a mom's life

I'm on the PTA this year.
It's a great responsibility. And amazing how this organization of moms gets money raised and things done for the school. They sure know how the system works. I don't understand half of what they're talking about. Just 'smile and nod' is still a good motto for me.
So I'm Beautification...which is totally ironic if you've ever stopped by my house unexpected.

Out of the many ideas I've proposed, one of them is happening soon! Pansy Day for the Kindergarteners. They'll be planting almost 200 pansies around the school grounds, plus a master gardener is coming to talk to them the day before. The idea came from another nearby elementary school that plants 800 every year! I decided to start small, and as I was organizing this, I felt like a project manager for Donald Trump. Definitely been juggling balls around here lately. But it's finally coming together.

Beautification also means hay bales and scarecrows out front in fall. Besides Juan Pablo's pumpkin contest, that's why I've been painting pumpkins for the last week.

Go bulldogs! (Although Isabela informed me that our football team is called the Miners...don't ask, something about school associations.)


I spray painted some tiny pumpkins our school colors, each having a letter to spell out the name of the school....and added this mascot, too. I found the pattern on pinterest. Did I mention I LOVE pinterest? Still do. If you paint your pumpkins, make sure to cover it with varnish so the paint doesn't wash off in the rain.


A busy mom equals lots of coloring on walls...and sometimes on paper.


And I finally gave in and decided to pay someone to clean the house. The kids!

They have a book fair next week and want to buy lots of books. I've posted a list on the fridge with all the chores and their monetary values. Last night they earned a total of six dollars....and I have a clean tub, folded and put away laundry, clean toilets, and shiny mirrors. I'm happy, and so are they.


There's one more thing I finally tried from the elusive mom manual I've always searched for: Listening. I've been struggling for years to figure out behavior charts, rewards, consequences...they're complicated, time-consuming, sometimes expensive.

But the other night, Joaquin told me, "If I knew I was on yellow or red, then I'd stop." My mind screamed, "What?" All this time, and he finally gave me the answer. See the school uses a color system...their card is changed from green to yellow to red, depending on their behavior. Sooooo, we started that here, too.
Ours works like this: Our colors are Green, Yellow, Red, and Black. Every day, they start on green. Outrageous behavior and unkindness will move their color. Kindness and helpfulness can move it back. Ending the day on anything but green will mean an extra chore the following day, for each color past green...so up to three chores. (Yes, Isabela ended on black one day.)

It's working. I'm happy and they're happy. Again.
I might finally be figuring this mom thing out.

Just look at this angel.

angry birds

Here's a sneak peak of our entry for JP's annual pumpkin contest at work.

I found a great tutorial on drawing the birds here.


He's even going to use our homemade blocks to set them up. It's got my vote!

ashland berry farm

If it weren't for this hay maze, I don't think my kids would have gone to the pumpkin patch this year. They just weren't interested.


But,....there's nothing like a rope swing to put smiles on their faces.


Not quite as easy as it looks.


If I could find a good branch, I'd definitely put one of these in our yard.


Those were some GIANT pumpkins.


Really, there's only three of them. Why is it so hard to get a shot with all of them?


So we headed out on the hayride. Isabela said, "This is definitely not safe." She's used to the covered wagon with metal sides keeping you from falling out. I know. Spoiled.

Some little people found their pumpkins and fell in love right away. Which also means they're ready to go sooner.


Others combed the fields with a fine toothed comb searching for just the right one.




At one point, I think I stopped Diego from turning the water on in the fields. Ohh, that would have been bad. Although now that I think about it, I'm sure a water tank is hooked up first. But the possibility is still funny.


The trick at this patch was 'all you could carry and take 3 steps with' for $20...the problem was... it was just me and the kids. We did a couple of practice runs in the field. We lost a few in the process, and I had to be rescued once by a nice woman passing by.


It was WAY harder figuring out how to get the nine pumpkins and three kids from the field to the hayride stop, than it actually was carrying them for the special.


Now, I'm not sure how long these pumpkins will last, but rolling them worked.