Don't Underestimate Them!

People are often really surprised at how much we accomplish.  I'm always getting asked how I manage to do it all.  My standard reply is...

"I don't do it all."

Sometimes, I'm tempted to reply...

"My kids do it all."

But that's not exactly true either.  Jim does a lot.  And I do a lot.  And there's a lot I would like to do that doesn't get done.

But the truth is that one of my main jobs is to train my children.   I want each of my children (whether they are a boy or a girl) to be able to manage a household and their life.  So they each need to be taught everything.

I start them really early.  Because, when they're young, working with (and for) Mommy is great fun.  Most of the time they don't realize they're working.

Although sometimes they do LOL.

You need to remember that your children are not going to do things as well as you could.  And they're definitely not going to do them as fast as you could.  While you're training them, you may get frustrated and want to do the job yourself.

But don't do it!

Spend the time training them (despite the delays and frustrations) and you will reap the rewards later.

The other night, Fletcher made sweet potatoes for dinner. (Yes, my children cook too!)  He made one too many sweet potatoes and there were left-overs.

So Jade was called in to put the sweet potatoes into tupperware.

Notice the sweet potoatoes on the table.  Notice the extra sweet potatoes in the bowl.  Notice the fact that she chose a tupperware that was bigger than it needed to be.

Now, notice the fact that the sweet potatoes are in a tupperware and I didn't have to do it!

Fletcher will wipe the extra sweet potatoes off the table (and not onto the floor).

Greyden will wash out the bowl.

And if there isn't much room in the fridge, Jim will manage to fit it in somehow.

So no worries!  As she gets older, she'll do a better job.

Perhaps when people ask me how they can get more accomplished, I should answer...

"Don't underestimate your children!"

PJ

Magic Elephant Ride

Emery really enjoys playing with the girls.  I'd like to say it's completely because of them, and mostly it is. But there is a small piece of him that just enjoys avoiding work. And since he's so good at keeping the girls entertained and occupied, well... he tends to get away with it.

The other day, I went looking for him because I needed his help with something.

When I found him he was like this:

Yes, that is a laundry basket strapped to his back.

Why did he have a laundry basket strapped to his back?

So he could give Magic Elephant Rides, of course!

Emery is homeschooled (and a good big brother)!

PJ

A Little Levitation

Jim and I ran errands right before Christmas (including getting the boys' Christmas present).

When we came home, I wanted to know where everyone was so we could get the present inside. I called out, "Where is everyone?"

I heard Emery's voice yell from the boys' room, "We're levitating!"

To which I replied, "You're what????"

The response (more clearly this time): "We're MEDITATING!"

Me: "Oh."

I went into the boys' room to see this:

I later got the story of why my boys were meditating.

Apparently, they were told that there is electricity that runs through your body. When your body is tense, it keeps your thumb and point finger from closing. But if you relax completely through meditating, the electricity running in your body will pull your thumb and pointer finger together. So the boys were trying to meditate to see if their fingers would close.

So far it hasn't happened.

But they're still trying.

The whole meditating thing definitely works for me. It keeps them nice and quiet, and is definitely better than levitating.

PJ

Small Biz Dream

There are lots of contests out there on the web that we could enter. Some of them are silly. Some of them are fun. Some I'd like to enter. Some I don't.

Regardless of the desire, we don't usually have the time to enter contests. I still like to keep my eye open to see what is available, however. The other day I saw a small business contest and forwarded it Jim.

Why forward it to Jim?  Because the entry requested creativity.

And Jim is definitely the creative one in the family.

To enter, we needed to submit a photo that had the words "My Dream in 2012" in it. The contest winner gets a bunch of small biz stuff including  free consulting with marketing expert John Jantsch.

Since Jantsch wrote a book called, "Duct Tape Marketing", Jim decided that duct tape was definitely called for in our photo.

Taking a photo may seem like a simple thing to some of you.

But not for us.

Ten people needed to be bathed and the girls needed their hair done.

For this photo, eleven shirts needed to be duct taped. Why eleven? Because Thalia needed one too!

The tripod had to be set up (it was on one side of the fence and we were on the other).

