September 16, 2008

Early to bed, early to rise...

I've learned something about this getting up early thing- it's a big secret...are you ready for it??

You have to go to bed earlier!


Wow I bet you didn't see that one coming. Yeah, well, it's a lot harder than it seems. My husband doesn't usually get home from work until around 6:15-6:30, then we eat dinner, clean up, have some family time, get the kiddies ready for bed, go through the bedtime ritual, then it's about 8 or so, then if he has some things that he needs to do such as water the garden etc. that takes time, then it's 9pm and we haven't spent any time together, and so on...

Shortly before 5am this morning my oldest woke up crying and wouldn't settle back down, so she ended up sleeping between mama and daddy until 6:30 or so. We're all tired...we didn't get to bed till after 11pm last night :(

So, any ideas? I know I could set dinner time earlier and me and the girls could eat then and get everything cleaned up etc. But, I really want us to all eat together. I am generally the only one who cleans up after meals. The girls can only do so much to help without me having to go back over it later, so sometimes after they go to bed I finish up the kitchen and any meal preps for the next day. My husband will sometimes help, but I don't usually ask. He is such a help with getting them ready for bed etc.

Hmmm, thinking here...paper plates?? We stopped those for awhile due to budget. I try really hard to get most of the work done early in the day so I can have free time in the evenings and be able to get to bed by 10pm.

Oh, I have another problem. Every week Leiah brings home lots of neat artwork and worksheets that she has done throughout the week. I don't know what to do with them! I don't want to keep them all, but I hate to throw them away. Alexa makes things during the week too that I want to keep. After a whole year I would have tons of papers!!!


I have something of substance to blog about as well...maybe later after the coffee wakes up my brain :)

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I know what you mean about early to bed. We've been going to bed at 10:30 at I feel so much better in the morning. The whole day actually!

What about feeding the girls before your hubby gets home. I know you should eat together as a family but sometimes it just doesn't work when you have small children. Thay way clean up finished before he gets home and you have a boost on bedtime. Just a thought. :)

As for school papers...I know you want to keep them all but keep only the really good ones. When they aren't looking you are going to have to toss the other ones. It breaks my heart when I have to do it. I keep the good ones in a folder/scrapbook.

Hugs!

Shannon L. Fowler said...

I'm not sure what advice to give about getting up early. Maybe try to get in a nap during the day?

About the art work: Maybe you can display the papers for the week, then pick your or dd's favorite and put it in a notebook? I know a woman that had some of her favorites framed into a BIG frame and hung some in her family room! It was neat!

Don't know if that helped at all! I hope you find some solutions.

God Bless,
Shannon in NC

Tereza said...

I display artwork for a while...then throw it away. Sometimes I take a pic of the real good or favorite ones and add it to my blo. That way I have a record of it.

Anonymous said...

display artwork for a while... than, make photos and keep them on CD.
Throw away papers (at least some of it)

Anonymous said...

I'm working on the whole go-to-bed-earlier and get up earlier thing as well...

Our dinners tend to be around 6:30ish, and the children's bedtimes are 8pm or so.

I try to do what I can, so that table chores after dinner goes quickly. Therefore, I find time while dinner is simmering or baking, to clean any dishes accrued from the cooking.

Then, after dinner, each child does their assigned table chores while I do mine, and hubby puts his feet up in the living room, after a hard day's work.

Next, we hang out together as a family, and kids take turns with shower's baths.

If we all got up earlier, then we'd have more all together time in the mornings, before hubs heads off to work, so that's what we're working on right now.

Also, about all the art work being brought home. You could 1) store them all in scrapbooks or binders, ot 2) take pictures of them, and saved them on your hard drive, so that you guys can look at the art work digitally, whenever you want.

You may want to do option 1, but have her pick out 3 or her favorite pieces each week, and let her scrapbook them. The other can be sent to relatives, given to neighbors, and some stored away for future gifts or circular filing.

Mrs. Darling said...

I scrapbook my childrens artwork. I have a scrapbook for each and I only keep the good pieces. It doesnt even take a lot of time because usually their artwork is on a full page. I just stick it in a plastic sleeve in the scrapbook and its preserved. The rest of the art work I hang on to a couple of days to see if it means anything to them then I throw it out.