PJ Jonas

Category: Parent Intentionally

  • First Trip to the ER in 2010

    First Trip to the ER in 2010

    If someone had asked me to wager who would be the first kid to need a trip to the ER, I would have guessed Jade. She’s just a menace and into everything. LOL But I would have guessed wrong. I was making dinner yesterday and asked Brett to go cut me some chives from the…

  • The Three Sweetest Words You Can Hear (according to Jim)

    The Three Sweetest Words You Can Hear (according to Jim)

    . Any guesses what those words are? Brett (who is reading over my shoulder even though she is supposed to be in bed and I have reminded her 3 times to get to bed) just whispered, “I love you.” Good three words. In fact they’re awesome three words. But they’re not the three words I’m…

  • Future Blogger

    Future Blogger

    One of the best parts about homeschooling is that early on, as parents, we can identify our children’s individual strengths and weaknesses.  We can help them to grow their strengths and minimize their weaknesses and prepare them for their chosen profession.   We’re already planning Indigo’s future.  She recently decided she wanted to be a blogger so she…

  • Child Training

    Child Training

    One of the ways we get our house to run is for everyone to pitch in and help with the work – even the youngest children. Sometimes that works really well. Sometimes it just makes more work. One of the easiest jobs for Hewitt, Indigo, and Jade to do is cleaning off the table and loading…

  • The BEST Bathroom EVER

    The BEST Bathroom EVER

    Jim was so impressed with this bathroom that he had to take a picture of it. He also declared it, “The BEST Bathroom EVER.” Now, those of you with only one or two children may not be so impressed. But when you’ve been taking young children to the bathroom as long as we have been,…

  • Pants Trouble

    Pants Trouble

    One of the children has a little bit of trouble putting his pants on correctly. In this case he also forgot to put on underwear. I won’t mention the culprit by name, but I will admit that it wasn’t Cole, Emery, Fletcher or Greyden I also won’t post the picture of when he reached across…

  • Child Training

    Child Training

    Every good mother knows that she can do all the children’s chores 10 times faster and 100 times better than they can. Case in point: But I have to constantly remind myself that being a good mom is about training my children to do things. It is not about doing it for them. That only leads…

  • So Why Does it Look So Bad?

    So Why Does it Look So Bad?

      So, what I want to know is, since my children love to clean the floor, why does it always look so horrid?    

  • But You Said…

    But You Said…

    Hewitt has been having difficulty getting dressed lately. Most of the time he would prefer to spend the entire day in his pajamas. He already ripped a thousand holes in his Pirates pajamas by running around outside in them. So this morning, when he got dressed in pajamas again, I told him, “Hewitt, go and…

  • My Favorite Baby Carrier

    My Favorite Baby Carrier

    As you can imagine, with 8 children, we’ve gone through lots of baby carriers. I think at various times I’ve tried most of them out there. But finally, on my 7th baby I found the BEST baby carrier. It is called an ergo*. Here is a photo of Jim wearing Indigo in our ergo: Before…

  • Where’s My Unga Bunga?

    Where’s My Unga Bunga?

    The other night we sent Colter upstairs to find a book. When he came back saying that he couldn’t locate the book, Brett told him it was on bookcase #5. To understand this story, you need to know that Brett and I are redoing our entire library. All the books are being reorganized and moved to…

  • Laundry Woes

    The other day, we held a family meeting to reassign chores. Among other things, Fletcher is now responsible for folding and putting away the laundry. Well, apparently a few hours after our family meeting, Fletcher approached Jim. “Dad, do I have to fold mom’s clothes?” “Yes.” And then, in his loud, raspy, Fletcher voice: “But…

  • Siblings

    Siblings

    I mentioned before that Brett and Emery are splitting the cooking duties with me. Emery is still a little handicapped as he isn’t reading on his own yet (but he’s getting close!) In this photo, Brett is helping Emery to read the recipe for coffee cake (breakfast for tomorrow). Don’t you think they’ll make great…

  • UH OH

    UH OH

    I think those are two of the most dreaded words (or are they just sounds) that any mother hears. I was greeted to those sounds the other evening. Now, when a mother is aware that there has been an “uh oh”, she has three choices: 1. Go investigate2. Send the children to handle it3. Pretend…

  • But You Said…

    But You Said…

    I would be rich if I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard the phrase, “But you said…” My children are masters at taking what I’ve previously said and using it against me. Case in point, last night we had a salad with our dinner. Emery made the salad, and he decided to add…