Life Lately – Februrary 2019

I can’t believe that it’s been since before Christmas that I wrote one of these posts! About a month ago I decided to “unplug” from social media on my phone, and boy has it been amazing! I deleted my Instagram and Facebook apps on my phone in order to take away the temptation that was constantly there. I talked more about it in this post, but I definitely think that technology is one major way that Satan works his way into our lives. He was, unfortunately, winning so I had to cut him off at the source. I actually haven’t missed it all that much and I feel very free without it.

So what have we been up to over the past couple months? We’ve basically been getting back into our school routine! I haven’t been taking as many photos since I’m not trying to capture the “perfect” IG shot, so the photos I’m sharing today won’t be the best.  😛

The main thing I’ve been working on over the past few weeks is “tidying up” my house, KonMari style! I’m planning on doing a KonMari series once everything is done, and let you know what I thought and how it worked for us. All I have left to work on are the sentimental items, which hopefully won’t take long!

Now that everything has a place AND we’ve sufficiently discarded so that we’re not overwhelmed with STUFF, it feels amazing. We’ve thrown out at least 40 bags of trash and we have 25+ bags/boxes of stuff to donate/consign. Some of the things I’ve thrown out I just kept thinking “why in the world did I keep this all this time?!” I will definitely go into more detail at a later time, but we are enjoying a more tidy space so far.

Another thing that has helped us keep things tidier around here is implementing chore charts for our girls. My parents got the girls a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace Jr. kit for Christmas. They each got a chore chart and they have enjoyed checking them off each day. It came with magnets with all kinds of different chores on them and we chose which ones we thought would be age appropriate. It’s amazing how quickly they pick up on these things. Even Audrey (age 3) will say things like “I need to throw my trash away! That’s one of my chores!”

Before we would literally let toys sit out for days at a time because it took so long to supervise the kids picking them up (they’d get distracted if we left them to do it alone), and I honestly just wouldn’t want to do it. They were going to get the same toys out to play with tomorrow, so why put them away? But now, I remind them to tidy up as they go. If they’re done playing with something, they need to put it away. Audrey is so bad about dumping buckets of toys out just for the hey of it, so we’re working on not doing that. Also, going through their toys and donating a good bit of them has helped. Kids are more focused and interested in what they have when they’re not overwhelmed by so much. We had so many toys that they haven’t even noticed they’re missing anything! They have not asked about one single toy that I took away.

A couple weeks ago was David’s birthday so we wanted to do something to make him feel special and loved. The girls decided that Daddy wanted a Spider Man birthday party this year, so we got some Spider Man party supplies at Party City and threw him a little party. When he got home I had his favorite meal on the table, along with a chocolate peanut butter poke cake. Peanut butter anything is his favorite, so I think he enjoyed this and the girls were so excited, they tried several times to spoil the surprise!

The day after David’s birthday was Valentine’s Day! There was a Valentine’s Day party at the girls’ school, but Raley wasn’t feeling well so we had to miss it. She was very upset about it, and acting puny when I picked her up, but was perfectly fine as soon as we got home! I was not feeling all that great either (just a head cold that prevented my ability to breath through my nose for 3 days), so we took a nap together in my bed and rallied to make Daddy a special Valentine’s Day surprise.

We all got dressed up, made pasta for dinner, and set candles out on the table. The girls were so excited to dress up and pretend they were at a fancy restaurant having a candlelit dinner with Daddy.

We’ve been having a hard time with Audrey lately because she has been testing boundaries, and I mean really testing them. She had been acting out at school, at dance, and at home. We’ve been trying to talk to her a lot about what we’re supposed to do and what we’re not supposed to do, and I know that she knows because she tells me frequently. She’ll randomly say things like “I sit in my seat at lunch” or “I don’t put my food on the floor.”

She’s been much better the past couple weeks at school and at dance, but we are still working on a few things at home. She’s also been getting up earlier in the morning, so I’m hoping that this is a short phase that she will grow out of soon.

Have you heard of wonder weeks? I had never heard of this until recently but it makes total sense. Basically kids regress – act out, have accidents, sleep less, etc. – and then all of a sudden they leap way forward. Their behavior improves and they all of a sudden learn new things or act more mature. I’m wondering if that is what’s going on. This explains so much regarding different “episodes” both girls have had in the past.

Last week at school, the 4’s had a wedding for Mr. Q and Miss U, and all the kids were encouraged to wear their fancy party attire. Raley was so excited, when she woke up she got changed into her favorite dress first thing before ever coming out of her room. It was too cute.

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I’ve written a Life Lately post! “Tidying up” has taken up basically all of my time over the past month, but boy has it been worth it! I can’t wait to share all the details! Have a wonderful week!

Let’s chat!

Have you ever heard of wonder weeks? Have you noticed this phenomenon with your own children?

Have you jumped on the “tidying up” bandwagon? What do you think about the KonMari method?

If you enjoyed this post, you may enjoy browsing through the Life Lately archives.