My Bookshelf

We started school this past week, which means that we have a new daily schedule!  With this new schedule, I was able to build in some reading time for myself.  YIPPEE!  I found that Matthew and Jonathan go to sleep faster and sleep longer if I sit in their room until they fall asleep for their nap.  (Of course, I do have to remind them to be quiet, lie down, and close their eyes!)  So, now I sit in their room and read to myself while the girls are reading in the living room.  It's a good thing because I have a huge backlog on my bookshelf.  This is what I am hoping to read in the coming months during my reading time:

A Letter to my Grandpa

My grandpa is turning 95 in just a few days. For the occasion, I sent him our most recent family photo along with this letter about our family. After reading it, my husband thought it was worthy of a post, so I really hope you enjoy reading it, too!

Dear Grandpa K,

Happy 95th birthday! Boy, 95 years sounds like a really long time! The girls and I put exactly 95 heart stickers inside the numerals. It took us a long time, so we concluded that 95 years is indeed a very long time!

We are really enjoying living in our new home in Orange County, California! Would you believe that we have lived here for more than a year and have not used the air conditioning once??? Although it does get hot during the day, we live close to the ocean so it is cools off considerably at night. There are also very few bugs here, which is, for us, a welcome change from mosquito-infested New Orleans. I do, however, miss the fall colors and the winter snows that you get to experience! Every time I fill up the gas tank, I find myself wondering if perhaps we should relocate!

David enjoys his job teaching and researching at UC Irvine. He will be applying for tenure this year, which is actually a year-long process. I really enjoy homeschooling the children, although I never imagined myself as a stay-at-home mom, let alone a homeschooler!

Mary is now seven and has so many interests I can’t keep up! She loves to play soccer, sew, knit, and read. Her favorite subject is history; her favorite games are chess and Scrabble. Right now, she aspires to be the first woman president!

Maggie will turn five in just a few weeks. She is such a bubbly little girl and wants more than anything to be a mom! She loves to play with her baby dolls and help me with the cooking and cleaning. Even though she’s only five, she does an excellent job folding laundry! She is also very excited about her first soccer season this fall.

Matthew and Jonathan are two years old and certainly keep me running. I often marvel at how you raised my dad and Uncle Jim because I now know what a handful they must have been. The twins like to speak to one another in their own language and get a bit frustrated with the rest of us to whom it remains a mystery. They are the best of friends and can get into a lot of trouble in a hurry. They have been known to raid the refrigerator early in the morning, unload their dresser drawers during naptime, and bail water from the toilet. Even so, they are a bundle of fun for which we are ever grateful!

Josiah is now five months old and is learning new tricks every single day. He smiles for just about anyone who crosses his path and is a pretty easy-going little guy, except that he still wakes up a LOT at night. He’s a toughy and doesn’t even cry for shots or nail trimmings! As the youngest of five, he also tolerates thousands of kisses and whacks!

We hope that you have a wonderful 95th birthday celebration surrounded by your loved ones who are close. Our family is celebrating this milestone with you from sunny California.

Much love,
David, Maura, Mary, Maggie, Matthew, Jonathan, and Josiah Mobley

Update on 2013 Goals

Just when I was feeling pretty accomplished in the goal achievement department, I fell behind!  My goal for July was to revamp our Christmas devotions.  It's now almost the end of August and my progress is still hovering at zero percent!  Why did I let this happen???  No good reason!

Lame Excuse #1: I was too busy deep-cleaning the house.

Lame Excuse #2: I was too busy shoveling road base and transporting retaining wall caps and pavers.

Lame Excuse #3: I was too busy feeding Josiah, who has yet to realize the benefits of sleeping at night.

Lame Excuse #4: I was too busy playing Scrabble with Mary.

Lame Excuse #5: I was too busy playing Imaginets with Maggie.

Lame Excuse #6: I was too busy cleaning up after my two tornadoes.

Lame Excuse #7: I was too busy planning our school year.

Lame Excuse #8: I was too busy watching Call the Midwife.

Lame Excuse #9: I was too busy comparing the Vitamix to the Blendtec.

Lame Excuse #10: I forgot.

My goal for August was to go through The Child's First Catechism with Mary and Maggie.  We started going through the questions and answers at the beginning of the summer but somehow ran out of steam.  I am ready to pick it up again this week!  

