Tagged

My friend Joni tagged me. So here it goes.


10 years ago I was:
The mother to a 2 year old and a one week old.
Tired
Busy
Alone a lot. Mike was in school full time and working at Motorola full time.
Serving and teaching at a halfway house every Sunday with Mike and a group of friends.

Five things to do today:
Do math lessons with all kids. (done)
Go on nature scavenger hunt for science at the nature preserve. (done)
Lay by pool while kids swim. (done)
Water veggie plants. (not yet)
Make dinner. (almost done- chicken cooking for enchilada casserole)

Snack I enjoy:
Salty stuff. Then sweet. Then back to salty.

Things I would do if a Millionaire:
Pay off Orchard's mortgage.
Pay off our mortgage.
Pay off cars and debt.
Adopt baby from another country.
Have a vacation place in Jamaica.

Places I have lived:

Chula Vista, California

Tempe, Arizona

Flagstaff, Arizona

Mesa, Arizona

Gilbert, Arizona

Troutman, North Carolina

Naperville, Illinois

Running a Smooth Ship

I was asked recently about how we manage chores and allowance in our family. I thought I would share what we have used for years.

Mike and I decided when the kids were very little that we needed to train them while they were still young to help out. We decided on a list of chores, and assigned an amount to each chore. I don't assign anyone particular chores, they are fair game to anyone who wants to do them. And the kids are motivated because they know how much money they are earning each time they do a specific chore. Some are worth more than others and some are worth less just simply because they can be done at least once a day. They will get paid for that chore every time they do it even if they do it twice a day. ( Taking out the garbage would be an example of that.)

I saw on an Oprah show many, many years ago where a finance guy, I can't even remember who he was, was talking about teaching your kids financial responsibility and he said you should definitely give your kids money for doing chores, but that they should put some away for savings each time. He suggested breaking their allowance into several groups. I got the idea of breaking their allowances up into fours groups for them. So this is how we do it.

1/4 of their allowance goes to God.
1/4 of their allowance goes to Savings. (they have bank accounts)
1/4 of their allowance goes to family tax. ( we use this money to do something fun as a family, like go to the movies or bowling)
1/4 of their allowance goes to themselves. It is their money to do what they wish. I put no parameters on it. If they choose to save it for something they may, or if they choose to spend it on candy and gum, they may. It is totally theirs to do with as they please. So the money that Kylee and Faith saved up came from the 1/4 of the money they get to keep. (Faith also earned money for babysitting.)

I am a firm believer that the only reason our house runs as smoothly as it does, and I don't feel like pulling out all my hair and running away from home each evening, is because of our chore system. Our kids are responsible for everything from doing all their own laundry (washing, folding and putting away) to picking up dog poop. Any chore that can be done is worth something and if it isn't on the list I can find a place for it and they will be paid for it. There is one exception, and that is the cleaning of their rooms. That is their own space and they are expected to maintain that. So they are not paid for cleaning their rooms.

The last thing I have to say about chores is that we work together everyday to keep things in order but we take about 1-2 hours every Thursday to really clean the house. All the kids know that is the time it is going to happen and they do great banning together.

As a matter of fact, a few weeks ago on a Thursday, while we were still doing our regular school work we had just about finished up with their school work and I got a call. I went up stairs and by the time I was off the phone I came down stairs and they had all finished their school assignments and had picked chores off the list to start our Thursday cleaning. They had done it all on their own!!

Hope this helps someone. I know I couldn't live with out it!

Kristen

Kylee's Song

Here is Kylee and her new guitar. And yes she is sitting outside because for the first day no matter what she did the guitar was attached to her. We got her to put it away to go to bed :)

Her Daddy took her on Friday to pick it out.

He brought her home and showed her how to hook it up to his amp down stairs in the basement.

Mr. Ron, her teacher, gave her some things to practice on it. But soon after her lesson on Friday she started playing five of the chords she loves, over and over again.

Very excited about this, she came running upstairs and told me she was writing a song. She said she didn't have the lyrics yet but she has the beginning music to it. She thought maybe her daddy would help her with the lyrics.

She paid for it all with her birthday money and the money she had saved up.

And you can't see it in the picture but the strap she picked out, she paid extra for, because it is black with blue flames on it.

Yeah, she is just like her daddy.

Kristen

We keep telling her there is no going back now. She has officially hit the double digits today! Kylee is 10!

