Laundry

Laundry is a huge chore in our house. It has to be done every day and if you miss a day you know it! My washing machine has been acting up.  It is constantly unbalanced.  I have tried to balance it but it takes all day to do one small load by constantly shifting the clothing.

I went in search of the receipt and couldn't find it.  I went to Lowes and they pulled it up for me (sometimes computers are a good thing).  Looking at the receipt I saw that I had purchased the extended warranty.  Long ago we never purchased those warranties.  However, we have come to realize that appliances just don't last as long as they used to.  My washing machine is 18 months old. They are coming out tomorrow to fix it.  I am looking forward to it!

In the meantime the laundry was piling up.  Between the sheer number of people in the house to include my mom and her linens and occasional bed wetting the laundry pile was huge.  We loaded it in the van (it barely fit), I went to the bank for quarters and at 7 am I went to the laundry mat.

It took 11 triple loads and 4 mega loads (not sure what that is but I want one).  It took $61 in quarters to wash and dry everything.

It took me 3 1/2 hours to wash, dry, fold or hang everything.  Actually it was great, all my laundry done at once.  Such a sweet treat!  I really could use two washer and dryers but that is not top of my list of wants so it won't happen.

Normally I don't have a problem with washing and folding.  It is the putting away that is the problem. No, the laundry is not all put away yet.  Sigh.

Do your kids do laundry?  I would like to have mine do it but they mainly only gather laundry around the house and put it in the laundry room.  One big issue is size. I can't reach the bottom of the washing machine, I stand on a pile of dirty laundry to get the stuff off the bottom.  None of my girls can reach, Anthony is about there with me and occasionally does his laundry.  Another problem with that is that they are never empty for him to do it.

Anyone else with laundry challenges?  I hear that some people love to do laundry, that isn't in our genes.

Christmas 2014

It has been a very busy Christmas season at our household.  I am attempting a do a post while the kids eat, they are keeping me busy and sharing their cold with me.  My motivation to do anything has been seriously lacking.

I have to say that we had a great Christmas.  I really enjoyed it because I was able to surprise some of my adult children, that can be hard to do.

Warning, picture overload coming.....

We told all the adult children that we would be opening gifts at 9 and eating at 1.  It was their choice to come at 9 for gift opening. They could open their gifts later if they wanted.  It has been an adjustment for me not having all my kids at home.  Kassi and her boyfriend chose to spent the night.  Everyone made it home by 9 am except for Jason, he dawdled and made it in at 10.

Late Christmas Eve night the men put together Little Man's tricycle. Little Man got up at midnight for some bottle and noticed it right away, he loves it.

Along with the tricycle, Santa items were a baby doll (Larissa), Barbie camper (Emma), American Girl doll (Michelle) and remote control car(Anthony).

Early morning crowd.....

Larissa's main gifts were a sewing machine and Nintendo 3DS. Since she won't be doing related arts at school she will be learning to sew, among other things, at home.

Joselin had asked for a laptop so was surprised when I had gotten her a phone as well.  I put her back on our phone plan because there are times when she can't pay her phone bill and I can't reach her.  Now she has to answer my calls!

Personal protection for Tasha and Ethan.

Last week I had to break Kassi's dog out of doggie jail.  It cost $260 so she wasn't expecting much. She said that she was going to cry when she got a phone. Later she told me that she didn't deserve the phone.

Anthony got his Nike shoes he wanted.

Sarah a Kindle Fire and all her favorite Hot Topic stuff.

Michelle asked for a Kindle Fire and refused to put anything else on her list.

Emma got her Frozen stuff.

The meal crowd....

Some wanted their pictures taken...

George came with Jason for a nice visit.

The house is still a mess.  The tree is still up.  We have all had colds but not the flu.  Little Man went to the doctors on Friday and had a double ear infection. Antibiotics don't go well with him so I had to make him some rice water yesterday.  It helped his gut issues and today he is having a great day.

Our Christmas was big, perhaps too big.  I talked with all of my younger kids on Christmas Eve and pointed out all the gifts.  I asked them if they thought that they deserved all those gifts.  They said that they hadn't.  I told them that Christmas was about the huge gift that Jesus gave us.  We didn't earn it, yet we received Grace.  It is a time of great Joy. So therefore, the gifts that they receive from us are not earned, they are to bring joy. But our joy doesn't just come from gifts.  It comes in many different ways.  We discussed what else brings joy to our lives.

We had a very joyous Christmas spending time with our family and friends. I hope that everyone else was able to find some Joy this season.

Preparations

Over the weekend we had some friends and kids over to make ornaments.  Everyone really enjoyed creating glass bulbs with melted crayons inside.  The kids picked their colors and I melted them with a hair dryer.  We gor rather addicted to doing them.  We have plans for next year which include more colors and possibly metallic crayons.

Little Man loves to sit at the tree and swat at the ornaments.  Someone put a breakable one too low.  I think we have moved them all out of his reach now.

Everyone had lots of fun glittering ornaments.

We got to spend some time with Vaida and made some handprint and fingerprint ornaments for the babies.

More pictures of our addictive ornaments......

All the stockings are hung and ready to be filled.  I haven't made a candy run yet, I wonder how much I will need!

Our Christmas tree is filled with lots of memories.  We don't do any specific color or style.

Tomorrow is sugar time, plans for fudge, 7 layer cookies and our Rolo things are planned.

Attachment in Progress

Attachment in progress can be so painful. It can also be beautiful.  Feelings are so complicated, especially when you have to share mom.

I didn't show this picture earlier....Emma was not happy because she wasn't where Michelle is.  I was reaching out to touch her head because she needed contact.  She wants to be next to me in pictures.

Contact......

A moment with Anthony put Emma into a pout.

 

Standing in front of mom, happy.  Just a few moments before she almost has a meltdown because she was next to me but behind Larissa.  I moved her to the side to move her in front of me but for a moment she thought I was pushing her away.  The look on her face at that moment showed her pain.  The picture shows her delight of being placed in front of me.

After an intense summer of working on attachment with Emma I have seen so much growth.  Her food issues are in the past. She is still my pickiest eater but she eats meals with the family.  She is happier now that she gave up that battle and allowed me to provide for her.

Sometimes it is the little things that I notice.  Today I had to trim her nails.  That may seem totally normal but it is the first time that I have ever had to trim her nails.  Normally when she gets anxious she chews them off. Her anxiety level has gone way down. Now if I could get her to stop licking her lips, they are always chapped in the winter.

Emma comes up to me and offers me messages, wants to sit next to me when we eat out, wants me to take her picture, plays with the baby appropriately (she used to ignore the baby), and generally wants me, her mom. 

I was concerned that with school starting she would go back to her routine of attaching to her teacher.  Thankfully they did match her with a teacher who has not allowed that to happen.  It has helped to keep Emma on track with her attachment to me. 

Interesting to me is this lack of attaching to her teacher has had an impact on her grades.  She does not look for approval from her teacher and is failing school.  I hope that she will come to see the importance of passing but the motivations I have offered have not had any effect.  I mentioned to the school that she may need to be held back.  Emotionally she is years behind so holding her back may be a good thing.  I am looking at starting some new positive reinforcements after Christmas break to see if we can turn this around.  I have been surprised by this issue since last year her grades were so good.  At this time I think that attaching at home is more important than grades but she needs to find a balance.

I believe that 2015 will be a great year for my baby girl!