Put it in your box

I have often been asked how I organize my kid's school work. With at least 6 kids in school, all of them coming home daily with overflowing backpacks and folders this has been no easy feat. The system I started way back when Kara was in kindergarten has stood the test of time for us and has helped to keep my sanity and a little less clutter in our busy bustling household.



In my pantry (or behind my couch in our old house) each child has a box. This box is where they put everything that comes home. I look through the backpacks each day, jot down in my planner due dates etc, and then they put it all in their box. By the end of the year the boxes are overflowing.

The first week of summer is when I sort (Or I pay my daughter who is desperately trying to earn money for EFY to sort for me). One by one each box is emptied and sorted into piles. One pile for spelling tests, one for math papers, art projects, writing assignments, etc. When it is all sorted I then go through each pile and pick one or two papers from each pile to represent that subject. The rest goes in a big trash sack. Generally, I don't let the younger kids see what I am throwing out because they want to keep everything. I keep all of the awards, notes from teachers, and anything that is journal like. My older kids now can sort their own. They know to take a sample from each class they took and they know that most of it can be thrown out. When I am done I have a nice, neat, and relatively small stack of papers, awards and art projects that is a pretty good overview of the year. I then put that pile in a file folder with my child's name, teacher, school and year on it. (This process is a little time consuming, but my kids help me and it is so satisfying to finish and haul the huge bag of trash out to the recycle bin.)

And then I happily file it away. Kara's box is almost full. One more folder to add and then her box is complete. I like that when she gets married or moves out I will hand her this box, one simple box filled with her work from pre-school to senior year, all organized and neat. Just the way I like things!

family fun night

One random summer night we unexpectedly found ourselves ALL at home at the same time. This rarely happens and so we took advantage of it. We declared it a Family Fun night. And that's just what it became.

Complete with a rip roaring tic-tac-toe tournament.

If I remember right that squatting hobbit like man took home the trophy.

A little limbo.

Look at that boy bend.

We took a leisurely stroll around the neighborhood, ate some treats and then the kids braved the elements and slept on the trampoline. I totally expected them to trickle in as the night progressed, but they all stayed out there all night. The next morning Brandon had 38 mosquito bites on his arms alone, but it was worth it they said.

A night with family filled with fun (and a few mosquitoes).

Family=Fun

(for at least one night around here!)

My son

My son got his learners permit way back in February and we have been driving buddies ever since.



My son is now taller than me.

My son's voice is getting so deep, I hardly recognize it.

My son just outgrew the church pants I bought him three weeks ago.

My son came home from EFY a new man. A very social man.

My son just opened a facebook account.

My son buys his clothes in the Men's section now.
(OK, I buy his clothes in the men's section)

My son has a great sense of humor (or so I've been told)

Did I mention my son is driving all around the town?




My son is growing up and there's not a darn thing I can do about it!

Tangled

Headbands- one dollar

Yellow Yarn- two dollars

Knot tying and braiding skills- free

Two happy Rapunzel's running all over my house- PRICELESS!

time for tea

Every Spring the upper class Allred women get together for an elegant tea party.


We enjoy being outside in the beautiful Spring weather.

We enjoy a table full of dainty and delicious finger foods.

(Kara's favorite memory, the rose flavored jello!)

We enjoy visiting and visiting and visiting with the ladies.

We enjoy a little croquet.

We enjoy posing as if we lived in England in the early 1900's.

And of course, we enjoy our "tea."

It was a delightful day!

Cheerio!

This boys got talent

My cross eyed whistler.

And a good one at that.

Oh, and he's reading big ole chapter books.

Love him and all his amazing talents.

A Knight's Tale

"Mom, I need a costume for some Medieval thing we are doing in school.

And it needs to be good, because they are filming us for TV.

Oh, and I need it by tomorrow."

Now, I have a few costumes laying around, and I can usually throw something together, but this particular request warranted a call to Trevor's fabulous Aunt Anya who is the queen of costumes.(I mean come on, we are talking about TV here!) Seriously, her hobby is researching and gathering or making authentic costumes. Her collection is AMAZING and so is she! And so at 10:30 PM the night before the big festival Trevor, Brandon and I found ourselves being outfitted and educated on how a true Knight would dress for battle. We left with a trunk full of... well, you'll see.

The underclothes.

Brandon was particularly intrigued with the leggings. He was a little hesitant. And what 12 year old boy wouldn't be slightly nervous to wear leggings to school in front all of his peers. But, he slipped them on and continued to dress. The best was yet to come.


The chain mail.


Which was hand made painstakingly piece by piece by Aunt Anya's son. It took him a whole summer to make it and it weighs a ton. It took 2 of us to get it on him.


It was AWESOME!



Almost done.



My knight in shining chain mail.

I walked to school with him that day. Heads were turning as he clinked his way through the halls towards his classroom. He was a little nervous, a little embarrassed and a little proud because his was by far the best costume there. The 6th graders were all abuzz with excitement for the "Knights of Mayhem" program to begin.

The show consisted of this knight

Verses this knight.

