Today my boys are home sick. It's just a simple cold and I'm trying to keep it from turning into bronchitis again. By know you all know how much bronchitis LOVES to visit our family in the fall and winter seasons. Even though they are sick I'm not going to lie, I'm kinda happy we get an extra day at home. The weekend was FUN, but long. Went to 2 parties and a Lakers game (I'll blog about that tomorrow), that was just Saturday. Sunday we went to hang out with family in town and to celebrate my moms birthday.

There was way too much food and even with being a spaz (by trying to eat really well), I still went over my points. Darn it! I'm okay with it though, because it's not showing on the scale.

So today on this down day. I will be ...

1)
Working out to the 2nd DVD in the Zumba kit.
I did it last week and I just about cried. It's 1hr long and OH THE PAIN!

2)
I will be making something like this, because I love pretty reminders and check lists.
From Emilie Ahern




I hope you all have a great clean Monday.

I think we all have them.
Ya know, those sites and blogs you check daily.
Today I decided to share my ultimate five favs.


First up it Young House Love
They are the first blog I check everyday. I'm waiting to see the finished deck.
Every project they take on, I love the results. It's that simple.

Have you ever had one of those weeks with your kids???
My boys have always gotten along. I'm not joking... they really have. I hear moms say "I can't wait for them to go back to school" and that was never me. Something however snapped in the Sonboul home this last week...while home for Spring Break.

These two have gotten in more trouble then they ever have and every 5 minutes someone was hurt and crying. Needless to say... holy moly what a week it's been. I gave them things to do and we went to visit fun places. So it's not like they were bored. I'm a 100% believe that when kids get in trouble...they just need something to keep them busy. However this last week it didn't matter what I tried, they still fought and got in big trouble all week long.

I got to thinking and decided...this mama will be putting a stop to it! This is because even though we are in a new week, it's carrying over with the same issues. HELL WEEK you ask? Well I thought these boys needed to be reminded that we "their parents" have the last say and that I will not allow them to run wild. Hell week means, no TV, no games, not a mess allowed on their floor, no fighting, no wondering off at the store, no talking back and no anything else that I'll have to get upset over! They will be cleaning, homework, 5 minute showers, no playing around at dinner time, they may only read books for internment on down time, and they are in bed at 7pm! Basically no fun for 7 days and because I want them to see how much longer they have, I made a ring count down.

Daily, I give them 10 points and if they get down to no points...  they get in big time trouble ei: Have to eat something they hate or go to bed early. "Hell Week" is a name that the military uses in their last few weeks of training. They push the boys to be their best and so, I thought this strictness might work for "talking back" and "hurting each other" way too much!



Listen, I'm sure you might be thinking "she's crazy", but I don't care! I believe that parents rule the home and not sassy kids. Sometimes we need reminders for life's rules and that is exactly what this week will be. If they figure it out and start to listen better, I'll be nicer... if they push towards the naught, then I punish. I remember my dad doing simpler things to this and we all figured it out real fast. So here is hopping they do the same and figure it out. Yep they even did this last week...



So naughty right?! It's the window in their room. I'm sure it's going to cost over $200 to fix. We have the money to fix it, but it is lame that we have to fork out our money for something like this.  Today we are going through all the toys. It's "clean out time" and I will have no mercy! I'm sick of asking them to pick up the same things again and again and hearing "I can't find it". If they have too much stuff... no prob... we'll just get rid of things. I'm taking motherhood by the bullhorns and showing them how our home will be!

I'll let you know how it goes. Again, this behavior is normally not them and this is why I'm acting upon it so fast. This might be because Bradley is starting up "manhood" and is going through a "change", or just because they decided "nice" isn't cool anymore. Whatever it is... I will not allow my kids to be this crazy!
Wish me luck this week, because my patients will need it.

I know just about every mom thinks this thought at least once. I've had it happen about two times now. I guess in 3 years that's not too bad. Ya know how it goes, you head to the store to buy a few things and then forget to get those little bags for lunches.

The other morning it was a mad rush around our home (getting ready for school) and I realized as I was making sandwiches... "OH NO, I'm out of sandwich bags?". I stopped and thought, what would Macgyver's Mother do? And as clear as a bell, I came up with a life saving moment (well at least a lunch packing life saving moment).

Having kids makes it really hard to celebrate New Years as the rest of the world does. This year for the first time I promised the boys they could stay up for it, which is a BIG commitment for me. Our boys are ALWAYS in bed at 7pm and are asleep at 7:30/8pm. I told them that I would let this take place..."IF" they helped us clean the house from 8am-5pm. Once we had them agreeing (I don't know what kid wouldn't ;) haha) we went to work on this list. I admit it... this was a little "Cinderella-ish" , but they make 80% of the mess in this home so darn it... they are helping!


Now you can tell that I'm a bit of a spaz about cleaning and I like to be organized. I find that it helps get more things done, instead of losing out on projects in between. I know this makes me look like I get high off of 409. I promise I don't. I just love things cleaned for the new year. I'm happy to say that we got most of the stuff on this list done. The others I can finish tomorrow and throughout this new week. Anyways, enough about cleaning.

The boys loved being able to stay up and Bradley was so excited to hear about leap year. I started to think that Calvin was going to give out at 9pm, but having a late dinner helped him get to 11:30pm. That last 30mins was all dancing like mad people-teaching the boys how to do the worm, playing games (Blokus - our new favorite game) and making noise. As soon as the ball went down, the boys headed off to bed. They fell asleep so fast that it has to be a record for them.