Chore Paks

Around our house the chores are hit or miss. Mostly it's because I am very forgetful (Ooh shiny syndrome) and once I have delegated the chores for the morning, I have a hard time remembering who and what have what going on. And in typical kid fashion, , no one bothers to rermind me what exactly they were supposed to do! While we enjoyed our hand chart, there are more chores for each kid than one hand can hold. Now, know that I don't come up with anything on my own, but thoroughly enjoy the search feature on my Swagbucks page. I came across these chore paks on another blog, and I made up these handy paks for the kids to wear (FYI- Garry doesn't wear his BUT it does help him to remember what to do!) in the morning when they get up. Although I still have to check up on them, I can see from what the current tag is to help them stay on track! Wanna know what the kids do in the morn?

Garry-

dressed

feed dog/medicine/spray medicine

wipe down toilets

sweep kitchen

make bed

Shelby

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

wipe down sinks

sweep dining room

make bed

Bryce

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

wash breakfast dishes

make bed

Aidan (pictures instead of words)

dressed/hair/teeth

put away pj's

move clothes from washer to dryer

make bed

We just changed out our paks for the new year. They will keep these chores for the next 6 months or so. Makes it easier to get into a routine when I don't change it but twice a year.Well worth the $5 spent in plastic holders! By the way, if you want to get the full experience of where it probably originated, you can read all about it in Terri Maxwell's-Managers of their Homes.

He won a bike!

Ok, so this is old news. He won it back in June at church. But anyway....Congratulations, you no longer have to ride the pink bike!

Bible bee!

Our first year participating in the Bible Bee has gotten off to a slow start. Actually, it has not moved much at all. Until this week. Realizing that this week marks the 1/2 point, we (I) decided it was time to kick it in gear. So, the above picture shows how my entire dining room looks. However, we are progressing! In order to participate, each contestant must memorize verses (Shelby about 200, Garry 400) and also be familiar enough with 1 Peter to be able to answer questions. IF we continue the pace, we just might make it! We'll keep you posted!

Welcome to Bikini Bottom!

Going thru my list of unpublished posts that Iforgot I started, I came across this one from the Bryce and his best friend's birthday last Oct. In my busyness of getting the party together, I missed taking pictures of most everything. Here's what I did get!

Welcome!

YUM! Squidward dogs, Gary's snack mix, Spongebob's Seaweed salad-we forgot the hamburger for the Crabby patties-no kid noticed:)"who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!"

Birthday cakes for EACH kid courtesy of Bryce's best friend's mom-she made 6 cakes:)LOL, Aidan got Mr. Crabs--wonder why?!?The main cake for the rest of the guests
THe Birthday boys-Bryce and his 2nd best friend (TJ still is number 1!)

Happy New Year!

Happy new year! This was the first year my hunny has been home for New Years in about 8 yrs. Not wanting to go out, we decided to have a little in-house party. To make it fun (and hopefully less asking on when it will be midnight) I put together our countdown bags. Starting at 8pm the kids were able to open one bag. I included some things we had around the house and a couple of items from the dollar store. That way each hour was filled with an activity, keeping us busy until the very end. The kids had a great time and it helped us big folks stay awake (in the end Aidan missed the ball drop by about 15 min-he was out cold). I'm sure I have started something and will probably be expected to do the same next year:)

Game time, puzzle competition and singing karaoke was some of the fun that night. I actually over packed some of the bags and we barely had time to finish what was in them before the hour was up. Guess that was a good thing!Bryce making his bean noisemaker-gotta make lots of noise at midnight, right?Our first bag!
A serious game of chess. Garry likes playing against me because I don't know how to plan ahead (lol, it applies to all aspects of my life-the goodie bags were finished about 7pm-just in time!)

Finally lost his first tooth!

Bryce comes in today telling me his tooth was loose. I thought it might be a little loose as this was the first time he mentioned it...WRONG! He didn't want me to touch it so I used the same mommy words that all of us mommy's have used "let me check it out" (wink, wink)! One swipe with the paper towel and out it popped!He was not a happy camper here-I don't think he liked losing that tooth-Even though Shelby promised him the tooth fairy would come that nite!

Latest sayings....

Shelby-"Aidan was chasing me and he lost his contraction (traction) and fell on me!"

Bryce- at 9:30 last night after I got the bead he stuck up his nose out-"Remember when I put the TicTac up my nose?" If he remembered, why did he do it again??!

Park day (with Gage)

Camera broke-put it away. Came across it today so I thought I'd see what was on it. Among several hundred pics were some from a somewhat recent (is June recent?) trip to Gma's. After a picnic with Auntie Becky, we headed to the park/splash park/beach for some good 'ole fun in the sun:)

Happy Easter!

