On Friday we did not dress all of the children like cows just to get a free dinner at Chick-Fil-A. 
We are not planning a more complete strategy for next year which includes breakfast, lunch and dinner at Chick-Fil-A.
I did not allow our two youngest boys (1 and 2) to experiment with some thread. Our toddlers did not decorate the family room, dining room, kitchen, living room, 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, nearly 2,000 square feet of house with purple thread, around and under furniture, books, toys, down the hall, in and out of bathrooms and bedrooms. Nope not in our house. We don’t have any curious, inquisitive children who get into trouble and if we had some with that propensity, I would have stopped them before it got to that level. 
We do not allow Nicholas (1) to feed himself mashed potatoes with his fingers. If he fed himself with his fingers, he might get mashed potatoes all over his arms, face and in his hair. If he got that messy at the dinner table then when someone cleaned him up they might miss his legs and I might scoop him up onto my lap for a snuggle and plant my hand firmly in his mashed potato covered legs. Yuck! So of course we do not allow Nicholas to feed himself mashed potatoes with his fingers.
We do not allow our children to play with their food!
You may want to read more Not Me’s or why we homeschool or my in progress series on how we homeschool.
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Hi, I'm Kimberly. 
Once my kids asked me – THEY ASKED ME! – if they could try to make a spider web out of yarn in one of their rooms, and I said yes – I SAID YES!
I have never to this day seen a mess the likes of which they created. They must have used 3 or 4 skeins and every square inch of space was occupied with yarn.
Of course, there was no “I’ll just scoop this up and toss it in a trash bag.” Noooooo… It took scissors and strategy and hours – HOURS! – to get it all cleaned up.
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I saw the tortillas and sighed in relief – suddenly I feel so, NORMAL!
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Very fun Not Me’s for this week!
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Hi there! Stopping by via the BlogFrog! I love your site! I only have 3 kids and am so busy – I can’t imagine 9!
♥Happy Monday!♥
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So where is your cow costume Kimberly?!?
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Raising Olives Reply:
July 13th, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Smockity,
I’m thankful that toddlers are short, cleaning up wasn’t too bad because there was not much vertical movement in the thread. LOL at your mess!
Jama,
No cow costume for me, but I did threaten to tell them that I have been lactating for nearly 13 year and ask if that qualifies.
MomStarr,
Definitely snarky, but that’s what I love about you.
Bunny,
Thanks Mom!
GO GET CHICK-FIL-A! Mmmm, it’s customer appreciation week, lots of local CFA’s are running specials check them out.
Blessings,
Kimberly
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Great Not Me’s! At our house… we struggle with yogurt getting everywhere! There is nothing worse than Ryan reaching out to us and then getting yogurt smeared on your arm!!
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Such cute little cows…calves? Anyway. I’ve seen several blogs with this on them. Somehow I totally missed this. We used to go to Chik-fil-A when we could take a church bulletin on Monday and get a free sandwich.
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Poor S (totally dressed out in cow); her future husband will understand her better when you pull this photo out. He will say…Ohhhhh, your mom…..I see. Those crazy, frugal, homeschooling moms.
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Was that snarky?
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I’ve never had Chick-Fil-A!!! Can you believe that? Everyone raves about it. I think I need to check it out.
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You did not learn to be frugal growing up. I never taught you that!
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I LOVE the cow outfits. How sweet is that!?
I’m hopping over from the BlogFrog Community Leader group, and am following you on Twitter. I truly love your blog. I am a homeschooler too and will be following you from now on.
~Brenda
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OK, those cow outfits are hilarious and super creative! They should give you several meals for everyone just for the promotional value. Love your Not Me Mondays, especially the tortillas. Visiting from over at the BlogFrog!
Holly
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We did this last year when I was as big as a cow! My kids loved dressing up and you can’t beat free food, especially when you have a big family!
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They have convinced me to “eat mor chikin”
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It is nice to meet you through BlogFrog Community leaders. This post made me smile, I love all the costumes.
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And we do NOT let Nathan (1) eat Malt-O-Meal with his hands, and he does NOT cover his head and face with it so that only a full bath will get him clean!
Thanks for the laugh!
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Speaking of Chick-Fil-A, we were in the drive through one day about a year ago, and at the window they announced we were their 100th customer of the day, so our meal was free! Wish we had ordered the ice cream, too!
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We did the “string thing” for an 8th birthday party for my oldest who is now 26. Each child got a different color and there was a prize hidden at the end of each string. It kept them busy and happy for a long time jumping and crawling around each other winding and untangling their string (yarn). My daughter has friends who still bring it up once in a while. Also I think it would be fun outside and you can avoid the mess in the house.
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