge nervewracking, but all in all it was a wonderful, relaxing and connecting weekend.  And to answer all your questions . . . yes, we found PLENTY to talk about other than our children! 

So I find myself Tackling a Tuesday this week.  A strange tackle to be sure, but I know I’m not the only mom who has major damage control to do after a weekend away!  It’s not just getting the kiddos back on track with their routine and home-life, but it’s the overwhelming catching up on laundry, cleaning and such after such a weekend that can be the “straw that broke the camel’s back”. 

I’m trying to stay positive and maintain the wonderful outlook on life and family that I gained during our weekend away . . . how long will it last?  I simply need to stick to the plan, maintain my focus.  I almost feel like I’m a player on a sports team (LOL) and have to “keep my eye on the ball”.   It is so easy for me to get distracted by everything around me and I simply must keep the focus I have established. 

I would like to begin making a schedule for myself each day.  I often end up feeling like I didn’t accomplish anything and that really stinks.

So this week I’m tackling coming home, getting laundry done (ha), getting everyone back on track with the routine, get my meals printed out for the next week (thank goodness I don’t have to completely tackle that task, it’s done for me woohoo!) and catch up on designs.  Oh, and I almost forgot, I also need to compose another review/giveaway to begin tomorrow!  Whew!  And when I’m done with all that I’m going to try to grab a cup of coffee and sit down to visit each and every one of your blogs so I can say hello to all of my wonderful readers!

What are you tackling this week?  For more tackles be sure to visit 5 Minutes for Mom!

Thank goodness for a new washer that offers me the ability to sanitize clothes!  I have a ton of laundry on a daily basis with 6 boys, but when you add “sick” laundry in . . . look out!  I have been doing so many extra hot loads the last couple of days to try and limit as much exposure to the crud going around as possible. 

I thought we had moved past the vomiting part of this illness, but Monkey threw up on the Salesman this morning right before it was time to leave for school (yes, he was absolutely thrilled).  He spent most of the morning sitting on me or sleeping, but seems to be a little more active right now.

So, my tackle for this week is “sick” laundry and hopefully getting everybody healthy

I truly hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and weekend!!! What a great holiday! Reminding us of the blessings of being thankful for all we are given in life instead of all the things we don’t have! A much better focus for sure!

I’m looking forward to the continuation of the rest of the holiday season, but I have to be honest and admit that there is just the slightest bit of anxiety mixed in. Why? Well, my blog is probably one of the only organized things in my life. That may sound crazy, but it is true. I like to have a clean pleasant home for the winter season, but the effort involved in getting even close to that is truly overwhelming.

Sure it is due in part to the sheer number of people living in our tiny home and all the stuff that generates just by itself is amazing! But I think that the bigger problem actually lies in the fact that we never have been able to catch up from all of the chaos created during the first few months after the twins were born (2 years ago this February 1st). I could go on and on with all the reasons why, but suffice it to say I am done with the mess.

I am ready to (almost literally) take a huge shovel to the bedrooms and just toss. Hubby has even asked me if I have any idea how much it would be to get a dumpster out here for a week LOL. He was serious by the way! A few of our children have become pack rats - mainly our oldest, but Tater is a little bit of one too.

So the tackling begins. My plan is this . . . as I am able to I am going to focus on one area in a room per day. I know it doesn’t sound like much, but little by little, day by day I will be whittling away at the messes, clutter, chaos and garbage in our home and our lives! That is worth something!

I am running into a little bit of a roadblock already in my grand plan though . . . . twin terror. Oh, I love them more than I can express and they can be the sweetest, cutest, most loving, entertaining and adorable little people you have ever laid eyes on! BUT . . . . they are terrorizing the house and subsequently my nerves! Here’s just a little glimpse into the thought process of our 21 month old twin boys!

