The Experiment Is Underway

I have been having some issues lately getting my kids to behave. I don't think it's completely my fault. I don't think I'm a bad parent. But I'm sure I'm not perfect and that's why this experiment is so important. To try to change everyone's behavior. I read about this idea somewhere and have been wanting to try it out for a while. But my brain makes me think that everything has to be perfect before I can start a project like this!

The Experiment:
Take away ALMOST all the toys. Pack them up and put them away. Leave enough that your kids have something to play with, i.e. a couple cars, a couple dolls, some legos, some dress up clothes. But take away the majority of the toys. When the children get home/wake up explain to them that the toys that are out are all they have unless they have good behavior that day. At the end of the day if behavior has been good they can earn back ONE toy. Not one bin full, or one set of something, just one toy. If the behavior has been less than expected then they get nothing.

I guess I feel that my kids have been overwhelmed with all the "stuff". So I'm taking away what's not necessary in the hopes that they don't feel overwhelmed anymore and can be happier children.

Now let's just hope it works! I'll keep you posted on how it's going in the next couple days!

I'm back!

Things have started to slow down a little... just in time for the holidays! But we are pretty much settled in our new house (you know how you always have that one or two boxes that never really find their homes until you're ready to move again?). And we are not planning on moving for a VERRRRRRRY long time. The house is great. The neighborhood is great. And the ward is amazing. Anyway, I guess I just needed to post something...anything... just to get your attention for my super, duper, fabulous, incredible, hilarious and a little stupid posts. Keep your eyes peeled. They'll be coming soon.

It seems like only yesterday...

Just a little over 5 years ago I was large with child. And I mean very large. But now I have an independent little genious, who sometimes gets a little (a lot) hyper and I love him so much. I know his birthday was almost a month ago, but I still wanted to share some pictures from Kurtis' birthday.

The Tall, Tall Tower

Here is my proud boy with his tall, tall tower that actually had to be rebuilt a couple times because it was right in the major walkway in our home.

The 4th of Never

Today is the day I actually post pictures of the 4th of July. Luckily it's from the 4th of this month of this year. I'm not too far behind!

We had a fun 4th with lots of family but mostly we just sat around a lot, ate lots of cookies and sat around some more (with some occasional game playing thrown in there)!

The parade portion of sitting:

The fireworks portion of sitting:

The one thing I learned.

I know there is a huge controversy surrounding Jon & Kate plus 8 and you could learn a lot of things NOT to do from their situation. However, there is one thing I learned while watching older episodes that I will never forget.

When serving pancakes to your kids, cut them up with a pizza cutter! It saves on tons of mess and you can cut 10 times faster (that is, of course, an estimation)!

Pinching Your Pennies is now a little bit easier.

If you want to save some money on your groceries, but don't know where to start with the sales or the coupons or the shopping, don't wonder anymore! Just hop over to pinchingyourpennies.com and plenty of experienced savers will show you the way. Plus there is plenty of other stuff to help save you time or money! Also, you never know where your expertise could help someone else out. Give it a try, you just might find what you've been looking for!