Time To Start Thinking Orange (Again)

I try to look for blessing where I can find them, this week its the blessing of a shorten school week. More time to spend with my boys, family, and friends. We finally get a week to slow down and we have every day planned with something, I'm glutton for punishment :) Monday and Tuesday were school and practice like usual, today the boys are having a friend spend with day with us and will probably be staying the night, tomorrow is Turkey day with extended family, and Friday we're spending some time with our friends over at Homeschool camper. Of course we're going to spend as much time outside as we can stand with the colder temperatures.

While my boys will be home for a five day weekend, this will also test me with keeping my cool. The hope is that with releasing some of their energy outside each day they test the limits less. (Counting the past couple of day spending time freezing outside for 1.5 hours each, we're up to 127.5 hours towards our 1000 Hour goal.)

I also have a backup plan in the works. (Works being the operative word, because it's harder than you'd think.)

Way back in February or maybe it was March, okay it wasn't that long ago, but it feels like a lifetime ago. I had four boys under my roof 24/7 each with their own challenges that challenged me everyday. I was losing the battle and they were getting the worst of me. I was so stressed out and added frequently to the raised voices in the house. I stumbled onto The Orange Rhino's Facebook page and loved their message, "Love more, Yell Less". It was exactly what I wanted and needed in my house at the time. I accepted their challenge to not yell for 365 days. On their page they give alternatives to yelling and everyone on there was so encouraging. For months I tried to yell less, and love more; I just could not get past the 10 day mark. I had all the tools they had suggested, I painted my nails orange, bought an orange coffee mug, got the kiddos on board (3 out of the 4), and tacked up orange reminders EVERYWHERE. The more I stressed over not yelling the more prone I was to yell. I decided to take a break from the Orange Rhino, relieve some of the added stress I was putting on myself. About the same time my nephew moved in with his father and things had settled quite a bit around here. Life was good.

Lately my stress level has been on the rise as I feel like I don't have enough hours to get everyone where they need to be, plus get done everything we need to do. While I can defuse most of my urges to yell, I have been raising my voice more than I would like to. I thought I was handling my stress better than I  had before. I was, but after tallying how often I have been raising my voice, mostly over little things (GET YOUR SHOES ON! WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE!) my stress was getting the better of me. Our awesome friend over at (you guessed it) Homeschool Camper recently accepted the Orange Rhino challenge, and had renewed my desire to reach the goal of 365 days without yelling. She has agreed to keep me accountable for when I do lose my cool and offer encouragement, and I will do the same for her. I will also be checking in with the Orange Rhino Facebook page as well. Early intervention works best right, so I've gotta nip this before it can get back to where it was earlier this year.

Tally up how many times you lose it with the kiddos, it maybe more than you think. If it is, I encourage you to checkout there Facebook page and Yell Less, Love More.

Please take the time to vote for my blog by clicking on the Badge in the upper left corner or click here if you enjoyed this post.