• Bookcases that go to the ceiling must be climbed. But you must move fast to get to the top because mom will catch us and we will be dragged down at least 10 times each day (keep in mind that these almost reach the ceiling and I catch them at the top level daily).
• Toys are really not fun, but the electronics cabinet is the best fun ever!
• Anything that gets your feet off the ground is best used in whatever manner necessary to help you reach anything on top of the fireplace . . . cuz it is a well known fact that mom and dad keep all the good stuff up there.
• Play telephones are great but the real ones are even better, they send everyone running as you make a phone call to China!
• Twin minds must come together and unite in thinking of a solution to any boundary . . . especially that crazy gate that bars us from the kitchen and all the fun we could have in there undoing the laundry piles, getting into the dirty dishes in the dishwasher, resetting everything on the washer and dryer and best of all playing in the bathroom where the lovely round chair that holds water is located.
• Top bunks are the best place to be, especially if you can turn the room’s light on and off incessantly in the short time before you are caught.
• Cribs are really not to be stayed in! Just another boundary testing the limits of our ability to climb in and out (incidentally, they are quite capable of climbing out and do so often, but not in . . . hmmmmm).
• Cd’s and DVDs are just fun round disc meant to be thrown about like frisbees and then smashed into a million peices.
• Shoes of any size must be worn throughout the day (never ones that match of course), but socks must never stay on our feet . . . EVER!
• Dirt that mom is sweeping up is supposed to be played in, walked through and spread back throughout the room.

So, my grand plan may remain only that for the moment, but I will attempt it at any given chance and pray that the terrible twosome who started their version of the terrible twos at 18 months will get over said terrible twos by two and a half (please, please, please). The only way dinner gets made each night is with their 12 and 9 year old brothers attending to the twinkies the whole time. Oh, and naptime was another thought, but they are being quite inconsistent in their sleep right now. At least they are healthy!!!!!!!

Well, I must go give them a bath now as they have just covered themselves in oatmeal . . . the day is underway - full swing!

It’s been a while since I have actively participated in Tackle It Tuesday, but I think I figure that I have too many tackles each day and week to list just one LOL! Plus they always seem to be the same which ends up being boring for my lovely readers.

This week though we tackled the apple tree. Well, not the tree exactly, the apples on the tree. You see, we have a grandaddy of a big old apple tree out in one of the fields and it produces pretty well each year. Because the weather has been a little cooler this year, the apples weren’t ready until last week (some still aren’t ready), so I decided that Sunday was the day to pick the apples. There were quite a few and most of them were huge! So exciting!!!!!

So out we all went (babies too) with the apple picker and a small bowl. It was apparent right away that we’d need a far bigger container for the apples, so we had to send Son1 in to get one of our big 36 gallon garbage bags. This worked very well (we ended up having to double it up though because the apples were too heavy for just one) as long as we could keep the babies from getting into it . . . “BALL!!!” - thud (you get the idea).

I truly wish that I had thought to take some pictures There were so many apples my sink was overflowing. We “processed” them all that night - peeling, coring and slicing every single apple. I ended up freezing 3 gallon size bags of sliced apples and making 7 quarts of applesauce that night. It was a little ambitious and I was getting a bit burned out by the time the last quart of applesauce was finished, but it was SOOOOO worth it!!!!

Overall, the resulting amount of uses from these apples won’t last long, but the memories will. The boys all joined me in the kitchen for the “processing” and got very involved in helping this year!!!! In the past they would just watch me for a little bit and then go merrily along their way anxiously awaiting the prize at the end of the day (apple crisp and/or warm, fresh homemade applesauce). This year Son1 went straight for the “Apple-Peeler-Slicer-Corer” thingy (which I am sad to say has seen it’s last apple season and I will have to figure out how to replace it) as I began cleaning the apples and getting out the knife, regular peeler and cutting board and began preparing huge bowls of lemony salt water to put the slices into.

As we began, one by one each of the other older boys came in to see what they could do to help. Donald Trump WannaBe (Son2) came in and was given the lovely job of picking up and throwing away all the scraps as we went along - a job he was thrilled to peices to have and he was very serious about it. Then in came Mr. Instructor (Son3) asking what he could do (and ready to tell us all how it should be done), he ended up with the job of doling out the apples . . . give Big Brother the medium round ones and give mom all the huge and/or irregular ones. Even The Rock (Son4) came in to “help” and was given a little task to keep him happy.

