Awana's Pine Wood Durby

As the school year comes to an end, and sping is knocking on summer's door; I began to look back at what Kindergarten brought to our home and this is one event I apparently overlooked in our memory book/blog.  Back in oh let's say November... yes it's been that long. William and Cade participated in the Pinewood Durby through a local Awana's program.

Michael, William, and Cade all worked together to create the hottest race cars around.
Cade chose blue (left) and William chose red (Middle).  On your mark, get set, GO!!

AND THE WINNER IS....

WILLIAM!!! IN 1st PLACE FOR SPEED

CADE!!! IN 2nd PLACE FOR DESIGN

We are so proud of our little racers! Great Job boys!!

Poor Brennan, had to stay in the stroller the entire time, b/c he couldn't leave the cars alone... Poor guy!  He didn't feel like much of a winner, and made sure everyone around knew it! 

Get Organized!!

With a new business, homeschool, general paperwork, coupons, and, and, and.... Sometimes I feel like I'm swimming in paperwork that I have no idea what to do with.  I find myself moving stacks from here to there and back again, never quite knowing how to organize/handle all the "stuff" that I had collected.

Well about a week ago a professional organizer came and spoke to our homeschool group and here is the method that she recommended for immediate organization for paperwork. She used a stack able drawer system much like the one found here...


Each drawer was labeled


Take Action (address in 2-3 days)
To Calendar
Bills to Pay
Hold for 30 days (can hold on to this for a month, then it must be taken care of or thrown away)
Business Stuff
To Be Filed


A few other tips that were shared where...

1. Make sure you are passing some age appropriate jobs to your children. This is not only a way to help yourself, but starts a legacy of put together/clean homes for your families future.
2. Start with baby steps. Don't overwhelm yourself with a master organization plan. Instead, start with one drawer, one shelf, one closet, one room... As you go, your will notice huge changes from the baby steps you are taking.
3. Stay in one area at a time.  While you are taking baby steps in one room, make sure to assure your success with three simple boxes.  Each labeled (Donate/Sale, Belongs Elsewhere, Trash). By implementing these simple boxes, you don't find yourself distracted and jumping from one room to another.
4. Remember to stick with it. Spend 5-10 minutes every evening placing things back in there forever home.  That way you don't have to go through the entire process again, next year!
5. Use products, like baskets, plastic boxes, or my favorite... Large Utility Totes from Thirty-One Gifts  to group like products and create "forever" homes for your belongings.

Start now and stick with it!! Your home, attitude, stress level and life will drastically change! I think we are all nicely surprised when we accomplish the task of organizing! I have to tell you I'm a bit of a self proclaimed organizer, so if you have any questions or need help brainstorming on any problem areas of your home, I would be happy to help, just shoot me a comment or email me at  m.a.caldwell@hotmail.com


Happy Homemaking Everybody!!

Is the toothfairy real?

Mythical Characters have always been a struggle for me. On one hand I feel like I am lying to my children, leading them away from Truth and morals that are weaved into my soul.  On the other hand, I don't want to steal away the innocents and magic of their childhood. There are too many other things in this world that will do that for me.

So far, we have taken the side to keep mythical characters, but not build them up...

We have kept Santa, but downplay his gifts and build up Jesus' birthday. 
We have kept Easter baskets on Easter Sunday, but side stepped actually verbalizing who supposedly brought the baskets.
  

And now, William has his 4th loose tooth, and we are about to face the question again.... "Is the toothfairy real? "

Your probably wondering why I'm just now dealing with this question, and how I have gotten by the last three teeth with out having to answer it? Well it went something like this...

Tooth #1, William didn't really know the "tradition" is to put the tooth under your pillow and get $$ back, so we didn't really say anything.  Of course, the instant one person saw that he has recently lost a tooth they asked the question I had feared, "What did the toothfairy bring you?".  I cringed as the words came out of her mouth, and William turned around and shot me a look of inquiry. He instantly knew he had missed out on something, he just wasn't sure what.  We moved on through the store and by the time we got home, he had forgotten all about it.

Tooth #2, was lost during Christmas Vacation, and he literally lost it... It was such a non-issue to him, so we let that go by also. By the way, we never found that tooth. I'm sure it's floating around my parents house somewhere.

Tooth #3, was pulled one afternoon, a brief question about the alleged toothfairy was brought up, to which I responded, "I don't know what do you think?" He walked off to think about it, and never got back to me. We ended up leaving the tooth on the counter for 2-3 days, had a quick Science lesson on types of teeth, and... that's about it!

