Good Cop. Bad Cop.

I've been at it again.

I can't help myself, though. I don't have a better plan.

Here's how it went down.

Good Cop

"Hey, monkeys!! Go put your stuff away."

"Sure, mom!" And then they'd run off to their room and make about a five minute attempt at the disasters that they called their rooms. If only they only had just five minutes worth of clean up to do! I assume the best of those monkeys and thought that they had done a fair amount of the job, even if it wasn't complete. Well, at bedtime, I discovered the rest of the story. They had spent the rest of the time creating MORE mess. Lovely. We are having company over this weekend. What are they thinking?!?!

So, the next morning the sun rose on the new day and I had high hopes that they would want to live in a calm place. So, we worked at putting away some laundry together and I left them to finish putting away their things and to put the scraps of paper and assorted junk into the trash can. I was busy tidying this or that and making that for lunch and then dinner. I got busy in my day of doing at home things. Bedtime rolled around and the kids got ready for bed and Pops and I came upstairs to say prayers with them and to tuck them in for the night. I should be praying every night that these kids eventually decide that putting things away is easier than tripping over them and hurting their toes, but I digress. Obviously, it was still a mess.

Next day.

Bad Cop

"MONKEYS!!"

"What, mom?"

"Today, those rooms are going to be cleaned. If you don't get them cleaned up before the timer goes off, I will come up and help you. However, my help will involve a very large black trash bag and I will not preserve much. I am setting the timer for 40 minutes. Go."

A chorus followed.

"Aah, mom."

"Don't throw away my things!"

"That's mean."

"I don't like you to be a mean mommy."

"Can't you just help us get it done?"

"I will help you in 38 minutes with my black trash bag. I have been Mrs. Nice Mom for the past two whole days, and the two before that. I am tired of your messy rooms. Yes, I will help you when the buzzer goes off. Until then, I would suggest you start putting your things away."

That 40 minutes went rather quickly and I went out in the garage to get a couple black lawn and leaf trash bags. I went upstairs to find Bud and Blossom wrestling on the floor over some toy in Bud's room and Branch busily working in her room putting away all of her prized possessions. I went into Bud's room and began putting anything that I found that was out of its place into my trash bag. That was met with some extreme disgust. Most of what was laying around in Bud's room was books. He is always reading - but he fails to get them back on the bookshelf 99 times out of 100. I then went into the girls' room and found Branch still busy and Blossom sitting in a chair facing the corner. Weird. We don't have a "naughty chair" or a "time out" chair or anything like that. But, she was looking at a book and was leaving al the tidying up to her big sister (like usual). So, I started taking her things first to be put into my bag. Oh, the wails that followed! So, instead of now trying to race me to get things out of my way, she just wails and leaves. So, I continue. Branch became overtly concerned about the safety of her precious items. I reminded her that I hadn't yet gotten to her side of the room, and that she should just be faster than me.

Good Cop

In the end of MY cleaning (which took me about 10 minutes) I sat on the couch in the loft and asked all the kids to come and stand in front of me. I told them how disappointed I was. Then I said that I was proud of Branch for working on cleaning up even when her siblings were not helping. So, I made her an offer. I told her that if she could tell me anything that was in my trash bag that she could name without looking I would give back to her. She recalled that I had a blanket and a couple books of hers. She was right and I dug them out of the bag. Then, I told her that I was REALLY proud of her willingness to help today. I told her that I knew that she is usually the one who is doing the cleaning when I ask her to. So, I gave her a little bit of power. I told her that she could choose to help Bud and Blossom get their items out of my bag for them to put away if she wanted to. She had the option of just leaving it how it was, or she could make requests of me on their behalf to have things removed from their impending doom. I was only slightly surprised to see just how willing she was to help Bud and Blossom get their books, clothes and toys out of the trash bag. There was still a half bag of trash to toss when things were all said and done. 

I have a tidy home, for now. I hope to be done with Good Cop/Bad Cop. What strategies do you all use to find your home being tidy again? I want a new plan. I'll leave bad cop duties to Pops.

