Going for a Little More Shut-Eye

So, in the mail today arrived our monkeys... that's right!  Our outstanding-reviews-by-tons-of-parents-monkey-sleep-training-clocks.  The way it's designed to work is that the monkey is asleep while the child is asleep & the monkey awakes at a time set by the parent at which time the child can awake or get out of bed.  It can be muted so it's not awaking your child everyday, but when they awake the can see if the monkey is sleeping & know if they can arise yet or not.  And you're supposed to explain that their getting out of bed before the monkey's eyes are open will awake the monkey so you want to be quiet so their monkey can sleep.


My crazies are early risers... like 6:30 early.  And I'm up too so it's not that I'd like to lay in bed and sleep longer or anything.  I'd just like 30 minutes to shower, dress, & get going without their encouragement & support.  Soldier man is rarely here during our morning routine even if he is in town, so for me it's my 30 minutes to rise & shine without looking like Night of the Living Dead when I go out for the rest of the day.  So, we bought the monkeys in an effort to train them to stay in their beds until 7:00 a.m. hopefully training them to sleep that long over time.  So today I introduced the monkeys & came up with a little craft for them to make where they could practice putting something to sleep just like I would do them in the evenings.  Here's hoping they will not awake their monkeys!!

Sleeping Monkeys... you hit a button to make their eyes close when the kids go to sleep. (I guess I need to coordinate the time on their clocks now that I'm looking at it!)

Awake Monkeys... their eyes open at the time you've set the alarm for.  The alarm can be muted making just the eyes open quietly in the event the kids sleep until the designated time.

We took a plain small paper bag to use as our "bed".

We glued cotton balls on the top section as a pillow.

The crazies were able to decorate the "sheets" using stickers.

I cut up an old flannel blanket to use as a comforter for their "beds".

They practiced putting their bears to "bed" warning them to not wake the monkeys the same way I'd explained it to them.

I've kept their original boxes.  In case it doesn't work.  In the event I'd like to resale on Ebay or something.  Or smash something really hard with a hammer.  This. Has. To. Work.

A Recycling Family... Finally

 We were supposed to start recycling. 3 months ago. Upon moving to California.  I think by law?  But even this by-the-book gal didn't adhere because I am so clutter-free.  While we are issued a trashcan by the Army for this purpose, I still dreaded having another container in the kitchen just to collect more things.  I love living clutter-free & to me a recycle bin just takes up more space in the kitchen.  But, I used Earth Day to introduce the concept to the crazies & am finally getting this family on board.  Probably because it's the law, but also to help the crazies learn more ways to love the Earth & teach them early on how they can help in the process.  So, we took a trip to the store, got our recycle bin for the house, put the recycle cards on the side, & already have things in there.  I guess I don't mind a little clutter, as long as the box is labeled.

K with her "I Love Earth" art.

D with his too.

Our printable recycling cards to teach us what goes in the bin... really cause I'd forget.

D throwing the first item in the bin -- he will keep us all straight.