Natalie-isms

Natalie has been full of it today. She's made me laugh at least a half dozen times this morning already.

I asked her to get on her shoes, because she is perfectly capable of putting them on herself. She hemmed and hawed around, dawdled, and finally said, with a big Scarlet O'Hara worthy sigh, "Oh, I just can't." I told her to go in the foyer and practice putting her shoes on, saying I'd help her in ten minutes if she still needed it. Next thing I knew, I hear the piano playing and Natalie singing in the sweetest voice, "I don't know how to put on my shoes, and my mommy won't help me." Yes, she put her shoes on herself. No, she didn't need my help. Yes, it took another fifteen minutes.

Right before lunch, she was running a toy up and down a ramp, singing, "High, Low, High, Low" but it sounded like "High, whoa, High, whoa." I asked her to say, la la la, which she did correctly. Then I asked her to say, 'High, Low'. She did another Scarlet O'Hara sigh and, turning around, began signing, "Up, Down, Up, Down."  She won that round.

I'm going to need more sleep to stay ahead of this one.

Fall clean-up...I wish

Our house has been in such a state of disarray for longer than I care to admit. It just seems to build and I can't keep up with picking up behind the girls, and they can't seem to remember to put their things away. This is the point where my mom would say, "Huh. I had a daughter like that. Always had a messy messy room. What was her name again?" Yes, I know. I deserve it. But I get so tired of the constant battle.

Well, today, it became a team effort. Whether the clutter had just reached epic proportions or Jay and I were just both home and inside at the same time or the fact that we had two middle daughters trying to prove that they didn't need a nap, we finally got rooms picked up.

1. The downstairs living room is vacuum-able. Since it was overtaken by Barbies, baby dolls and blankets during our little storm Friday night, that's quite the accomplishment.
2. The upstairs living room is also vacuum-able, and all the books are back on the bookshelf.
3. You can walk through the playroom. I don't expect much in that room, but there better not be any place for rodents to hide, and I need to be able to walk through the room in the dark.
4. The clean clothes are all put away, including towels. Oh, but not socks. Socks are a contant epic battle, and right now the score is Socks-300; Mom-0.
5. The bathrooms are picked up, both toilets and sinks cleaned, and one bathtub shower cleaned. My sinuses just wouldn't allow me to tackle a second shower.
6. The dryer is out of my kitchen. Long story, but I'm so darn happy it's gone, and to a good home.
7. The new-to-us washer is in the laundry room and runs batches of towels without traveling across the room.
8. Two sets of bedding are washed and beds remade.
9. Clothes are set out for the week.
10. The kitchen was clean and sterilized, ready for jelly making. But, Jay needed cookies more than peach jam this week.
11. And, it's all Jay, but he got the nest off the top of the chimney and discovered a problem with our sewer vents. Guess what his project is for next week?
12. Maggie and Katie cleaned their rooms and sorted out the clothes that were too small or out of season. Maggie ended up with all her clothes in her dresser, which is quite the accomplishment.

I/we still need to:

• sweep the wood floors in the living room, foyer, landing, and both stairs
• sweep the kitchen and dining room and both bathrooms
• mop the kitchen and dining room and both bathrooms
• vacuum the few rooms with carpet
• move out the old-to-us washer that's in the kitchen
• finish two more batches of laundry
• finish picking up the foyer
• clean the downstairs shower
• DUST (B,ut no reason to bother until fall harvest and free dump week is done. All that traffic on a dirt road means everything gets coated anyway.)
• get the tubs of clothes in the upstairs storage closet, and
• get to the landfill this week, during "free dump week" 

My list is going to be extra hard considering I hurt all over and the antibiotic did nothing for my sinus infection. Oh, and I work four nights and two days in the next seven days. But, at least I'm not ashamed if someone walks in our house.

Now, if only I can get the girls to keep it up. What a dream! Any suggestions for a fun way to motivating them, if only for a week or two?

Pumpkin Harvest

This year, I had one garden request for Jay: to plant pumpkins not for sale but just for our girls to get to grow their own jack o'lanterns. And, his green thumb did not disappoint. He even kept it to a reasonable amount; in other words, he didn't plant 300 pumpkin plants!

Because we are expecting a hard freeze on Saturday night, last night was pumpkin harvest time. What do you think: do they look proud of their pumpkins?