A Wild Ride

Saturday afternoon, Pops told the Treekids that we would be going to a rodeo later in the day. Branch was super excited and asked if she would get to finally try mutton bustin'. I had called the rodeo organizers a few days earlier and got her on a waiting list for riding a sheep!! So, she asked a few questions about how to stay on, and Pops volunteered himself for mutton bustin' practice!! What a GREAT dad!

They got all squared up, and away they went with the fun. I could barely contain myself.

It was one of the funniest sights. YOU imagine your own husband romping around in the front yard on his hands and knees trying to brush off your kids!

She'd fall off...

But, she kept getting back on!

She hung onto her rope like her life depended on it!

Bud decided that he would like a go. But, he wanted to ride a bull. Nice horns, Pops!

This bull spun (I wish this photo had some bull snot or spit flinging - that would make for a perfect spinning shot. Somehow, Pops the Bull was able to contain himself.)

and kicked and bucked

until that skilled bull rider fell off.

All the fun and games were leading up to this moment at the rodeo. Branch was ready and she knew that she could stay on a sheep for a long long time.

Her sheep took off running and Branch and "#7" left a bunch of other kids spitting dirt out of their mouths behind them. She held on tight and went around the arena for more than an 8 second ride. At the end there was a sheep incident, where another couple sheep were a bit too close for comfort and they were kicking dirt up into her face. She had a nice soft landing...

in the dirt. Branch got up and brushed herself off like a champ and walked over to Pops who gave her a pat on the back and told her what a great job she did! She was the last girl still riding! Only 2 little boys rode a bit longer than her.

She walked over to the announcer with some other kids for her bag of peanuts.

AND a trophy! She is ready for this summer when the mutton bustin' is one kid at a time, instead of the mass chaos of all kids and sheep riding all at once! She is sure she'll stay on long enough to win a buckle this summer. 

I am sure that a daytime, outdoor, summer rodeo will offer better lighting for my picture taking!! We'll keep ya posted about her rodeo circuit!

This is the day...

where I have that thing called a birthday. Yes. I did that today. 

So, because it was "my" day, here's what I did.

7:55 am Got up, showered, dressed

8:25 am Went in the kitchen and got a glass of water and heard "Happy Birthday, Mom!"

8:30 am Read my annual lovely birthday poem from Pops

8:40 am Opened some lovely birthday presents and cards from the Treekids

9:10 am Dropped Blossom off at Playschool

9:25 am Heard the birthday song from Geemah & PopPop (my 'rents) on voicemail

9:27 am Called the 'rents to applaud their rendition of the classic

9:55 am Ate bonbons, read a good novel, took a nap (oh, that was just day dreaming, I guess)

11:30 am Hauled Bud and Branch to Playschool to pick up Blossom

11:50 am Arrived at home to serve chicken nuggets and apple slices while watching Tinkerbell

1:00 pm Saw many emails wishes for a happy birthday (thanks to you facebookers!)

2:00 pm Tried for another birthday nap but had to add a bit of clean up nagging to the mix

3:00 pm Fielded a few birthday phone calls

4:25 pm Took Bud to baseball practice and Branch and Blossom played on the playground

6:00 pm Ate supper with Pops and the Treekids at the local Mexican eatery

8:00 pm Said good night prayers and tucked in the Treekids

8:30 pm Birthday phone calls, again

9:25 pm Saying hello to you all on this blog

9:30 pm Saying good bye to you all on this blog so that I can go watch a dvd with Pops.

G'night. Here's to April Birthdays everywhere!!

What is that camera!?!

I use a Nikon D40 these days. Last year about this time, I had a point and shoot Kodak Easyshare C633. That camera had a little run-in with me, Branch, a snowmobile, a big slope, and the need for Pops and my ornery facebooking brother-in-law to get us out of our predicament. That is a long story that I don't want to relive, but the point is that the LCD screen broke and I had the need for a new camera. I had been wanting a DSLR when I got my point and shoot but it didn't work out then.  So, after the little guy broke, I waited 2 1/2 months for Mother's Day and was so excited that Pops and the Treekids were wanting me to have my camera back!!  So, I decided upon the Nikon D40 after talking with a nice gentleman at a camera store. It is a great camera for a beginner and amateur. Well, that is me!!  So, I have been messing around with it for nearly a year now and I love it. 