They did several demonstrations. They even put a melon on top of the principals head and then sliced it in half with a sword as they rode by on a horse.

Impressive.

And of course, there was jousting!

There was lots of jousting.

(It only took about 15 shots to actually get both horses in the picture)

My knight did not joust, but did get his picture taken by the National Geographic photographer (no doubt due to his costume), and his picture taken with the jousting World Champion. After the show he insisted on wearing his costume for the rest of the day at school. I don't know how he did it, that chain mail weighed as much as he did.

When he got home and 2 of us helped him get all of the gear off, he literally collapsed from carrying around that weight all day. He was exhausted, happy and an absolute filthy mess from all of the metal. Tis the life of a Knight, I guess.

It was definitely a day and a "knight" to remember.

Thanks Aunt Anya.

4th of july

Once again we really liked stretching the 4th of July holiday over a nice long, jam packed weekend.

Here are a few of the things we filled that weekend with:

The traditional barbecue in Grandpa's backyard. I'm telling you, it is the best place for a barbecue. Add Grandma's famous potato salad and you've got yourself a perfect afternoon.

The Freedom Festival parade.

One of the highlights this year was the Star Wars entry and a little visit from Darth Maul.

Relaxing at the Cracker Barrel.

Rockers, checkers, blueberry pancakes and browsing through the country store.

Classic 4th of July.

A patriotic Sunday afternoon treat to cool off with.
And some patriotic hymns in church. My favorite.

Over the top shakes, a spectacular view and sipping lemonade on my parents balcony.

Heaven.

And obviously we had to satisfy the pyros in our family with a firework or two.

Happy 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th of July!

And Happy Birthday America.

I'm so glad you were born.

soaked

The annual 4th of July water fight.

It just wouldn't be the 4th without it.

We were well equipped and ready to go this year.


Water balloons, coolers, guns, hoses...and of coarse a little water.

We knew what we wanted.

We wanted victory.

We set up barricades.

Sometimes we turned on our own.

We got a little wet.

Soaked might be a better word.

But would it really be a water fight, if we weren't wet?

Not a very fun one.

This one was intense, but we prevailed.

Yep, Travis that's right.

My blog. My opinion. My conclusion.

We won!

We totally won!

Until next year Uncle Travis.

I would start preparing now if I were you.

We going for a "threepeat!"

Colonial Days

Our annual trip to Colonial Days over the 4th of July weekend.

It never fails to deliver.

Rich in history, steeped in tradition with a few new additions this year that I wanted to capture.

The firing of the cannon.

Not new this year, but always a favorite.

Covering of the ears is a must!

Piece by piece my kids put on the armor of a time long past, with an explanation for every article.

Of coarse, the swords were their favorites.



Alyssa carded a little wool, a skill she will undoubtedly be happy she has and will most likely be able to use in the future, don't ya think?

We locked up and left a few kids in the stockades.

And finally the most exciting "new" thing this year at good ole Colonial Days.

Introducing SAUSAGE ON A STICK!

My kids walked by this booth and HAD to have one.

And their dad, a big sausage fan, willingly obliged.

He, in fact, bought three.

Hopefully they will have more sausages hot and sizzlin next year because we will be back!

Family Motto 2011

Lets pretend it's January 1st and not July 1st.

Lets pretend I am not, oh, 6 months behind on some of my posts.

Lets pretend its the beginning of the year and we are just introducing our family's motto for 2011.

All pretending aside, here is our motto or theme for the year. We talked about this in January. I made the signs. I hung them on the fridge and on every bathroom mirror. We had a big Family Home Evening on our goal.

And now 6 months later I am finally returning and reporting on it.

This motto or theme had been floating around in my head for a long time. The more I thought about it the more I realized how much returning and reporting we do in this church.

We talked to our kids about how we return and report our home and visiting teaching each month.

How we return and report on how we feel we fulfilled each calling when we are released.

*How we return and report our tithing to our Bishop at the end of each year.

How missionaries return and report daily on their missions and then one final return and report when they have completed their missions.

We talked a little about how there is quite a bit of returning and reporting done in the temple.

We discussed how at the close of each day we personally return and report to our Heavenly Father in prayer on the events of the day.

And we emphasized how every single soul will have one final return and report at the feet of their Maker, where they will be ultimately accountable for every single action in their lives.

And from there we then laid out our "return and report" expectations.
Along with all the above returning and reporting we told our kids that they need to return and report to us in all of the following situations. Our kids now know they are expected to return and report:

*after school

*after dates

*after parties they attend

*after playing at a friends house (did you play a game system the whole time?)

*after church or at Sunday dinner (what did you learn at church today?)

We also told them we expect them to return and report about:

*bullying

*pornography

*bad choices made by friends

*inappropriate things on TV or in books

*any problems or questions

*any fears they might have

*positive experiences

*spiritual experiences

*how their lives in general are going

Yes, there is a lot of returning and reporting going on around here for not only our kids, but for all of us. And that's just the way it should be, not only for 2011, but forever!