22 goats needed to be moved out of the pasture:

We didn't actually get all of them out, you can see several standing behind us if you look carefully.

Then 9 people needed to climb the fence and pose into the sunlight while they waited with a smile on their faces for Jim to set the camera timer, hop over the fence and get into position for the first photo:

Wait while Jim climbs back over the fence, repositions Emery so he's not in shadow, PJ drags Ivy the goat out of the picture, Jim presses the timer, climbs back over the fence and poses for this photo:

Reject that photo because Pegasus walked into Jim's behind and made him jump toward Colter.

Repeat that performance a few more times until we got the final photo we submitted for the contest:

I wanted to crop it like this (with Ivy checking us all out from the left):

But Jim vetoed that and since he did all the hard work I let him have his way. ;)

So, we are entered into the contest and we'd love for you to vote for us! Just click to Vote for Goat Milk Stuff!! (The vote now button is right below the photo).

Thanks for your help and support!

 PJ

Making Use of the Space Update

I want to update everyone on a post that I wrote several months ago.  I'm reposting it here for you to read it first:

I've been re-reading a book that I haven't read in a decade. It's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Families by Stephen Covey. I read something that struck me this time that I don't remember striking me the last time I read the book.

Maybe it's because I'm older and wiser?? Either that or it's because I have so much more time to think now than I did a decade ago. ;)

Stephen Covey didn't write the quote either. He stumbled upon it in a book and it meant a lot to him. So he shared it:

Between stimulus and response, there is a space.
In that space lies our freedom and power to choose our response.
In our response lies our growth and our happiness.

Here is my paraphrase:

When something irritates/worries/angers/frustrates me, I have a certain amount of time before I yell/cry/worry/argue. In that amount of time I have a chance to choose my reaction. The decision that I make in that amount of time will influence my relationships if I replace my natural negative response with a positive, loving response.

As I've been thinking about this quote, the thing that struck me most forcefully is that I make the space way too small. That is, I often respond too quickly. The times when I pause to take a deep breath before reacting, are the times when I usually choose the right response. But if I ignore the space, that is the time that I let my fatigue speak.

I loved the phrase "freedom and power". What a great phrase. We have the freedom to react the way we want to. Nobody can force me to react a certain way. And it is definitely a power to choose my reaction. What a great word. I have the power to respond in a positive way if I will grasp it.

I then turned my attention to the children and how this quote applied to them. What an amazing thing for me to teach them. To be able to take a space, a pause, a rest, before choosing their response. We have one child in particular that would see his life change if he could grasp that. If he would react in a godly way to the stimulus all around him, he would see his joy increase by leaps and bounds.

What about you? Are you making use of the space you've been given? Do you take hold of the power to respond in a positive way?

I hope that you do. Your growth and happiness will benefit from it

So, that was the post.  What I wanted to share with you was a way I found to help the child I was referring to deal with this issue of not making use of the space.  This child's gut reaction was to instantly respond to stimuli, often in a negative way that caused him much grief.  No matter how often we talked with him and tried to help him, he couldn't take the time to take that deep breath and react (or not react) more positively.



So, what did I do?

After much prayer and thought, I did what any sane Mother would do...

I bribed him.

I came up with a point system that this child was completely in control of.  Anytime that he was going to react and he managed to stop himself and not get upset, he got 1 point.  If he did get upset about something, he had 5 minutes to get happy again.  If he got happy, he got 1 point.  If he was still mad and upset after 5 minutes, he lost 1 point.  When he reached 100 points, I would buy him a $30 something that he had been wanting for a very long time.

I have to tell you, it was brilliant and worked perfectly.  The change in him was miraculous. Seriously, miraculous.  He has since earned (and received) the object of his desire and more than a week later, he is still mastering his emotions and reactions even without the points. I'll probably have a point thing periodically, to reinforce the positive behavior, but I have been so impressed with the changes in him, I had to share.

I will point out one stumbling block we had to deal with.  Apparently, this child was so excited about gathering points, that one evening he was purposely angering his other siblings so they would get angry with him.  Then he could react positively and earn a point.

Diabolical, I know.

