Parents the Anti Drug

Drugs destroy dreams...more then just a cleaver marketing line.
2008 statistics are staggering:
30% of 8th graders have used alcohol, meaning more then a sip.
By 12th grade the percentage jumps to 66%.
10% of 8th graders smoke marijuana and over 30% of 12th graders do
Perscription drug use is the new trend as there is social acceptance and a false sense that it is safer then street drugs.

Whats a parent to do? 
Stay Informed.  Have you heard of the new trend, that is actually legal? K-spice, spice or k12 as it is frequently called. It can be in bought at tobacco shops and is not picked up on drug test, students self report it has a higher high then marijuana. Teens think it is safe since it is "legal".  Same with perscription drugs use.

Talk to your children from a young age about the dangers and your expectations of drug use in your family.

Lock box for your medicines perscription and over the counter: I had to have one as a foster parent, but am choosing to continue to use it to keep the children safe.

Set a healthy life style example. Parents are the first teacher and though we don't get credit, our little ones are watching and learning from each of us.

Know your children's friends. It isn't the stoner on campus who will offer our children their first drink, or drug but their friends.

Help your children set and achieve goals.

This week we are starting a weekly talk for the next few weeks about tobacco and general good health habits. All the children were part of the conversation and exercise. I placed pictures on a paper, pictures of exercise, different foods and cigarette's, cigars, pipes and smoke in general.  They circled the healthy habits and then crossed out the unhealthy.  They shared what they knew and I filled in the gaps.  On the back I had them draw a detailless person. Then we added the effects of tobacco to them. They added yellow teeth, yellowing of the finger tips, wrinkles, black lungs, discolored heart, oxygen tank. When they where done they shared their pictures and no one wanted to volunteer to look like them.  Lastly they drew straws, the one with the short straw, was the one who became addicted on the first try. Since we never know, and it all starts with the first try.  It was a good lesson, filled with healthy information and a few laughs but most importantly an opportunity to share our family values and answer their questions. 
Lesson to come:  Second hand smoke, Alcohol and drugs,  How to say No, Assertiveness. Review.
Activities: Make a book on how to say No, Creating a stamp to stamp out drugs, making a tar jar, taking a look at a smokers lung vs a healthy lung.

Sad, interesting and powerful, check out Faces of Meth on youtube.com.

Links: http://www.theantidrug.com/
www.narconon.org/drug-abuse/parentcenter.html

Tea Time

I've been having fun collecting sweet tea cups and a fancy tea pot to surprise the girls with at Christmas. I wish I could share them with them..but since Christmas is still a short distance away..I'll share them here. I and they love tea parties. Its fun to dress up and set a pretty table. It also gives us a positive way to practice our manners. My second thought with the tea cups, is to continue to collect them, and have a tea party where the guests can pick out their tea cup and then take it home as a party favor. I've had fun, at http://www.goodwillonlinestore.com/, just be careful of the shipping charges to make sure you are really getting a deal.

Speaking of mail, this weekend the children each made mail boxes for their room doors. Its been fun to watch them create and give each other mail. We call them our love boxes. It creates an avenue for them to express positive feelings towards each other. Brendan is "too old" to create his love box, so the sisters created his. He is loving it, his smile says it all. Here is a sample:


Bedroom mail boxes
aka: love boxes



Have a great week! Next weekend...almost time to start planning for halloween.

Storage Solutions

Storage, do we really need all that stuff? I work from a capacity of less is more and am vigilant about getting rid of unneeded, unused items.  Clutter is like rabbits, it multiplies quickly but isn't nearly as cute. Being in AZ we are some what limited on storage. We have no basement and the attic is virtually unusable due to heat damage.  I try to maximize the space in cabinets, closets and garage.

Lets start in the garage: LOVE my garage cabinets. They allow us to use floor to ceiling storage. Some cabinets have peg boards, others shelves. I tuck the holiday decor away at the top. If it doesn't fit, it goes.

Garage Cabinets worth the money!

In the garage we also store seasonal clothes and clothing another jellybean might grow into.  Like many other mom's I have choosen to use the clear plastic bins. They stack easily and I can see whats in them.



Clothing bins

In the house we use baskets to give us additional storage. Under the beds each bed has its linens and winter blankets. Each bed has two sets of sheets, one for use and another to change into.  Baskets are used to contain all sorts of items, for quick clean up and containment.  Here are some of ours:



Basket for the backpacks



Main bookshelf.
Baskets corrals the kids leapster and games

Shoes became a frustration, not only does each bedroom have a shoe rack on the door, but since the shoes had a habit of not making it to the bedroom doors, I added one to the down stairs game closet. Once a week or more, we take the shoes to their prospective homes.