I was feeling pretty crummy about my progress, but then I noticed that my goal for September was to transfer Matthew and Jonathan to toddler beds.  YAY!  This goal, which I totally forgot about, has been completed for some time now!  The transition has not exactly been smooth sailing, but I think we finally have things figured out.  Nighttime usually goes really well, but naptime is tricky.  Left to themselves, the boys will talk to each other for a long time, like two hours, and then eventually fall asleep.  Then, they wake up groggy and famished and really, really grumpy!  So, I have found that it works best if I bring a book I am reading into their room and read silently until they fall asleep.  Whatever works, right?  

Park Hopping

After many a frustrating morning, I finally figured out that the day goes so much better if we start it off at the park! We are very fortunate and have lots of parks within walking distance.  This summer, we have been taking advantage of each and every one!  The park is such a happy place for me.  I can sit and nurse Josiah.  All the kids play happily with squabbles requiring parental intervention being few and far between. The pictures speak for themselves:)

Urey Park

Lower Pool Park 

Vista Bonita Park

Gabrielino Park

The Secret Park

University Park--this one is actually not within walking distance, but it is right next to the public library.  The library doesn't open until 10 am, so we usually go and play at the park and then head over to the library.

Summer Cleaning Frenzy

I don't really know how, but I got into some sort of cleaning frenzy this summer! Maybe it's an indication of the level of filth that had become normal and acceptable to us, ha, ha! Seriously, have you ever noticed that as soon as you clean one thing, you notice five other things that are also in need of attention? This is how it happened in our home.

I started with my favorite room in the house, the kitchen. The kitchen is to me like the garage is to David. It is my safe haven.  I like it to be clean because I spend so much of my time there!  After almost a year of neglect, though, the cabinets were looking pretty dirty, so I started by taking everything out and cleaning the shelf paper and putting everything back. Of course, in the process, cabinets and drawers got reorganized, extraneous jars recycled and three champagne flutes broken. After the kitchen cabinets were cleaned inside, though, I noticed that they were really dirty on the outside. I tried just cleaning them with soap and water, but they still seemed kind of lackluster, so I splurged on Murphy's oil soap. Ahhhh...beautiful cabinets (of course, they are already dirty again, but I enjoyed them for a short time.) Then, I cleaned the dishwasher, the refrigerator and the oven. I even cleaned the stove to an impressive shine with vinegar! It was really nice to look at, so nice that I avoided cooking anything for a little while. I know...don't you feel bad for my family???

I'm kind of an all-or-nothing type person, so I moved on to the rest of the cabinets. We have a big cabinet in the hall used for linens, one in each of our two bathrooms, one in the living room used for books and games, and several in the laundry room. Everything came out. Shelves were cleaned. Almost everything went back in a more orderly fashion. And, again, Murphy's oil soap made the cabinets beautiful, for a little while at least!

Cabinets done!  Next, I really wanted to tackle the grout. Our neighbors, Bob and Terry, held an open house as an opportunity to meet everyone on the block. All I could think about the whole time we were there was, "Wow!  This grout is really clean!"  Oh, the deep thoughts that I have as a mom!  I am ashamed to admit that never before had I even contemplated cleaning grout. That's pretty bad considering we lived previously owned a house with floor tile in the kitchen and living room, the most heavily used areas! To give you an idea of how big this task was I think I need only tell you that we have floor tile in the kitchen, bathrooms, and laundry room and that I have five children. I was encouraged, though, when I read a few blogs indicating that Oxi-Clean will clean floor tile effortlessly.  Ha, ha, that was funny, right? Sure, it may have worked if I put some blinders on!  Maybe the fact that this didn't work for me is some indication of just how dirty my grout was!  Regardless, I resorted to  the bleach and baking soda solution.  I made a paste by mixing bleach and baking soda and applied it to the grout with a toothbrush and let it sit for at least 15 minutes. Then, I just wiped it clean with a cloth and water. Ahhhh...clean grout!

Once the floors were clean, though, the grout on the bathroom counters and in the shower looked really dingy.  Then, I noticed the shower door had a lot of soap scum on it. You may be wondering why I didn't notice that all these things were dirty before?  Ummm...don't go there!  I found an amazing solution for the shower door online: a paste of baking soda and vinegar. I applied the paste to the door and let it sit for 15 minutes and then wipes it clean with a wet cloth.  Yay!  An effortless solution that actually works!  Afterwards, I cleaned the door and window with Rain X 2-in-1 glass cleaner to help repel water and prevent the soap scum build-up, not my idea, of course I found it online somewhere!

About this time, I think my husband started asking me WHEN I was going to be done with the spring cleaning! He reminded me that I have five children!

