The iPass

 The iPass has come and gone in our house over the last 2 years.  What is an iPass you may wonder?  Well, it is a pass that allows use on any "i" item in our house (iPhone, iPad, iPod).  It was created a few months after we got our iPhones when we moved back to the states from Paraguay.  And it was created because the "need" our children felt to constantly use our technological gadgets were driving us nuts! It was out of hand!  Every five minutes our kids were asking if they could play on our phones.  And once one of them were playing, they all wanted to play.  And inevitably a fight would break out about whose turn it was and how the other sibling had played longer than them.  I decided there had to be a way to help them keep their playing time down and to help keep me from going insane.  Finally one day it hit me, and the iPass was born!  I took 3 note cards per child and on each one of them I wrote:  their names, "iPass" and the value: 10 minutes.  From then on, they received 3 iPass's per day, which meant they got 30 total minutes of time on the iPhone or iPad.  We told them that they could use them whenever they wanted to as long as we were not using it.  It worked miracles!  It was so nice not to be asked 5,000 times a day if someone could use my phone!  And the kids happily accepted that they only got 30 minutes in 10 minute intervals to play games.  And they could blow it all at once or they could divide it up throughout the day.  It worked so good that as they stopped asking to use our phones constantly, we would kind of "drop" the whole iPass requirements.  But several times over the last two years we have had to reinstate them.  As we have gone through the process many times, I finally got smart and created a little chart that hangs in our den.  The picture is below.  I put velcro pieces on a poster board and they "pass their iPasses" back and forth from "Time left to play" to "already played" so that we know who has used how many and we actually know where the iPasses are! And we taught them how to set the clock on the iPhone for a 10 minute alarm so we don't have to remind them when their 10 minutes are up. We have just entered another season of the iPass this week, so iPasses are in full swing in our house!  

Saying Thank You

After Christmas, I am always overwhelmed by how many gifts and gestures of kindness we receive over the holidays.   I am very thankful that we are so blessed and that so many people love our family and want to show their love!  I just want to make sure that the kids learn to be thankful for all that they receive and make a point to express that thanks to others.  So, this year I decided we needed to do thank you pictures.  We made these pictures for everyone that lived near us that gave us something or did something special for us for the holidays.

 I painted the kids hands and we did each of their hand prints in their favorite colors.  Then Emma (7) and I wrote thank you notes at the top.  Each of the kids signed their names below their own hands.  Olivia (3) can't write her full name yet, so she just wrote the "O" for her name and I wrote the rest of the letters. Then I wrote a little note at the bottom of each one saying exactly what we were thankful for.  I thought they turned out really cute and colorful and the kids enjoyed doing them.  They all said that me painting their hands tickled.  Everyone who got one seemed to really enjoy it and a lot of them said the pictures were going on their refrigerators.  Emma enjoyed handing them out to people and getting to see their smiling faces when they received their thank you pictures.

Kids Flip Charts for Morning and Night Routines

Do any other mom's of little ones get tired of saying "did you brush your teeth?, please go put on your pajamas, did you go potty?, your wet towel is still laying in the middle of the floor or please pick up your clothes and put them away" about a thousand times each morning and night?  I was really growing weary of it.  And I was dreading bedtime each night because it was so chaotic and frankly not very fun for me or the kids.  Especially when I couldn't remember who had and hadn't done what.  So, we recently created little flip charts for the kids.  I bought giant wooden letters at Hobby Lobby that were each of their first name initials.  Over Christmas break I spray painted each of them and then let the kids decorate their own with washable paint.  They had fun!  Then we added little plastic hooks with damage free hanging tabs (because I know in a few years they will outgrow these charts and I will want to give these letters a new purpose).  

I printed out little flip cards that had words and pictures (I currently have one reader and two non-readers) and had them laminated.  On one side we put all of their morning routines and colored those yellow for morning.  Here were our routine items: Go Potty, Get Dressed, Make-Up Your Bed, Brush Your Teeth and Brush Your Hair.  As they finish each morning routine, they flip the card over and it is ready for their nighttime routine.  They can do a quick glance at their charts and tell which yellow ones they still have left so they know what else needs to be done.

If you want to use the same flip charts as I have, here is a link to mine- feel free to edit!:
Kids Daily Routine Flip Charts

 At night we have similar routines: Brush Your Teeth, Hang Up Your Towel, Go Potty, Put Your Pajamas On and Put Your Clothes Away.  I colored those blue for night time routines.

 We hung these up outside of the bathroom on the wall that is between their bedrooms and the bathroom using damage free sticky strips.

I have to admit, I was a little worried that the kids would think it was dumb and not want to do it.  However,  since we started doing it, they have been so excited about it!  Normally when we say it is time to start getting ready for bed, I get all kinds of complaints.  The last few nights, I have heard "yeah, and we need to do our charts!"  It gives them more responsibility in the whole "getting ready" process and allows me to stop feeling like a nag. I can just stand back and watch them work and help where I need to, instead of constant reminders of all that everyone needs to be doing.  Tonight they were even racing to see who could get all of their cards flipped over first!  Music to my ears!  

American Girl Doll Bed

For Christmas Emma received an "American Girl" doll.  It was actually a Madame Alexander doll, which is a line of 18" dolls carried by Walmart (and, of course, by Santa!)  Walmart carries them for around $30 (instead of the $150 that American Girl dolls cost), but Santa probably just makes them for free.  She wanted  a doll that looked just like her: blonde hair, brown eyes and glasses.  I think Santa did a great job with finding just the perfect doll!

Part of her Christmas was matching dresses for her and her doll.  My sewing buddy and I made the dresses in pillow-case dress style.  They even have their matching brown boots!

