Whew. Is is 2011 yet? January 1st, 2010, I moved into a house as housemom to 6 kids. On January 5th Gabi moved in, bringing 2 more kids with her (you may remember Julian). We have spent a lot of time making the house our own, getting the kids ready for school (the new academic year started January 13th, which meant new schools, new school uniforms, school supplies, etc.), spending time with the kids and teaching them a lot of things. They are learning the new routine and are enjoying their new schedule. One of the great things about Gabi is her creative (and more importantly, effective) discipline techniques. Some examples: jump on couch = stand at the table for meals that day. Running in the house = run laps outside the house. Screaming in the house = stand outside and scream. We also have a time-out chair where they sit for the number of minutes of their age. We have a chance to teach them a lot about taking care of their things and the things in the house, sharing, feeling happy when other people have things they might not (like if the kids next door get ice cream), teamwork, thinking before doing, etc.
*I stole the title from Gabi's blog. It's in Dutch, but she has some pictures of our house posted, including of Timmy the yellow lab, the kids, and one at our table where I'm threatening to feed Ketchup to her 3 month old baby, Mathijs.
Gabi & Me at Cape Point, Atlantic in the bkgd (Gabi's 25th b-day)
Meliska, Jeannie, & Julian washing/drying dishes
At the swimming pool on the premises (next to Karlien and Fergusson's house).