At Christmas time, I purchased (with some exciting Christmas Monies!!!) my zoom lens. It is a Nikkon Nikkor Lens. Its letters and numbers are:  AF-S DX VR Zoom - Nikkor 55-200mm f/4-5.6G IF-ED. I do NOT claim to understand what ALL of that means, but I will share what I think! The AF means it has AutoFocus capabilities. The DX means it is for a digital SLR (single lens reflex) camera. VR means that it has vibration reduction, so that all the hand shaking on holding a heavier lens is reduced some. Zoom- Nikkor 55-200mm means that it is a zoom lens!! It has a focal lens from 55 (the longest zoom on the kit lens) to 200 mm (a nice amount of zoom for taking pictures of kids from the other side of the lawn). The aperture is determined by those f-stops... f/4-5.6. Aperture is a complicated bit of information that basically determines how much light is being let into the camera lens. The rest of the letters? No clue. I love this lens, though!! I often have camera and lens envy, though, when I see a reporter for a local newspaper. Ooooo... THOSE are some zoom lenses!!

Anyway, that is the skinny on what I work with when I take pictures. It is a pretty basic beginner/amateur camera. It is pricey, but not so pricey that you couldn't save for a bit and get yourself one, too! Now, I thought I would show you something that would demonstrate a bit about why I love that lens so much!

Here is the comparison of the picture that I actually took at the safari the other day and the cropped image! I posted the cropped image. I wanted to show the eagle not the house! So, because the Nikon D 40 has a fairly decent chip size I can crop and it doesn't get so fuzzy. (Ok, that is a technicality that I don't know if I have right.  The guy at the store said something about the chip that will turn the image into all the pixels and how it has a nice one in the D40... so, that contributes to being able to either take the picture as it is and blow it up to a nice big wall sized photo OR crop it down to a tiny portion of the picture and just show that online... either way, it works.)

On the left is the Straight Out Of Camera Shot. The specs for this photo (if you care and want to know all of this technical jibberish) are:

shutter speed 1/250, aperture f/5.6, focal length 200mm, ISO 200

On the right, is the cropped picture of the same photo to its left. You can see that the fuzziness of the grasses is more pronounced, since it wasn't focusing on the grass, but instead the eagle. If you look closely at the left, you can see that the grasses on that photo are also fuzzy.

We had gone to the safari last year in March and I took a similar photograph with that old Kodak. I scrounged around and found it. The specs for this photo are:

shutter speed 1/1637, aperture f/4.8, focal length 18mm, ISO 140

I cannot crop out the eagle without losing the size of the photo! I have done all things equal. I end up with a tiny bit of a stamp of the photo. Kind of a whole different looking result, don't you think?!?!

Here are two more examples from our last trip to the safari.

I really wanted to be able to take a picture that I could crop and get that tongue! So, I ignored the rest of the body of the giraffe when I was framing the shot. If I centered the head and tongue, I would have more space to work with when I was cropping to get that tongue. I was amazed by the giraffe tongue. That flopping tongue was far more interesting to me, this time, than the length of his neck and the height of the entire beast!!

Giraffe: shutter 1/250, aperture f/5.6, focal length 200mm, ISO 200

Branch was liking this bear with his "huny pot" and I wanted to get a nice shot of him. I zoomed in as far as my lens would allow and new I would have to crop later. So, I just worked with what I had and took my "scissors" to the picture later!

Bear: shutter 1/400, aperture f/7.1, focal length 200mm, ISO 200

Any thoughts or comments? I am learning... tell me what you think! Also, please tell Pops to buy me the super-duper zoom and the macro lens, too!!!