Bedtime

We've been having a super difficult time getting the kids to go to bed lately. We put them in bed at 8 p.m., and they are still awake at 9:30, 10 o'clock. Last night I got so fed up with it I came up with an artful parenting plan. (my old plan consisted of me yelling up in increasingly irritated tones "Kids, go to bed!!!!!")

Last night, after two hours of listening to them yuk it up in their bedroom when they were supposed to be asleep, I got up, went to the laundry room, grabbed a two-foot high pile of their laundry, and took it upstairs. I switched on the light, and said "I can tell you guys really aren't sleepy. There is so much to do around here, you might as well spend your time usefully, so put away this laundry. And clean the room when you are done. Then you can try going to sleep again. If you still aren't sleepy after the laundry and cleaning the room, I'll find you something else to do. I think we'll do this every night until you get tired, because it's obvious I am putting you to bed too early."

This evening at dinner as I reminded them that they had 30 more minutes until their old bedtime aka their new cleaning time, they looked at each other in trepidation. After several minutes of silence, Kimi finally asked, "Will you give us another try to go to sleep instead of working?" I replied, "Well, I'm not sure. You would have to be really quiet. I wouldn't want to hear any talking whatsoever, and no moving around that tells me you are playing quietly. If you think you can lie still and be absolutely quiet, I would be willing to let you try it." She assured me she thought she could do it. And so my lead instigator became my number one collaborator. She spent the last 20 minutes before bed reminding her sisters that they had to lay completely still and not talk!

The end result is that I spent two very quiet hours before my bedtime enjoying the peace. Amazing what a little artful thinking can do. It's so easy to continue to do the same things and continue to get results you don't like. And so easy to change your behaviour and get an amazing result. Yaaaayyy for me! One of my better parenting moments. :)

Cabin Update

We spent Friday night and Saturday up at the cabin this weekend. The guys finished getting the outside weatherproofed - the whole back of the cabin didn't have any siding on it as it all had to be replaced due to rot. The siding also had to be repaired where we added windows for the two lofts on either side of the cabin. This weekend they finished the trim on the inside of the cabin, and it looks fantastic. Dennis did an excellent job trimming out the windows and putting up baseboards. With the beautiful paint job and white trim, the place is really coming together.

Our next project is building bunk beds for the kids' room. Right now they sleep with us in the loft. We figured out a plan to put in 8 or 9 bunks in the room off the kitchen.

It is becoming easier to spend time up there as we stock the cabin with kitchen supplies, bedding, etc. I've had fun this past week looking through thrift stores for our pots, pans and other kitchen gear. There is such good stuff out there, and so cheap. Also fun because it is vintage, I'm recycling, etc, etc. Good all around. Everything up at the cabin, with the exception of a rug and the construction supplies, is second-hand.

Hopefully, soon we'll just have to pack an outfit, pajamas & toothbrush (come to think of it we should get toothbrushes for up there so we don't have to bring them) and leave the house. Not having to cart up bedding & supplies makes things much simpler.

It's a boy!

We are having a boy! I'd post a picture, but the only one I have since the little guy wasn't cooperating is a frontal shot of his face, which looks like a very cute little skull. I think it may scare people. At least I can tell his bone structure is very symmetrical. I already had a name picked out for a girl, as I had convinced myself that's what I was having, so am trying to think of boy names.
If you have a suggestion for a boy's name, leave a comment below.

fire pit

Dennis, Aaron and Dad made this fire pit down by the lake.

There is a sail boat race every year - these sail boats are having fun, or perhaps practicing for that. There were 3 on the lake yesterday, but in this picture you only see two. We also saw/heard 3 military jets fly over. They flew the length of the lake and then banked between two hills at the end of the lake.

Taylor found clay at the beach. She mad several cute things - a heart, fish, turtle and an imprint of her hand. It dries firmly, but is fairly brittle.

Cabin Remodel taken yesterday

Dennis is working to get the sheetrock mudding and taping done. He is in the entrance to the two lofts here. On either side of him is a loft for the adults to sleep in. The kids will sleep in the bedroom downstairs - we are going to build bunks on the wall for them.

Aaron is in our loft changing some electrical stuff.






















Kimi is in the kitchen scraping old linoleum off the wood sub-floor. We plan to sand and paint the wood floor with floor paint until we can put something else on. Joe really did the work, but he let Kimi have a go at it.
This view is from the living room looking at the bar, kitchen and entrance to the loft above. To the right of the kitchen is the kids bedroom.
This is looking from the cabin kitchen door to the living room.

Current pictures from the cabin

from the water
sunset - Dennis' favorite time of day - he likes to sit in this spot and watch the sun go down.
taking a break from all his hard work
The girls on the path going down to the beach. A month ago this looked very bare.
The kids have found many animals up there. This is a bird's nest in the bank behind the cabin. The baby birds hatched and they were able to see that as well. They've also found several little snakes, too many bugs for their liking, some kind of small water animal (I hope it isn't a musk rat, but I kind of think it is), and they accidently found a shrew as they were digging somewhere. It was killed by the shovel on accident and then was cremated. We have also seen an eagle up there, and of course, you can see fish jumping in the lake all the time.

Pictures of the lake

This is the front of the cabin during the winter. The construction debri is gone now. I'll get a current picture this coming weekend.
Kimberly and I making hot chocolate for the first time at the cabin when we still had a kitchen. The inside of the cabin, and some of the structure has been gutted and replaced due to rot and the need to replace the electrical system.
Child in distress contemplating the near-future use of an out-house with a slanting/partly missing floor. We've replaced this with a Honeybucket, which the kids are much happier using.
Inside of cabin after we took off the inner walls.
We had to replace the back wall of the entire cabin because it was rotten.