Normally I hate point systems - too much for me to keep track of.  But this child took full responsibility.  He really stepped up to the plate and is a much happier person now.  I'm so proud of him!

PJ

Homeschooled

The children wanted to do something special a while ago. I told them the only way we'd be able to go was if we got all the soap unmolded and cut before we had to leave.

They were so motivated, they decided to get up early and get it done.

Children: "Mom, do we have any extra alarm clocks?"

Me: "Nope."

Children: "Can we use your alarm clock?"

Me: "Nope."

I thought that was the end of it. But the next morning, before our alarm went off, I heard the back door slam. Apparently the children had woken up without an alarm clock and headed out to unmold the soap.

I was partly right.

And I was partly wrong.

The children had woken up. But they did not wake up without an alarm clock.

It turns out they made their own alarm clock.

How did they do that? I'll tell you.

First, they used a computer to record 5 minutes of silence. After that they recorded 3 minutes of them screaming and hollering.

Then Brett repeated the 5 minutes of silence 12 times to make an hour of silence. She created a playlist that would play that hour of silence 9 times before it played the 3 minutes of screaming.

They set one of the computers to a mode where it would not hibernate, then at 9:00 at night they set the playlist to begin.

And at exactly 6:00 am they heard lots and lots of screaming and they all woke up!

Brett (the mastermind) is homeschooled!

PJ

Stirring the Soup (I Mean Sauce)

I've talked many times about my Youngest Person Rule. It basically says that the youngest person capable of doing a job does it. The corollary is that when you've taught one of your younger siblings how to do your job, they can take it over and you can get a new job.

One of the follow-up questions I'm often asked is, "What are age appropriate jobs for my children?"

There is no right or wrong answer to that. It varies from child to child and depends upon their aptitudes and temperaments. One thing it does not depend upon is their desire. It doesn't matter if they want to do a job, if the job needs to be done and they are capable of doing it, they do it. That's just a part of life. If that makes me a mean mom, I'm ok with that.

One of the things that is really important around here is food. The Jonas family may not be very tall, but we eat a LOT of food. People are often amazed at the quantities we consume. So around here, children learn very early to cook.

The older 5 children each have a day that they are responsible for making dinner. (I'm hoping that in a couple of more years, I'll have all the days of the week covered and I won't have to cook dinner for a few years!)

I teach the children to make individual meals that they particularly enjoy. So each child has at least 3 meals that they can completely prepare by themselves. Hewitt is starting to be taught with lessons on making scrambled eggs and omelettes.

On a side note, Jim (who gets bored by too much repetition) recently instituted a policy that each child has to make one new meal a month. This has produced some really good (and really bad) results. The children have learned that just because something sounds good in a magazine does not mean that people will actually eat it. LOL

Anyway, back to the youngest person rule.

Here is a video about Emery and one of his recent dinner nights. Emery's special meal is chicken alfredo and he decided to do some training of his own:



As I was filming him, I was really pleased to discover that he actually listened and retained what I've been teaching. He taught his younger sisters how to help with cooking. For now I'll ignore the fact that his motivation was so that he could escape and read his book.

PJ

What a Charmer

We've spent the weekend selling soap at the Stewart Christmas Show here in Louisville.  The children all take shifts working at the booth selling soap.

If you've never seen my children in action, I have to admit that they are natural born salesmen.

People tell us all the time that we've done a great job training the children to sell, but the truth is that we did very little, and they picked most of it up on their own.

Here's the perfect example.

Today an older woman walked up to Emery and was talking to him about the soap.  After a few minutes, the conversation went like this:

Customer: "Do you have anything for old lady skin?"

Emery: "Why do you ask?"

The customer was ecstatic about Emery's response and laughingly called Jim and I over to share Emery's comment. She told us that we were going to have to keep our eye on this one.

We agreed.  He's a charmer, that one.

PJ

The Importance of Free Wi-Fi

We love living in the country. There is only one problem...

... the lack of high speed internet.

Right now we have satellite internet, which is better than dial-up.

Most of the time.

The biggest problem is when we have several days of stormy weather, like we've had.

So what's an entrepreneurial family with a thriving business  that requires printing postage to do?...

...Find the nearest wi-fi hotspot of course!