Before Aidan realizes that these are real jelly beans on the tree, I thought I would take a quick shot. Most of the little people are in bed-so these will be good until tomorrow (yummy breakfast!). The baskets are full; all the decorations are up. I always love how God makes even the little stuff work out. Garry has a friend spending the night that I didn't know was staying until about 6:30. When I went shopping the other nite for basket fillers, I ended up getting an extra boy toy (big kid). I contemplated getting it (a good deal, but how good is a deal when you are spending money??) but in the end I had this feeling I should go ahead and buy it, so I did. Yeah! Now I'm just shy one chocolate bunny (daddy is coming thru on that one--update:Thanks Corrine!) and all the baskets are filled and ready to go. Happy Easter! He is risen:)

Postman

This morning the door rang, and Aidan raced to the window to see who it was. I opened the door to the mailman. He had several packages in hand and gave them to me. I took them and shut the door and handed Aidan one of the packages that had his name on it. He looked at it; dropped it and wailed in his little 2 year old voice: " I wanned pizza!"

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, to Home Depot we go!

the loading of the car

Ok, so I would not define our trip to Home Depot as an exciting undertaking or experience, but an adventure nonetheless. Hindsight I wondered why we decided to all go, knowing that we would have to bring a fair amount of lumber back with us (Dad's workbench). Not to mention, the fun (not) of dragging all the little people back and forth thru the store, as we went by our list and not by what is in the section that we needed off the list, which meant we went from one side to the other about 5 times (don't forget bathroom breaks!). Plus, every time Daddy went ahead of the rest of the group Aidan got very upset (loudly). Still, amidst the chaos we got all that we needed to get, and it only took my hunny about 20 minutes to get all the lumber and kids in the car; with just one piece sticking out. With help from Kathy, the check-out associate, we got the string we needed to keep the wood and stroller from bouncing out down the road. Thanks to Papa for teaching knots, I got it tied down enough to get us home. It did, however, bruise my hunny's man feelings that I tied the knots, which he admitted with a grin as we were heading home (the man should do that, haha). I recently read Jim Bob and Michelle Dugger's book; The Duggers: 20 and Counting, and he had written about when there were only 8 children, but all were very young (8 and under). They were driving somewhere and Jim Bob looks back and sees the van full of car seats and little faces. He turns to Michelle and tells her "that these are the best years of our lives and we don't even know it." As I walked back to the van from the store and viewed the bobbing heads in their seats and my hunny meticulously fitting the wood into the trunk, I totally understood what he meant:)

Aidan is a big helper!

Bryce says " I can do it all by myself!"

Garry of course, is always there to help Dad:)

Sick Kiddies

The thought had just come to mind that the kids hadn't really been sick in a while, when low and behold, we were hit. First it was sniffle y noses, and last week Shelby started another round when a trip to the toy store went horribly wrong.
Here's how it went: We head into the store, and as usual, the older three are all talking to me at once about what they want to see while we are in there. The 4th (littlest) is screaming because he does NOT want to go into the shopping cart, and I am trying to make him and I happy (does that happen?) with the least amount of noise, but I am determined to put him in the cart because I do not want to carry or corral him in store. At that point, I send the oldest 2 down the next aisle so they can look at Lego's; Bryce is now bouncing around the cart antagonizing Aidan (still screaming) and I realize I possibly forgotten something that I needed and am searching my small on the outside but cavernous on the inside purse. I had a fleeting moment to just pack all up and call it a day, but I had been putting off this particular store about 2 weeks and did not want to come back (kids had money to spend).Quietly (threatening) trying to calm the 2 smaller boys, Garry and Shelby came running up and STOP in front of me. Trying to comprehend what Garry is trying to tell me over the noise of the other two, Shelby demonstrates by throwing up all over the floor. So here I am, telling Garry to take Shelby outside and he just looks at me. Finally he starts moving and I tell Bryce to follow behind, he whines and says he wants to stay with me. I give him the "mommy look" and he reluctantly heads outside. I look around and it seems to be everywhere (thank goodness she missed all the toys!). The clerk sees what happens and heads over with paper towels and Clorox clean up. Another employee heads to the back to get the mop and gloves (she didn't find any gloves), so I grab the towels and get down and start cleaning up--Aidan still screaming. Garry heads back in with Shelby in tow, and I (growl)ask him to take all the kids out to the car. As always, Garry dutifully does what I ask and drags all out to the van while I finish cleaning up the mess. And I was dressed so nice that day, pink heels and all:)

Meet the latest and greatest...

