I'm sad to see summer leave but I couldn't live in a more beautiful neighborhood..

I have been meaning to take some fall pictures but I haven't so I stole these off my friends blog she lives two doors down and took this from her front porch. I never would have thought TOOELE would be so beautiful but I truly love it.

NAG NAG NAG

I want to stop nagging my children. I am addicted to nagging them. I wake up and my mouth just starts spewing forth all these nagging comments. I can see that without nagging they aren't going to be on time for school. When they get home, its homework, then dinner and cleanup, then scriptures then bedtime. I nag ALL DAY. I don't need to nag it is my problem. They need to know a few simple consequences to their actions and let the day roll. I can't do it. I have to do it. I have to stop nagging. Tonight gunny bag comes out once again. We have tried him before. I am going to pick up there stuff, collect it all week, and dump it in the middle of the floor Saturday morning. Each item cost 1 job. If you need it sooner It cost one dollar. I spend all day picking up their crap. I can clean the whole house so quickly if it is just picked up. I want my children to see the savior in my countenance. I know the savior would not nag all day.

My new Laundry room

Well I may end up regretting this.. but for NoW I am Loving it. I HATE LAUNDRY hate with a capital hate. My kids try to pull something out of their drawer and everything else somehow comes with it and lands on the floor. I am doing laundry and some items are still folded. I want to strangle someone.
I got this idea from the eyers. I moved all the kids dressers into the laundry room. My laundry room is fairly small. It is very tight. SO they have to go into the laundry room to get dressed. It does leave the laundry room a big fat mess. But lets be honest it was a mess before. I am in there ten times more than in the kids room so if someone ACCIDENTALLY removes all there clean clothes on the floor I see it before it gets stirred into the pot of dirty.
The BEST part about the whole thing is the entire laundry process happens in 60 square feet. So I put a tiny travel dvd player in the laundry room. I have watched two completes seasons of stuff I like. I am actually excited to do laundry. If I am still engaged in the show I try to iron or straighten up in there. I have never been so caught up on laundry. The other day I was sad because I didn't have any laundry to do. That has never happened to me. So my daughter puked in her bed and my son peed all over the bath mats. So don't worry I was right back in there.

Strict school Strict Teachers????

update. they change classes for math , science, and reading, two recesses and a lunch. That is the time they are allowed to use the bathroom so they really should have plenty of time.

My kids go to this school and I am super excited about it. They have recently become managed by APA American preparatory academy. They wear uniforms, which I love. Even though it creates tons of laundry. So this year they have REALLY stepped up the structure. The have to sit in learning position, which is feet on the floor and hands clasped on the desk. When the teacher asks a question they all respond in unison. If she asks a yes or no question they answer back with no or yes MAM.. They have seven different infractions they can be punished for. If they have to go to the bathroom they have to "pull a card" and lose five minutes of recess. If they are unprepared for the day. Or if there parents didn't sign their daily learning log the also have to pull a card. My kids are very nervous about school. They are pestering me and almost in tears if I don't sign their sheet immediately when they get home.
They are also doing some fun stuff they have cheers and chants and the teacher is constantly praising the class. The teacher asks questions and the kids respond every thirty seconds to a minute (in unison).
So the reason I am telling you all this is because there has been an unbelievable amount of drama. Parents are freaking out, there is a we hate excelsior academy page on facebook . People are threatening to not send their kids the day the budget is allotted for the year. People who know anything about APA always seem a little nervous when I tell them they are managing the school.
So all the drama makes me nervous. I have been very pleased and excited. I think all the structure is good for the kids. I am a very fun and low key mom with little to no structure. So I feel it is a good balance to my personality. I wonder what all you other moms think. Should I be nervous? Should I be listening to all the drama and figuring out the root of it all or just ignorantly bliss full??

I want this too...

"I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."

Sister Marjorie Hinckley

I need audio Ideas

My kids go to a charter school which is 15 minutes from our house. I choose for them to go there so I can't complain. However, I am in the car 30- 120 minutes a day taking them to school and back uugghh.. It is only week two and I need some ideas. I bought a lot of talks on cd from education week but I have already blazed through about 80 dollars worth. So I need a cheaper option. ANY IDEAS??? I want it to be uplifting, informational, or even just entertaining.