Need ideas of how to keep a positive home environment with 4 kids while I feel like a grouch....

[KindRedSpirit]

O.K. I'm done being a big,fat GRUMP!!!!!!I'm looking for ideas of how to make these last weeks fun sweet,exiting and memorable for me and the kids.(Dh can fend for himself-he just joins into whatever the mood is when he gets home anyway...)
I'm thinking easy crafting for the holidays with a baby theme, like cut and paste turkey feathers on eggs for the windows,acorn babies,nature walks,field trips every couple days,lots of library time,cozy sofa read-a-thons with fun snacks.Baking-though that takes a lot of patience with the kids!

I need more ideas to help us focus positive energy toward the birth too-likely we'll all be here,the kids are invited,I'd like to encourage a more positive energy toward the experience involving them.Quilting?We look at the previous births album a lot already and share memories and things around that...What else?Maybe an "our family births" story book that they narrate and illustrate...I'd like Dh to take some photo's of the kids and I/belly too,and maybe ds(8) can take some of Dh and I/belly.We've never done nice ones, and dh has the lense and the backdrop too.

Any other ideas?Any advice on how to keep myself in a positive frame of mind for any of this?Anyone dare to join me in the challenge?

[MaryLang]

I've been feeling the same way.
How about making some playdough:
4C. Flour
1C.Salt
4C.Water
4T.Oil
1/2C.cream of tartar.
Mix it all together in a pot add some food coloring, and warm it up til it balls up.

I plan on making lots of different cookie doughs for the weeks following her birth and freezing them.

Interested to see other ideas.

[OkiMom]

How bout making T-shirts for them to wear at the birth or after the baby comes? You can make one for each of them and a onesie for the baby? Im going to try with DD but at 21 months shes a little hard to use paint around.
Or a family history book for the baby.. Have everyone write part of it?
Belly painting maybe? or a belly cast?

[hislittlelambs]

oh! on the days i have energy i will totally join in! when i was due with my first turkey baby (joey, my 3rd was born nov 25th, 2006) i went to the library and looked up several fun craft books....not just random ones, but ones the girls had specific interests in...we brought home a "how to make paper airplanes" book (which DH probably loved more than the girls did lol) and looked up how to make yarn dolls, corn husk dolls...etc. i also briefly got into quilting around that time (hand stitching, so i could sit in my chair and be with the family leisurely in the evenings, it was quilting to keep my hands busy, but not so much with "i must finish this project NOW!" so i never stressed about it) we also got into the Little house on the Prairie books and began reading them a bit everynight and talking about the stories. (this is probably what prompted my quilting urges lol)

baking is alot of fun when you do it without a purpose. what i mean is, you dont care what the cookies look like, or if the cake is burned...etc. you do it simply for the fun of doing it. if you have a bread machine, making bread right now is really nice too! makes the house smell wonderous, is easy for the kids (just mix the ingredients and take turns hitting the button on the machine) and then watch it go!

we also like making thanksgiving placemats. easy. just give them construction paper and they can draw whatever they want, buy some thanksgiving or harvest like stickers they can put wherever, and then i TRY to trace thier hands (making handprints like turkeys is optional) and stick at least one pic of each child on thier own placemat, then use laminating paper to seal it. this also makes a great momento keepsake. i have some we did from when the girls were 1 and 2 years old! just priceless to go back and look at and reuse every year again and again. (the kids usually pic which one they want to use, this years, last years, or one of thier "baby years" one...even your youngest housemember can do one too.)

we took the kids out last weekend to a specific park that has alot of mature trees and just played in the leaf piles. this is a tradition we do every year...always the same park. i'm usually the photographer on the years i'm pregnant lol.

one day you coudl scope out some recycling centers and bring home a few large refridgerator boxes. we've done this one weekend where dh is home...then he constructs the coolest things, space ships, cars...etc. i let them play in them that week, or whenever it is compeltely demolished lol.

also, the kids made little robots out of recycling boxes and cans last week. (they actually hid thier robot from me when i went to throw him away! guess they became quite attached to him)

one thing we do, since we are living so far from family, is print out pics of our family members back home and then make little picture holders to put on the table around the food and stuff...helps with "keeping them close"

also, making little center peices for thanksgiving is nice. make felt stockings for christmas...everyone pitching in for making one for baby.

Usborne books has some fantastic craft and science experiments for little ones you coudl look up at your library. here is one for fun science stuff using things in your kitchen:
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Kitche...5359855&sr=8-5
and here is one for science projects using water:
http://www.amazon.com/Science-Water-...5359855&sr=8-6

just some ideas! i cant wait to see what everyone else says!