Normally, I pack up my home office (two laptops and the postage printer) and head to McDonalds. It's about 6 miles from the house, so it's pretty convenient.

But two nights ago, we decided to take the whole family and head into town to get our Christmas tree and dinner.

After picking out the tree and loading it into the Hulk, Jim made an announcement.

Jim: "We're going to have a poetry contest. I'm going to say the first line, and someone has to come up with a second line that rhymes."

Jim: "Next stop..."

Silence.

Silence.

Silence.

Colter: "I know!!! IHOP!"

(To which there was much cheering).

So we arrived at IHOP and took over four tables. We set up the home office on one and proceeded to order dinner.  What does a family of ten order?

Jim: eggnog pancake special
PJ: omelette with cheese, spinach, peppers, & onions, with a stack of pancakes
Colter: 3 eggs, 3 pancakes, 4 pieces of bacon, hashbrowns
Brett: cinna-stack
Emery: 3 eggs, 3 pancakes, 4 pieces of bacon, hashbrowns
Fletcher: omelette with cheese, bacon, and green peppers, side of pancakes
Greyden: blueberry pancake stack with sausage and bacon
Hewitt: smiley face chocolate pancakes
Indigo: stack of pancakes and macaroni and cheese (I know, she's strange)
Jade: eggs, pancakes, bacon

Since that wasn't enough food, I ordered 3 cinna-stacks to split for "dessert".

Even then, Colter and Greyden were still hungry and Hewitt wanted an order of broccoli. (Yes, my children are bottomless pits when it comes to food - but they work hard, so I figure they've earned it).

After we finished eating, the children all headed to the Hulk. Brett has been reading "The Red Pyramid" out loud to them, and they wanted to do that while Jim and I finished printing postage for the next day's orders.

While we were working on our computers, our waitress, Misty (who was so helpful and wonderful) shyly asked us a question.

Misty: "So, ummm..., this may sound a little strange, but we can all smell you... in a GOOD way... and we were wondering what scent we were smelling?"

Jim and I started laughing. The children had shared with Misty about Goat Milk Stuff, so she knew we made soap.

Apparently some of the IHOP workers were having an animated discussion trying to figure out what scent we smelled like.

We told Misty that we had all been working in the soap room, so it was probably a mix of scents. Someone thought that they were smelling spearmint, and we confirmed that was likely because the boys had unmolded a batch of rosemary spearmint before we headed to IHOP.

So, not only did we get to answer customer emails, print postage for orders, and eat lots of super pancakes, we also got to enhance the fragrance of IHOP.

A definite win-win!

PJ

Now I Understand!

Warning: Santa spoiler alert! Not for all young eyes!!

Not only is it the holiday season, which is our busiest time of year. But we recently got news that we are going to be in the January edition of Oprah magazine. So we're trying not to get too low on any of our inventory. But after Black Friday and Cyber Monday, we were really low on lotion sticks and lip balms.

So we made... a... LOT!

Last night, we sat around the fireplace to label everything we made. It was a major job. It took Brett, Colter, Emery, Fletcher, Greyden, Indigo, and I about four hours to get it all done.

While we were working we sat around talking and listening to Christmas songs.

During this labeling marathon, the song "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" came on.

I don't want to get into a debate with anyone, but at our house, Santa Claus isn't real. He's a Christmas figure.  We allow the children to interact with "Santa" if we come across him, but the children know that any Santa Claus they see is just a man playing dress up.

A few minutes after the song, Emery asked me a question.

Emery: "Mom, what does the Bible call that? You know, it's a bad thing?"

Me: "Adultery?"

(Don't ask me how I knew what he was talking about)

Emery: "Yeah, that's it."

Silence.

Me: "Emery, is Santa Claus real?"

Emery: "No."

Me: "Then who was Mommy kissing?"

Emery: "Some guy?"

Me: "No... who would have been dressed like Santa Claus that Mommy would have been kissing?"

Emery: "Ummmm....."

Me: "Daddy perhaps?"

Blank stare...

Emery: "OH!!"

At which point he started giggling uncontrollably at the realization of what the song was actually about.  It was really a funny moment.

PJ