But, the walls were covered with marks from little fingers, toes, tongues, and noses, not to mention the occasional runaway marker.  I really tried not to worry about them, since we are planning to repaint next summer anyways, but my OCD kicked in!  My mother-in-law had given me some magic erasers for Christmas, which I thought were at least worth a try.  I thought I would just use the one package and be happy with semi-clean walls.  I used the entire package on the kitchen walls.  Mr. Clean now has a loyal customer.  I seriously spent a small fortune on the magic erasers and cleaned every mark off of the walls in this house.  My husband was so impressed that he said, "Wow!  This house hasn't been this clean since we moved in."  My revelry in cleanliness was very, very brief.  Somehow, the little fingers, toes, tongues and noses have already gotten to the walls:(

Then, I tackled baseboards and doors!  One nifty trick I read online was to go over the baseboards with a dryer sheet after cleaning to repel dust and dirt in the future.

Again, my husband asked WHEN I was going to be done spring cleaning. He reminded me that I have five children.

Since the Murphy's oil soap made the cabinets look so nice, I decided to clean all of the furniture with it. In the process, I even cleaned up all the glops of wood glue. I came to realize two things. First, I really like the smell of good ole Murphy's. Second, my husband's handiwork is all over our house! I'm so thankful for him and all the hard work he has put into sanding and finishing and staining just about every piece of furniture we own!

Somewhere in the process, I reorganized closets and bookshelves and drawers...and then I tackled the blinds and windows. Can I just say right now that we have way too many windows! Light is so overrated! It took forever to clean the blinds. First, I dusted them off with a brush. Then, I cleaned each individual slat with a paper towel soaked in vinegar. Some blogs say you can do this with a sock or a glove, but it didn't work for me:( Then, I went over each slat with a dryer sheet to repel dust build-up in the future. After the blinds were clean, I cleaned the screens with soap and water in the bathtub. Since we are in the process of landscaping the backyard, cleaning them outside was not an option! Then, I cleaned the windows inside and out.  Of course, there are streaks, but, eh, I was getting kind of burnt out by this point.

Again, my husband asked WHEN I was going to be done with the spring cleaning.  He reminded me that  I have five children.

But, I just couldn't live with myself if I continued to allow my children to play with dirty toys, so I decided that they really needed to be cleaned!  Ordinarily, I think the disinfecting wipes are a huge waste of money for household purposes, but I bought them for the kids to use to clean the toys. When I started to clean the wooden blocks, my husband stepped in and told me I was taking things a bit too far. I thank God for that man!

The downside of spring cleaning is that I have come up with a lot of home improvement ideas for my husband to execute in 2014!!!  The upside is that the kids are going to be really happy for school to start!!!

Mary cleaning the shopping cart!

Maggie cleaning the stacking rings!

Matthew cleaning the magnets!

Jonathan cleaning the magnets!

Cute picture of Josiah and Daddy!

The Newly Organized Kids' Bathroom

After nine months I finally became sufficiently frustrated with the lack of organization in the kids' bathroom. It seemed I was always in search of a hairbrush or hanging a washcloth that was left on the counter or retrieving someone's toothbrush from a sibling's mouth! A google search led me to this.  That was exactly what we needed!  So, David went to the hardware store and bought five hose clamps, five hooks, and one big piece of wood.  He sawed the wood into five equal pieces.  I went to Target and bought red, purple, and blue plastic cups, painted and mod-podged the wood.  Then, David attached the hose clamps and hooks to the wood and attached the wood to the wall.  So far, the new organization is working out great, which is to say that washcloths are being hung up to dry and toothbrushes and hairbrushes are easily found in the appropriate cups (not in siblings' mouths)!  I'm so thankful for my handy husband who is ever willing to execute my crazy home-improvement projects!

Swimming Lessons!

One of the many perks of David's employment at UCI is swimming lessons in our backyard (practically).  UCI offers inexpensive lessons at the recreational center on a regular basis.  In addition, for two weeks in the summer, they offer swimming lessons for children ages 3 and up at one of our neighborhood pools.  This was super-easy for me.  I just loaded Matthew and Jonathan in the stroller and Josiah in the Ergo and we all walked together a short ways to the pool three days a week for two weeks.  There is even a park next to the pool where the boys can play while the girls swim.

It has been a real joy to watch the girls improve and gain confidence in the water!  Maggie took Level 1 and is able to jump in and swim to her instructor.  She uses "big arms", blows bubbles, and kicks all at the same time!  Mary took Level 2 and can swim the whole width of the pool using freestyle and backstroke! Not only were the lessons super-convenient, but I was also really pleased with the instructors.  They taught skills but also made the time really fun for the kids! 

Gloria, Mary and Matte!

Maggie with sub Emily!

Matthew and Jonathan had a great time playing with the umbrellas!