Shoe rack, but we also display past school projects here too!

Storage and display of school work from the kids.  Besides the fridge. I've framed their art for our dinning room.I have it on a variety of doors, presentation posters,decorate our garage. I keep the really special items in one box, and in the box each child has their own school days memory book. After all those years of my mom storing my school work, my kids are getting to go through it with her and have throughly enjoyed telling me about it.

I store things we will need, not things we "might" need. I try to keep the cabinets accessible so we can get to and use the items we need at the time. Sometimes that takes being honest about what we truly do need.
My storage wish? I would love to obtain a small storage unit for the side of the house to house the lawn mower and other items, in time. Right now, my storage dilema is to figure out a way to store this wonderful collection of assorted fancy tea cups, I just purchased from Goodwill online. I look forward to having tea parties with the girls and their friends. In between, I'd love to store them in away that displays them too. Ideas?

If you are looking for more storage ideas from some amazingly creative and smart mom's start at http://raisingolives.com/ where they are discussing storage ideas for a large family.




Laundry

I've been enjoying the Mom's postings on their homes and am going to try to link up on the
dirty talk of laundry!   At our home, I typically do most of the laundry on Saturday and one maybe two other loads during the week.   I actually like doing the laundry, hate putting it away.  We have laundry baskets in the shared bathrooms and Teagan has one in her bedroom as her bedroom is downstairs and that bathroom is way to small.

We sort the laundry upstairs in the master room. That way its out of sight if
we have guest. I bring it down one basket at a time as needed.

This would be why we sort upstairs, its really not a laundry room but a walk way.

The worlds most expensive laundry table! We've folded more laundry on the pool table then we've played pool.
I fold and sort into piles by who it belongs too and what type of clothing, to make putting away easier.

Each room has a basket and the kids take up their laundry and put it away.

To save money and time I hang out much of the laundry. I made a homemade clothes line out down the side of the house and just bought a drying rack, that I'm using outside,  after being inspired by some of the other blogs on the block! We also make our own laundry detergent.

Becoming Jellybeans

When my oldest daughter Teagan was maybe 3. She decided we were all Jellybeans and gave us colors.
She was the red, Brendan the green, I was the yellow, Trinity the pink and Dad the black ( ok what did she know that I was still blind too?) Its been such a bonding experience, everyone is proud of their colors and the newbies can't wait to be official jellybeans and pick their colors. When I need to buy something, its easy to get everyone their colors.   I'm thinking we may have to celebrate the girls adoption with a color ceremony and a jellybean decorated family birthday cake.

I have a wonderful friend who has special symbols for her girls, i.e.: treasures, sweet heart. This has been a bonding experience for them too.  Taking this one step further. We chose to have a family mascott. The kids voted on a Wolf, (pre Twilight) as a symbol that they stick together. A family song: The Blessing. I feel it creates a spirit of unity and team work in our home. Seriously, if it works for teams and gangs, it will work in a healthy environment of our homes and may be a protective factor in keeping our children grounded and safe.

Consequences

Last night we had one of those teachable moments. Sadie took it upon her self to take a part and break one of her sisters toys. Realizing her mistake, she tried to cover it up by coming down stairs to tell me " I accidently broke Lexi's drum."  When she brought it too me, it was obvious it was no accident.  I let her know I was disappointed that she had lied to me and had her go upstairs while I pondered my next move.
I decided the right thing for Sadie to do is to replace the drum.  Tearful, she climbed into the car and we went to the store. They didn't have a drum, so Sadie said she'd buy Lexi a toy of her choice.  When we got home, Sadie helped me with the girls since she had taken my time to go to the store. We revisited the topic of lying and the importance of trust.  I wish I could always approach their behavior with such calmness and clarity. 

Actually this experience didn't ruin a nice day. Its extra warm here in AZ. we spent the day swimming, what else does one do when its 108 out? Made stain glass sun catchers and went to the library. We are trying to do more at home to save extra money for a trip in Oct to Disneyland. 

Tidy House

We started allowances and a new cleaning plan on our Family meeting last week. The honeymoon
is great, each child choose an area of the house to be responsible for in addition to their room.
We've set a time in the evening to take care of our areas, and the house has maintained a tidy appearance. We pull the house back together within ten minutes or less.  I haven't had to ask more then once nor have I had to higher a sibling to to do their work out of their allowance. The ownership and postive attitude is great!  Once the novelty fades, as I'm sure it will...I'll let you know how it goes but we are off to a grand start.

To go along with our new plans, our nightly devotions for the month of September just happened to be on Responsibility and Work. I see God's hand working in this with our family. Todays memory verse: Work hard and cheerfully at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people!  Colossians 3:23