There was lots of joking and talking and even a little competition here and there, but it was fun. I look forward to moments like that, memorable but completely spontaneous. They did get the ultimate reward - in addition to the great memory they made that night they (of course) got their coveted Apple Crisp. And tired as I was in the middle of making applesauce still I couldn’t help but smile as I heard the “Thank You mom”s and the “Oh this is so good”. Things really do taste sweeter when you have worked for them!

We had a summer’s worth of fun yesterday at our State Fair and the boys really had fun, so today it is “down to business” getting all the final details taken care of in preparation for the first day of school tomorrow!

There are rooms to be tidied, clothes to be checked and laid out, another check to be sure that all supplies are accounted for, hair to be trimmed and lunches to be packed. There are even teachers to met, classrooms to observe and desks to set up later today at their school.

This is our oldest son’s last year in Elementary School and it is only because our district keeps 6th graders in Elem. that he’s still there ~ something I am daily thankful for. Know any 6th graders? If you do you understand that they are still far more child than teen, so going up into Middle School or Jr. High can be too overwhelming just yet. I’m honestly ok with him moving up next year, the timing seems far more reasonable for all of the kiddos I know that are his age!

I still have three at home, and I’m home-preschooling our 4 year old. He will go to regular preschool next year to prepare for kindergarten which he will start when he is 6. I can only hope it will go well since he is a bit of a challenge for me.

The tackling does not end today. Tomorrow is the first day of school and trying to get the boys on a school year morning schedule again. Football practice and soccer practice continue as usual still and games begin next weekend! And the end of the week holds quite a bit of catch up for me as I need to get more designs up at Sweet ‘n Simple Design and more products at Snuggy Bugz (I’m so excited about some new shoes and booties designs and some great diaper clutches)!

So there you have it, my tackle list for the week.

My tackle for this week is Laundry! Not surprising, since it seems to consume just about one tackle per month. Additionally I have to coordinate the calendar for football season since we received game schedules yesterday. I also have to complete this weeks menu and snacks for the Football Jamboree this weekend.

There you have it, nothing very exciting.

Yes, once again I feel like I got no sleep last night! When I woke up this morning at 5am to the tune of PeaM crying from his crib, I discovered that we had PeaE and Sir Lion in bed with us already ~ ugh! Admittedly, we have a huge bed, but honestly it feels like it is twin size with that many kids in it. So this morning is off to a rough start for me! So many big plans . . . so little energy to try!

That said, I do hope to get a fair amount of laundry done today, get the boys on track with a schedule (late but . . . ) and go through clothes. The Peas are quickly outgrowing all of the clothes in their drawers and I need to get those out and bring the next size in.

So there’s my to-do for the day.

I forgot to mention one other tackle that I have LOL! I am also tackling my blog designs this week! I am not very good at blogger lingo, so it takes me a lot longer to revamp a blog than a website - but I hope to have our new look by the end of the day so watch for it

My tackle this week is all about getting back on track with a schedule for the remainder of the summer. It is so easy for things to get out of control - scheduling the boys is my way of trying to tame the madness!

We started out the summer great! So I’m bringing back the list posted daily on the fridge. This list has a section for each of the older boys letting them know what is expected out of them for the day and depending on what is going on it also assigns a younger brother for them to “assist” or “buddy” with for the day. I really like that they know exactly what their chores are for the day and have a clear idea of when they need to be completed by. I can also list rewards and consequences this way.

Once I have done this for a couple of days again they will begin each day looking for that list to be posted when they get up in the morning. Admittedly it has become more difficult to find rewards that truly motivate Son1, so I am looking for a more creative way to get him to complete his work with a happy heart and no arguments or sighing!

I have already completed some pretty hefty tackles this week though! I have begun back to school shopping and have it pretty well in hand if I may say so! I have all backpacks, most shoes, and have most of the clothing basics on their way as we speak! I still have supplies to shop for (look for that to be a tackle sometime in the next few weeks) and I’ll need to finish off the basic clothing list, but other than that I feel pretty good about how prepared we are getting already!

So, until next week . . . happy Tackling everyone!