Chores Challenge

 

Recently it has come to my attention that my kids think that money grows on trees....don't I sound old! Remember your parents talking like that...wow, I never thought it would happen to me but there you go! With birthdays and Christmas followed by a trip to the happiest place on Earth {to me that Disney World} my hubby and I had a heart to heart about our budget and how to start teaching the kiddos about responsibility. It was a 17 hour drive to Orlando! Lots of time to talk.

We also have quite a few projects going on around our house. Remember the post about the porch?? Well that has lead to thoughts of other things that our little, but old, house needs. We are buckling down and getting serious about budgeting. And I am sure like any other kid, ours are always asking to buy this or that whenever we are at a store. So in an effort to show our kids that money does not grow on trees...sounding old again I know...we decided to start working weekly chores into our routine and give each of them an allowance.

I do believe they think that clothes magically appear in their drawers and that the dishes are washed by a lovely dish washing fairy....wouldn't that be nice!!! So I went to Pinterest...of course...to get the wheels moving on this. I found lots of printable chore charts and examples of age appropriate chores. I liked this one the best from I Should Be Mopping the Floor...the one on the left for Lizzy and the one on the right for Jake.

I have also been reading this wonderful book...Cleaning House: A Mom's Twelve-Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement by Kay Willis Wyma. So far a fabulous read and you can check her blog out here. I think the book planted a seed of this challenge in my head.

So I am challenging myself, and my hubby by extension, to commit to a chore chart and holding the kids accountable to their chores...which may be the most difficult part of this in whole thing! It is also going to be my challenge to post some updates about how this all goes!

Above and beyond this challenge I hope this is one step in making my children good people when they go out into the world.

We hope to help them learn a few things through this:

1. How to manage money and save for something they really want! And to come to an understanding that it takes time to save.

2. Work as part of a family {this house doesn't run on me alone...haha}

3. The responsibility to take care of their things.

So I will do my best to update our progress. Share any stories you have had with getting your kids to do chores. I love hearing how this works for other moms!

 

This House

This is our home...I love our little house in our little town

{which you may have heard about lately...Super Bowl MVP Joe Flacco is our hometown boy}

Our little house needed some up dating, I have been waiting to do this since we bought the house more than 9 years ago. The front porch was a big selling feature to me.

I love front porches. I grew up playing on my parents front porch, listening to music and hanging out with friends. It still remains a great spot to sit and visit with my parents and brothers.

I love it!

But with two layers of out door carpet {YUCK!} and dingy siding it was time for an update! We thought this would be a perfect way to add square footage to our little home, too.

Here are a few pictures of the progress so far!

 

Don't you just love the brown cedar shake shingles??

I am beyond pleased with our new space so far.

And thanks to the energy audit we got before Christmas we were able to get rid of the oil tank that was below the porch and open that room up to get a full size storage room! Adding more space to our little house!

The excitement of what it is going to be over flows as I look for ceiling lights and doors.

Did I mention that we are also redecorating the kids' nursery into a bedroom for the hubby and me?? Nothing like project on top of project!

Looking forward to posting more pictures

Hookey

Jake and I needed some time together...he needed a break from the hustle of everyday and I need a morning of just the two of us. A Mommy and son date! So we took off for breakfast at our favorite place.

 

 

Counter service at The Pop Shop and his favorite breakfast. He was a happy boy and I was a happy momma! He is growing up so fast...finding it hard to let him go! If I have learned one thing in the last few months is that this life is not mine and I can't control anything that happens. So I am going to do my best to enjoy my children and guide them down the straight and narrow paths as best I can. For now, I loved having a  morning with my boy. We don't get many of these types of days anymore.

A Tea Party

So I am not the girly type...but I have to say that ever since I had Lizzy I have been secretly hoping that we could do a tea party for her and her friends. And I got my chance!!!

So it was more of a lemonade party than a tea party. We went small, she picked the guests...the brother wasn't an option but she still wanted him there. Highlights: Large engineers print from Staples (my favorite), paper pink and gray striped straws, mason jars, snowman ornament craft, pink flower cupcake liners, green and pink paper pompom, the perfect tea sets from The Christmas Tree Store (I love that store), pink carnations, sandwiches cut with cookie cutters, great friends.

Happy Birthday Lizzy!!

It is amazing to me that she is 4...how did this happen?? Where has the time gone??
She has grown so much...
She is the light of our lives...
She is talkative...
She amazingly loving...
She loves princesses and all girly things..

Jeff's birthday is two days before Lizzy's so they shared a Holland party with MomMom too and we had a Reinert/Spatola party just for her...on Jeff's birthday :-) We had a Mommy/Daughter date the day of her birthday. Jake was in school so Lizzy and I spent the day doing whatever she wanted. She got her ears pierced at Sweet and Sassy...she picked out the cutest pair for sparkling earrings. Chick Fil A was her lunch choice. In her very subtle way she told the cashier at Chick Fil A that it was her birthday and after they brought us out our lunch they brought a balloon and a special ice cream sundae and sang her happy birthday. It was really sweet and I think it made her day! It was a really fun day! The next day we were able to send in cupcakes for her preschool class. She was so excited! And we couldn't let the celebrations end there...for her friend party this year we kept it low key...just a few friends and a simple tea party for five! Saving that one for my next post!

With her recent health issues this birthday was so much sweeter for me. Now that we know it is nothing serious and very managable our heavy hearts have been lightened. I can't wait to see what God has in store for her!