I have completely dodged the bullet!! But I know my time is coming.

Tooth #4, it is hanging on by a thread. And I know any day now it is going to fall out and I will again be faced with the question, "Is the toothfairy real?" 

We have decisions to make and quick!! We have a few ideas on how we would like to handle this in our family, but I'm curious to see what you think!

 If I call out one mythical character, does it mean an automatic out for all of them? 
Is it really even that big of a deal?

Do you follow traditions and let the magic live on? 
Do you flat out say it's not real and not participate in the myth?
 Do you tell your kids it's not real, but it is fun and do it anyways?  

How do you handle Mythical Characters with your kids, and Why?

Spring Salads On Blissfully Domestic.com

Looking for some great menu ideas for the upcoming weekend?  Cooking out and need a side?  We have got you covered... Check it out!
Simple Salad Recipes for Spring On Blissfully Domestic.com

Williams Comic Books:

(William, 6 years old, wants to be a comic book illustrator and writer when he grows up. He practices drawing/tracing/copying his favorite comic characters and stories daily. William used his Fisher-Price camera, took pictures of his drawings, and asked me to download them on here for everyone to see.  He then gave me all the dialog of the comic... so I'm not promising grammer or typing perfection... enjoy everyone! This is all William! )

Transformers: Animated Volume 8, Return of Guard

Written by: William Luke Caldwell
Illustrated by: William Luke Caldwell

This is a big clean up job. Even for big guys like us. "Hey, where is Bumble Bee?", said Bunkhead. "Isn't he supposed to be helping too?", asked Optimus Prime.

 Elsewhere at Sumdak Tower. "Isn't it time that you just do something?" says Dr. Sumdak. "Why is the point that your dad is missing?". "No he's my dad and if I were missing he would do the same thing for me", Said Sari.

 "Ok boss lady. but you might want to take a look at this." says Bumble Bee.  "Hold my calls, I need a break." says Sari.

 "Did you guys see that?" says Prowl. "It's kind of hard to miss," says Ratchet. "Autobots transform and roll out", says Optimus Prime.

 The Autobots race to downtown detour. VROOM!

 The ship crashes in the park. "Robots!?  why does it have to be robots?" says the army captain.

 "No captain. Make your men stand down.  Let us handle this" says Optimus Prime. The main hatchet opens at the bottom of the ship.

 The Autobots line up to meet their commander come off the ship. Ultra Magnus, Centinal Prime, and Jazz all come out of the ship. "Jazz, put a force field around the ship to protect it from the humans." said Ultra Magnus.

 "Commander, we have just started cleaning up after battling Megatron and the Decepticons", said Optimus Prime.

 "Come on Bumble Bee", Says Bulkhead. They get closer to the ship before Jazz cuts them off with the force field.

 Somewhere deep, close to the river. "And so I will sneak attack cyberton" says Megatron. "What do you need me for Megatron, I'm a bounty hunter, not a mercenary fighter," says Lockdown. "I've got quite a bounty for you, Lockdown. I need you to capture one of the Autobots' space bridges." says Megatron.

"Now you are talking my programming language, Lockdown out".  Back at the Auto bots secret headquarters, Since someone took sari's home away, the Auto bots let her live in the secret headquarters with them.

After that the Auto bots went back to the meeting of the all spark. "What the all spark is destroyed?!?", Ultra Magnus, Centinel Prime, and Jazz yell together.

"Not completely destroyed, just part of his energy was destroyed,"says Optimus Prime. "Why don't you stand up for yourself big guy?"says Bulkhead. "Because he knows his place." says Centinal Prime.  "How about I put you in your place?" says Bulkhead. 

"Why do we hide here like mole rats?" says Lug nut.  There is a sound patrol machine so we don't have to worry about the Auto bots, "says Mega tron.

"That sounds crazy, even to me!" says the guy that is two vehicles.

That night, the Auto bots search for the new Decepticon, but it isn't a Decepticon it's a robot body with a human controlling it. "Well, I felt that. It hurt!" says Centinal Prime. "I wasn't trying to tear apart your body, I was trying to keep your body from putting the shield spikes in my face." says Optimus Prime.

A few minutes later... In the Auto bots secret headquarters. "Arn't you  guys tearing stuff up?" says Prowl. "No, we are trying to make Sari happy, but on accident we are not trying to make stuff worse, but we are." says Bumble Bee.

Optimus Prime, beats the headmasters robot and hits him in the head with the battle ax.

THE END!