For Christmas she also got a bead kit.  She had already received one just like it for her birthday last year, so she decided to return it and buy fabric for a doll's bed and bedding.  We found fabric at Walmart that matched her room and we made a mattress, a sheet, a quilted blanket and a little pillow.  She was so happy with how it turned out! And, I let her do the foot pedal on all of the sewing, so she got to actually make the entire ensemble!

 She told me after we got it finished that all it needed to be completely perfect was a little white bed.  And amazingly enough, at church two days later one of my friends asked me if Emma would be interested in a white bed for an American Girl doll that her daughter had long outgrown.  Perfect timing!  Emma was so happy with her whole new bedding set!  She is set up right beside of her bed.  

Got Mail?

Our kids love to draw little pictures or write little notes to us and each other. So, for one of our countdown to Christmas crafts, we decorated mailboxes. I bought the paper mâché pre made mailboxes from Hobby Lobby and spray painted them white. Then the kids and I painted each of ours. We just got them hung up this week. They are all right outside each of our rooms. We have all had a lot of mail this week! They have had a lot of fun with it!

Happy New Year!

Well, it is 2013!  I have not blogged since last June.   That was when I decided to start blogging again after a very long break.  I failed!  I did not publish any more blogs after that.  I tried, but got frustrated with the fact that I could not get my blogs to post from my iPhone.  And I really struggled with knowing what the purpose of my blogs were.  I had so many things I wanted to blog about, but they really didn't all fit in the same category together.  But, I think I have finally solved that problem. I created another blog!  Now I not only have one blog that I can not keep up with, but two!  Real smart!

Anyway, I am now going to use this blog, the Urge to Organize, to blog about things in my life that I do to better organize, share things that I make or ideas that I have.  And I have created another blog, The Fry Files, to write about my family.  I feel much more organized and think that this will help me to stay on track since it will give me better direction (which is better motivation).  I have truly missed blogging!

So, I have made a few new year's resolutions.  And I plan to stick to them!


My three goals for 2013 are:

1. To spend time with God:  reading through the Bible in a year with the "Lookout Bible Reading Plan" and spending more time in prayer.

2. To spend time with my Family: being less task-oriented and more relationship oriented (this one is by far going to be my biggest challenge!)

3. To spend time blogging: writing entries in both of my blogs at least weekly.



Happy New Year to all!

Back to the Blogger Again: From Chaos to Unsettled to Settled

Over a year ago, I wrote my last blog for 2011.  For a while, I felt super guilty for not blogging.  However, I finally realized that first things have to come first.  And the truth is...blogging was just not a "first thing".  So, I let go of the guilt and made myself a promise that no matter what, for the New Year, I was going to start blogging again.  Well, here it is already June and I have yet to post a new blog!  So, what have I been doing?  I have been taking care of the first things: my family, my spiritual life, my house and our work with the church. I am pretty sad about the fact that my last year has not been documented at length (I have done journaling every day), but I have lots of pictures and I hope to periodically stick blogs in of what has been going on in our lives from May of 2011 up until now.  So, I will probably have lots of "flashback" blogs!  Because it is not that great things haven't been happening!  It is just that life has been happening so fast, that I have not taken the time to blog about them!

In May of 2011, we went to a reentry program that was for missionaries who were returning to the U.S. from various countries.  It was fabulous and exactly what we needed!  One thing that has stuck with me that we learned there was that when you move from one country to another, you go through various phases.  At first you live in your host country (the foreign country- in our case Paraguay) and you are "settled" there.  We lived there for almost 8 years, so we were very settled there.  Then you pack up your things and become "unsettled" and you prepare to move.  Then you actually move to the new country (which can be your home country or another country, but in our case was back to our home country, the U.S.) and you go through the "chaos" phase.  Every aspect of your life is totally different, even if you are returning to your home country.  Plus, your home country has changed while you were away and you certainly have changed while you were away.  Then, after time, you move into "unsettled" and gradually, the "settled" phase again. When we went to the program, we were in the midst of "chaos" and it was so comforting to actually be given a name for it and know that it was a very normal and necessary phase and part of the process.  We moved to the U.S. in late February, but we didn't move into our house until May.  And we bought a house that needed a lot of remodeling on the inside before we could move in and we continued that remodeling once we had moved in.  My living room was loaded with boxes until around January or February of 2012.  I remember people asking me at church if I was all settled in yet after we were just here for a few weeks and I wanted to scream, "are you kidding?"  I guess most people just have no idea what all is involved in an international move.  Especially with little kids!  And when you add remodeling a house into the mix, it was literally "chaos" almost every day!  I wanted to give a kind response to those who asked me if we were settled in, but I also wanted to be honest.  It took us a very long time to feel settled.  In fact, I would say that we were in "chaos" until the middle of the summer and then in the "unsettled" phased until early this year!  It wasn't until February that we finally hung pictures up on our walls and unpacked the rest of the boxes in our living room.  That was the most "settled" that I felt in over a year!    Now, don't get me wrong, we have not been unhappy through this journey.  We have enjoyed most of each of the phases.  Even chaos was kinda fun at times, but it was exhausting!  But it was still what it was- a feeling of complete chaos.  So, when looking back over 2011, I see a physical journey from Paraguay to the U.S. early in the year, but I feel an emotional and spiritual journey from "settled" to "unsettled" to "chaos" to "unsettled" and finally, finally to "settled".  And that is why I am now going to get back to the blogger again.  I have arrived at the "settled" phase and have been there for a few months.  I have longed for this feeling since we left Paraguay!  And I feel like I have finally moved back in to the "productive" mode!  Yippee!  I am back to the blogger again!!