Utilizing Our Time Wisely!

This week went a little smoother than last week! We are really coming together as a family and utilizing our time wisely! This happened after I had a meltdown on Tuesday :( There are a few nights a week that Daniel works late and I am picking all three boys up from school, doing homework, getting them to and from activities, cooking dinner and getting them to bed. It was not working well. Having first grade, 6th grade and 9th grade homework/activities and one parent for all three is not good. We had to have a family powwow to get everyone doing their part to make life easier. There has been maturing going on in our house!

We are doing things we should have already been doing. Like getting clothes in the wash each moment we can, homework/studying for the upcoming week on the weekend and cleaning up as we go. We also figured out it is better for Daniel to pick up Andrew after school (he is 5 minutes away from his school) instead of me waiting 30 minutes for him to get out of school with the other two boys sitting in my car. Andrew goes up to the church with Daniel and gets an 1 1/2 of studying done in a quiet environment before baseball practice. Andrew gets home late from baseball so he was staying up too late doing schoolwork. Andrew had just started these practices at the same time Daniel began is new job, so the late nights would have been a problem even if Daniel had not started a new job. Being able to go to the church to study is actually a blessing that would not have been an option before Daniel began working at the church. Daniel then takes Andrew to practice while I am at home doing homework with the other two boys. Christopher rides the bus to Kevin's school now and I pick the two of them up at one time. We then head home and begin homework immediately before they head out for practices. It is so much easier since we are able to divide and conquer.

We had to have some tough love lessons with Christopher this week. He was not doing the best at utilizing his time at school or home. We have tried taking the phone and facebook. Friends suggested Xbox but we do not have time for that during the week so that wouldn't help. What speaks to Christopher is sports. We took basketball away from Christopher until we saw an improvement on organization with schoolwork. School has always been easy for Christopher so he never had to really study. However, whether easy or hard, the workload in middle school is alot! It is amazing the change in Christopher when he learned that we had taken him off the basketball team. He is now playing basketball again and making great grades again. I even saw an improvement in his work ethics in sports this week. Tough love really hurt him and us but has paid off. Christopher has already studied for his Reading, Spelling and  Science tests for this week. And he has completed all of his English and Band homework. We are off to a great start for this week!

I remember in college that I always did better when I scheduled a full workload for the quarter (we had quarters not semesters). If I took 9 hours, I didn't utilize my time as well. I had too much time and would always put studying off til later. But if I took 12 hours I always did better in my classes because I knew I better utilize my time wisely. I think that is what is happening around here. We all know we better pack up the night before and have clothes ready to go. We know we better get homework and studying done when we can and not to put it off til later. We also know that it takes all five of us to make this schedule work. We are a team going after a common goal. Even though Daniel just added another workload to his schedule, I haven't seen him smile this much and enjoy a job (outside our family business) the way he does this one. God is good and knows better than we do! Who would have thought adding another job to our schedule would make our schedule work better. Praise Be To God!!!

The boys have been outside working in the garage and yard! My yard looks like Spring has Sprung. My trees and flowers are definitely confused on what season it is around here. Andrew and Daniel are now mowing the grass and blowing out the garage and patio. There is a bounce house in my driveway that we need to clean. Kevin has neighbors over jumping right now :) Christopher just finished all his schoolwork so he left to go to a neighbors to play. Life is good today!

Daniel left really early this morning to go open up the church. I am learning how to get three kids dressed, fed and out the door for church while also getting myself ready. We were actually on time! I met Daniel in Sunday School and then enjoyed our worship time in Big Church. We went out for a Cajun lunch complete with gumbo.

We are about to settle in for the Super Bowl! We were invited to go over to a neighbors but we decided to get our baths early and settle in for a quiet evening at home. Daniel is going to cook a steak dinner and enjoy not having to go anywhere!

We are feeling In The Zone around here now but Tuesday was Zoned Out!!! We did come up with a family solution and now we are working together as a family!