for the creative chaos we call school. At least for me. Let's face it, I am not the most organized person on the block. I like the idea of organization, but for whatever reason (me not being diligent?) not much is organized here. The only thing that keeps me from looking like one of those houses that are stuffed to the gills piled high with stuff is that I have no problem sending off to Goodwill when I am thru with it, or at least, tired of looking at it! This year is the first I've had more than one kid schooling to deal with, and the first part of the school year, well, um, we didn't get much done. October and November left me with a lot of time to think and pray about several problem issues around the house (ha, I have more than one!). I love it when exactly what I need just seems to fall in my lap. I really have no idea how I came across this, message board perhaps, but it is for me! May I introduce: Sue Patrick's Workbox System.
Here's what is said each day:
Garry- "Mom, how much school do I have to do?"
Shelby- "Mom, how much school do I get to do?"
To both of them, I would answer, I dunno. Why? Organization issues, of course. I didn't know what I wanted to teach them, and by the time I got my act together, the day was shot. So here how it goes. Garry's boxes have a blue number, Shelby's green. The boxes are put in numerical number and each box holds a worksheet, subject, craft, etc. The object is to go in order thru the workboxes, remove them from the shelf and work whatever is in box. From there, they empty box in the pink crate to right, and so on and so on. When they run out of boxes, their day is finished. I have a master list that shows me what subject goes in each box each day (each day is different, I generally load them before I go to bed), and overall we have been able to study more and have actually get to some of the fun things I wanted to get to but couldn't because we were struggling just to get the basics in. Now, in just a couple of hrs we get it all done, much of it can be done without me standing over them, and more importantly, it's not a huge hassle or big mess (everything has it's place). We've been using this for the past 2 months, and it is definitely a life saver in this house! And even though we have to keep the boxes in the dining room ( I tried the garage but it's just been too flipping cold to go back and forth), because it's so self contained, it doesn't get in the way. Thank you, Sue! For those who read her book, she can be a little daunting, as she feels there is only one way to use the system (her background is a challenged student). However, with a little tweaking, I found the basic information very sound. A lifesaver in this house:)

Kid Pics

The kids had the camera-here are a couple of pics:)

Miss Liberty

Makin' money

Garry is always on the lookout for some extra cash. Currently he's saving up for an i-phone (next year). So I offered to pay him, Shelby and a buddy if they would rake the yard. Shelby has recently started getting an allowance and is saving up also for a DS game. Watch out, both will take your change and ask for more! Anyway, one of the boys got the ingenious idea to use the blower. An hr later I went out there and although there was a lot of blowing going on, most of the leaves were still in their original positions. As the sun was making it's way to the other side of the world, I reminded them that they would not get paid unless the job was done today. In the end, the blower got ditched, and they finished in time (under the glow of the porch light). The three happily pocketed their cash, although Shelby was very upset that the boys got 5 and she only got 2--we had agreed upon this before, but seeing that she was almost to her goal of $10 made her much happier. Oh, yeah, in spite of the 9 bags they filled the yard is full again. The neighbors must be blowing theirs over:)

Kyle and Garry working hard!

Shelby's baggin' them up (1 leaf at a time!)

We're home!

As I survey the debris removed from the van, I am amazed that we managed to fit all this stuff plus 9 people in the van:) Been home for 3 days and still the living room looks like a bomb went off! Our trip went great. Along the way we saw almost everyone in the family save for Connie and Kirk. They were just too far out the loop (this time!). Looking back, I learned some interesting tidbits. I thought I would share them with you.

1. California barking spiders are EVERYWHERE!

2. The Alamo is not a dinky little building between a McDonald's and big buildings downtown (sorry, Kevin). It was a very interesting 4.2 acres of history.

3. No matter how much time we spent there, or the many books we read on the subject, we still can't remember what happened at the Alamo (pop quiz on the way home showed we didn't learn very much!)

4. It costs $8 to be properly serenaded these days.

5. Literal Little did not appreciate nor enjoy Gma's jokes (the jokes were corny, but it was a long ride home).

6. Bryce apparently has been watching Dirty Dancing judging by the way he danced at the wedding. Maybe we can all pick up some pointers!

7. 3,000 miles later and no one was accidentally pushed out of the van (we did consider Fedex'n one home)

A special thank you goes out to Aunt Tanny and Aunt Carol for the car riding goodies.

We still have some goodies left from Aunt Tanny's bags packed away for another trip (Shelby said we had to come see you next year, so watch out!)

In her buggy glasses from Aunt Tanny

Cutting the cake (he was nice to her)

Their adopted kids on the Riverwalk (Bryce LOVES Kim!)
We've just been seranaded:)

Bert's considering flying the rest of the way home!

Happy 13th to Em and Jake

It's a happy boy!

Here a little, there a little

Here we are in Lake Charles, LA. Our last few days have been adventurous. Our first night out was spent at Aunt Carol's in Tallahassee. Shelby and Beka were inseparable the entire time. Each kid has a buddy when we're there (Aunt Carol, who will Aidan have to play with when he gets bigger???) all had a great time. We went downtown Tallahassee to the Science Museum on our way out of town. There was some crying as we left the parking garage, but we assured all that we would be getting back together soon!

Tuesday evening found us at Uncle David's (thanks to all for evenly spacing yourselves out!). We got up yesterday and played on all the toys.....big kid toys. Daddy drove the Rhino into the mud and got stuck and then up a tree( I was laughing too hard to get a pic, sorry). Garry drove from then on:)

Today we are going for a quick swim at the motel before heading on to our final destination. The road trip has gone well considering the many hours in the car. We've sang, colored, told stories, and anything else we can think of. Few and far between are the meltdowns, thankfully.

Notice the matching hair!