Thanks!

I want to say thank you to my sister-in-law, Carrie, for sending me four big bags of lemons from her tree.  I juiced almost 2 gallons of lemon juice, and Brandon obviously had a lot of fun, too.  I told Derek I was ready to move to Arizona if I could grow so many good, easy to peel citrus.

Another thank you to my good friend, Lyndsey, for the Christmas presents she got for my kids.  It was a cardboard house and a fort that they could color.  They loved them!  It was the first thing they wanted to play with when we got home.

Christmas Pictures

I don't know about anyone else, but it's always hard for me to get back into a routine after Christmas.  We got to see lots of family this year and had lots of fun.

We usually play lots of games at my parents' house.  This year we tried some new ones like Blokus and Catchphrase (both fun!) and the oldies-but-goodies like Pounce.

Brandon's First Christmas

Isn't he a cute little elf?  He's having a very fun first Christmas, and not even messing with the tree too much.

Derek realized the other day that the whole time we've been married there's only been 3 years (2002, 2006, 2008) that it wasn't someone's first Christmas, and all of those I was preggers!

Our chore/allowance system

This is what we do for chores, but it's by no means the only way. We've tried several things and this is working for us now.
First, the philosophy
Here's our philosophy; yours may be different. We think the whole point of being a child is to practice being a resposible adult. They get money for doing work because that's what an adult does. Some parents don't like this because the child could just choose not to do any chores and get no money. Chores in our house are not optional. If you have to be reminded more than once you lose your money, but you still have to do it. Also, they are expected to do anything I ask them to do without any extra payment. When your boss asks you to stay an extra fifteen minutes to finish something you don't ask what you're going to get for it. Occaisionally, they get opportunities to earn extra, but that's at my discretion, not theirs. We don't think of it as "their" money. I have no problem taking money away if they have done something grevious or need to pay for something they broke through disobedience. Chores are not a punishment, but just part of living in a family. Mama is not your slave! Cleaning up after yourself and pitching in with work will not be such a burden if they learn to do it at a very young age. Just doing chores or getting an allowance isn't a magic pill for becoming responsible, it's ONE way to practice being responsible. And, no, I don't feel guilty for making them do housework. They have plenty of play time and I guarantee I work harder than they do!

In practice
We have a chore chart on the wall, one each for Sean, McCulla, and Cameron. It lists their chores for the week with a picture for each one. If they have to be reminded more than once they get an X for that box. At the end of the week the number of Xs are subtracted from the allowance. They get 10 cents per chore. We encourage them to use some of thier money to help other people by giving it away. I've never had them balk at this. The rest they can use to buy things when I'm already going someplace. I don't buy them a lot of extra treats during the year. I save it for Christmas. If they can't wait they have to buy it themselves. Several months ago they pooled some of their money and bought a mouse. That was kind of neat because they saw they could buy something together they couldn't afford alone.

What do they do?
Right now I'm redoing their chores because it's been awhile and I've realized they're capable of more. Everyone is expected to put their own dishes away after a meal and to put their own clothes in the laundry basket. When we do a toy pick-up and empty the dishwasher they all help. Individually, Sean washes breakfast dishes, gets plates for meals, gives the animals water, lets the dogs out/in at night, gets the mail, and sweeps the dining room floor every day. McCulla does laundry 3 days a week and helps me clean bathrooms and the kitchen the other 3 days. She also feeds the cats, sets the table with silverware, and wipes off the table after supper. Cameron helps set the food on the table, assists McCulla with her stuff, and feeds the dogs. Kyleigh doesn't get an allowance (probably need to wait until she stops trying to eat money), but she's right there emptying the dishwasher, bringing her plate to the sink, etc.

Lessons learned
After doing this for a few years I've learned some things. I don't allow them to buy food with their money. They were wanting to buy sweets and things I don't let them eat. I don't feel they're old enough to know enough about nutrition to make wise choices, and I need to look out for them physically. I also learned to give them allowance once a week instead of every day. I'd just forget too much at the end of the day. I've also learned to not show them a negative attiude about work. If I am lazy or grump and grouse about having to sweep or wash dishes then I will pass that attitude to them. Housework is just a fact of life, so if we all pitch in with a good attiude it will get done and then we can do something else.

Helping the needy

We struggle every Christmas (as I'm sure all Christian parents do) to make sure our children understand that giving is more important than receiving.  It's been hard to find things things that our whole family can be involved in to help others in need.  One thing we always do is go through their closets and have them get rid of anything they haven't played with much the past year and give it to charity.  I'm always suprised at how willing they are to give away stuff.  We also found this year a good website through Samaritan's Purse that is neat for kids to see.  They minister to families around the world who often need it much more than people in the US.  They have different things you can choose your money to go to, some for very small amounts.  It makes it more real for a child to see what their money is actually doing rather than just sending some to "needy people".  We had our older 3 (the only ones that get an allowance) get out thier piggy banks and choose a gift.  For example, they got mosquito nets, milk for a child, and some hot meals for $10 or less.  Anyway, I think it helped them see the need for giving at Christmas if any of you are looking for that.

The First of Many Teeth

Sean (finally) lost his first tooth!  He was nervous about wiggling or pulling it because he thought it would hurt.  It was barely hanging on for a few days and I was begging him to just give it a tug.  This morning it was all crooked, so I convinced him to let me touch it and it right away came out.  He flinched, but couldn't believe it was already out!  It was so cute to see him strutting around and everyone else so excited for him.

 So what's the going rate for teeth these days?  I think when I was a kid it was a quarter, but I think there's been inflation.

Snowball Effect

There's a phenomenon that happens when doing remodels to your house.  I call it the snowball effect because the project gets bigger and bigger.  I've owned a house long enough to know that projects will always take more time and more money than first thought.  Here's an example.  We talked a lot about taking out a section of wall so we could have a bigger dining room.

But we had to put air conditioners back there first.
And windows.
The windows need new blinds and curtains.
And new floors are needed because it's just concrete.
And brace the ceiling over the new opening.
Then put drywall over it.
The drywall then needs to be textured.
And painted.
But where the dining room paint meets the kitchen paint it looks weird now, so the kitchen needs to be repainted.
The curtains now don't match the new paint...

This is just a very small part of it all.  The good thing is that most of this was foreseen.  I'm blessed with a husband that is very good at carefully planning things out.  I just kept warning him to beware of the snowball effect when he was talking about how easy it was going to be!