Thanksgiving

We were gone for Thanksgiving--we headed east--12 hours east. We went to see my PopPop, Uncle, Aunt and family. The car ride was long, but good. The kids did great. Baby Boy had one major melt-down where he screamed "OUT!" "OUT!" for a loooonnnggg time.

I ended up getting an ear infection while I was there--I have no idea where it came from. I don't even remember the last time I had one. Anyway, there it was, major ear pain 12 hours from home. I did okay though. Tylenol and motrin kept the pain away.

It was great spending time with family. The cousins played well together. Now that we are home we are trying to get back into some sort of routine. Easier said than done. On Pleasant View Schoolhouse, I read a post about deep cleaning one room each day. You can go here to see her method. I used a little of her method and mixed it with my own and today we deep cleaned the living room. I made 3x5 cards one for each room of the house. Each card has a list of the things that need to be done in that room. Then each day, one of the girls picks a card (without looking) and we clean that room. After the room is clean, I made a "Reward Chart" and the girls get to put a sticker for the room we cleaned. It worked. My living room is clean and sparkling. It almost made me want to just go ahead and clean the rest of the house! However, that's not a wise choice considering all the other things I need to get done in a day. Hopefully we will be able to keep the living room clean and then every day add another one to the clean side.

I used Pleasant View's idea about using fragrant cleaning water and furniture polish. I used a lemon~oil polish and lemon scented liquid lysol. For my windows, I just use hot water, a microfiber cloth and lots of elbow grease. I also make sure I dry it thoroughly with a cotton cloth. The girls took care of the walls and baseboards with the lysol water. We all put forth a lot of effort and Baby Boy did his part by putting toys away (and by getting into the tub and pouring shampoo over his hair--but we're focusing on the positive here).

Well, at the current schedule, we'll be done the whole house Wednesday of next week. Yippee!