Missy Minus Training Wheels

 

 So Missy had me take off her training wheels last week... what's funny is that she is usually more of a risk taker than Goober, but for whatever reason she didn't want to try riding her bike sans training wheels for very long and soon asked me to put them back on. I was a mean mom and refused to reattach them (she could totally ride without training wheels she just lacked the confidence!)

After she got a bit of a grip about that she soon found that, sure enough, mom might have a clue what she is talking about! lol And she is once again following her big brother all over the neighborhood looking for friends who are home to play with!

On an unrelated note, Jer and I finally got the playhouse stained! Yes, it took all summer for us to get to it, and no we did not intend to wait until October to do it! But alas it is done before the snow flies! Yippy!

 

 (it's not done well, mind you, but it is protected from the weather, which is what we were worried about!)

Okay....

Well, this week has been really weird.

Last weekend our family went camping with the family and when we came home on Sunday night Jer's feet were hurting from a gout flairup. So he then used FMLA and got a few more days off of work to recover... so he was home till yesterday.

Which was nice but really threw my week for a loop. Instead of getting normal things done, I was trying to get other things done.

First off there was airing out the sleeping bags from camping and setting up the tent to sweep it out and make sure it was dry. And of course there was the laundry I missed plus the added laundry that camping creates! So Mt. Washmore (stole that from Kar and Nat... it's just too good of a description girls!) started getting tackled almost as soon as we got home. It took till Wednesday to get the tent done due to crazy nutzo Idaho wind. Then the power went out a couple of times due to aforementioned wind, so... because the kiddos were going stir crazy we took them and went through the car wash with them.

Most of the time when we wash our cars we do it ourselves or go to Soapies where the car sits still and the things moves around it. The kids seemed to really like the moving car wash (well, okay... the older kids loved it, Turbo wasn't so sure and and seemed a bit worried, at one point he was yelling "Mom! Mom! Back up! It's going to hit me!" but after he realized that the window stopped it all it was good.) and actually it did a really good job cleaning the car... reminds me of the days when I was a teen and washed my car often, it has been a good year since our van was given a good scrub, but the camping trip guaranteed that the thing needed it desperately!

Last night we went and got family pictures taken, because the last time we had them taken was when Turbo was a month or so old and even then it was only because the extended family scheduled them! So I bit the bullet and decided we needed family pictures that we chose to do on our own... and since Jer was home anyways, why not see if Loni (one of my friends who is trying to get a photography website up and running) could do it last night. She is such a doll, she totally worked with us and even missed out on her bible study so that we could get it done! I'm sure the pictures will be awesome once they are done and am excited to see them. :)

Anyways, now that Jer is back at work and it's near the end of the week.... well, ya, getting back into gear is hard! I stayed up too late (Jer is a night owl after all) and haven't gone and worked out all week... Ya, need to get on that before I balloon back out!!! But I really am having a hard time talking myself into getting anything real done today or tomorrow. Maybe I'll call these two days my own little vacation and call it good till Monday... well, 'cept that I have to get to the grocery store or the world will implode!

I've found that I kinda work like this... well at least the graph at the top, the rest is great too, but doesn't apply that well to me since I'm okay at getting things done... cept cleaning.

Cleaning sucks.

Chores.

OK, so this topic has been brought up on a couple of posts (e.g. Rocks in My Dryer see link in "Places I Like to Check Out" on left side of page if you want) and I thought I might chime in.

Chores at our house are simple. Seeing that my oldest is just about to turn five on June 1st and I'm not that great at getting small change from the bank on a regular basis for allowance, I have devised a simple system at out house for chores and rewards.

Tokens. That's right, Tokens. Or should I say Poker Chips? LOL Lets put those babies to good use!

Anyhow, the kids get paid in poker chips. I know they are not able to "spend" these anywhere outside the house, but seeing that we don't go out of the house very often I figure that isn't a huge deal at the moment.

So here's how it works. If Big G brushes his teeth in the morning he gets 1 token. If he makes his bed he gets another. If he keeps his bed dry all night he gets 3 tokens.... As he gathers his tokens he spends them at the "store" I have a list on the fridge with pictures of things he can "buy". Popcorn = 2 tokens. Trip to the park = 5 tokens. Blast Off (a fun kids place) = 7 tokens. Etc etc.

As G and Missy My get to the point that they do their chores and no longer ask for tokens for that chore I switch out the chore list. For instance, recently G stopped asking for tokens for getting dressed in the morning. So, I stopped giving him tokens for that and add a new chore to the list. Like setting the table for dinner. I don't have any more than five chores listed at one time. And if the kids decide there is something they want that I'm not oh so eager to give them on a constant basis... yup, I put it on the reward chart so they can earn it :)