We're still waiting for it to rain. We had about two weeks of temps in the low-mid 80s, and it rained two good rains in that time, but..... We've still had probably less than 2 inches in 2 months - and that included 20 some days of temps over 100. So it's still really dry. There is a crack in our yard that's probably 4 inches wide and over a foot deep. (There's lots of cracks all over, but that one is really crazy.)
Next week is vacation! We're going on our first "real" family vacation. Every trip we've been on since we've been married has been either with family or to see family (with the exception of a weekend in Branson and our overnight trip to Omaha that were just Paul and I). We're still going to see family - we're spending a few days with Paul's grandpa in Fort Collins, but we're also going to Colorado Springs to the zoo, to see friends in South Dakota, and to a farm show in Nebraska. (The last one I'm not totally psyched about, but there are three others who are, so I guess I'm outnumbered.) I'm sure we'll be exhausted and ready for another vacation (the stay-at-home, stay-in-bed kind) once we get back, but I know we'll make lots of memories.
I've really been making a concentrated effort to keep up on the house the last couple weeks. It started with a talk with my husband about helping out in the kitchen. He hates doing dishes (although he does them on occasion), and I try to respect that and not make him do something I know he dislikes. But over the last couple months (since Jacob has been eating well), I've realized - I hate dishes too. The kitchen is seriously the last room in the house I want to tackle (probably because no matter how long you spend on it, it can be destroyed again in a matter of hours). But it's also the room in the house that I feel best about myself when it's clean. Is that weird? So I explained this to Paul. I told him that since I almost always am the one that does all the other cleaning, the laundry, and the cooking, I would like him and the boys to step up and help out after every meal - everyone else eats, so everyone else should help clean up. So he and the boys (mostly just Nathan) unload the dishwasher and clear off the table while I focus on tidying up the counters and washing the pans I used to cook. We can get everything done in 10 minutes usually. Ever heard the term "happy wife, happy life"? Yeah, it's true. And the weird thing is that the rest of the house is cleaner! I guess since I'm spending less time in the kitchen, I spend more time everywhere else.
Part of it is expecting more from the boys. They are almost 4 and 2, and they are more than capable of cleaning up after themselves. I've always thought that children will only live up to your expectations (this applies to all areas - potty training, behaving in public, etc). If you treat them like they're not capable, they won't. If you don't ask/tell them to do it because they don't do as perfect of a job as you, they'll never learn. We're getting there on the toys. Now I just need to teach them how to clean up after themselves in the bathroom.........
2 comments:
About the dishes thing -- I hate doing dishes too. But because of where the kitchen is located in our house (the kitchen, dining room, and living room are all joined together in an open floor plan), I've realized that when the kitchen is clean, the rest of the space seems so much cleaner too (even if it's not!). So I'm working on keeping up with those each day too.d
I WANT PICTURES! :) -Carl
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