What a gorgeous kid, in every way. And Kylee has also been saving up her money. But not for a puppy. Kylee has her heart set on an electric guitar that she found in one of her dad's music mags.

And ever since she found it she has been saving and drawing.

Yes, drawing. She draws guitars everywhere.

She is going to be a rocker like her dad. So Friday her daddy is going to take her down to Guitar Center and she is going to buy her electric guitar.

The part she is most excited about is the whammy bar.

Kristen

Practicing Piano

Joshi is Six!

This is what Joshi said to me last night before he went up to bed;

"Mom I just have one thing to say to you, I'M SO EXCITED TOMORROW IS MY BIRTHDAY!!"

Six is a big year apparently. He has been really, really looking forward to turning six. Makes me a little sad. He really isn't a baby anymore. I could somewhat talk myself in to thinking he was still little when he was five but six and first grade, that isn't little anymore :(

He was born the day before Kylee's fourth birthday. So at the time of his birth Seth was one year nine months, Kylee was one day from being four, and Faith had just turned six. Oh, and Mike was working a full time secular job and working full time for a church. That maybe why much of Joshi's babyhood was a blur!

Today, I will make him a special dinner. Whatever he wants. And this is what he chose, terriyaki meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a double chocolate layered pie. He gets his birthday cake this weekend when his two best friends, Sam and Luke, are coming over for a bowling/sleepover.

His cake? It will be a green bowling ball filled with pudding, at his request.

Kristen

Captions

Yeah not so good at posting pictures with captions so here it is in this post. Faith took the gorgeous pictures of her puppy you see in the next post, and if you click on the second one in the first row and make it bigger you can actually see Faith in the puppy's eye. Too cute.

Little Junie B. loves flowers. Almost obsessively. She loves to smell them, lick them, and yes, chew them.

There is one somewhat blurry picture of Jasmine, posing so sweet for a picture.

And the last one of Mike laying in front of the crate? Yeah, he was trying out his dog hypnosis.

Pictures of the two dogs coming.

Kristen

Baby Pictures

Puppy Love

A few months ago Faith said she wanted a puppy. And not just any puppy but she wanted a Boston Terrier.

Knowing these were expensive dogs Mike and I felt pretty safe telling her that if she saved up her money she could have one.

So, by the first of June my child had saved up enough to buy her dog. Not only did she save up the money from babysitting, and just saving her chore money but for every 20 dollars she tithed 5 dollars back to God (her choice). Also during this time of saving she bought all her own clothes and extras. What an awesome example of God blessing you financially for being a good steward. We are so proud of her!

So this week, she found an ad for a Bugg puppy. For those who don't know that is a Boston terrier/ pug mix. A designer dog as they call them. A mutt as I call them. She wrote back and forth with this women and Faith decided she would just go and look at these puppies to see if it was a right fit.

We drove down part way to Springfield, Il yesterday and met this nice couple in a parking lot. They had their kennel with three bugg girls and two pug boys. The lady told her to just sit down and open the kennel and see what she thought.

Oh my. They were all adorable, of course, but this little one ran right up to Faith and started licking and licking her face. I took one look at that and knew it was all over.

She told me she was in love.

So, she paid the lady and off we went.

She was pretty good last night and Jasmine is okay so far with her. I think she will like her better when she is a little bigger and can play more on her level. Luckily, Jasmine doesn't have an aggressive bone in her body and loves other dogs.

As parting I thought I would post one more picture of little dog. Oh, her name is June Bugg. Or Junie B. Jones. If you have little girls you will get that, otherwise you can Google it.




Kristen

The Kids are Back in Town

The kids are back. I am now just trying to get myself back into the kid mind set again.

Monday was too cold for the pool so I had eight kids in the house or around the house most of the day. Also there is some neighborhood watch report going around about a strange man in the neighborhood so the kids have been banished to the back yards or inside houses. That is so lame. Bad people suck.

So yesterday as I was trying to read a chapter of my book, outside, in the sun, I sat down on one of our lawn chairs and up popped a furry, black spider right beside me. Yes, just like the nursery rhyme.

I jumped but then realized this was a great distraction for four little boys that desperately needed something to do. They came running and captured him in the little bug habitat that they were carrying around.

Today was warm enough for the pool but that only lasted for three hours. We came home. Today we had a different four extra kids. I took the boys out front to play for a bit and they found a baby grasshopper they decided to put in their bug habitat.

We were watching the spider and I was, of coarse, narrating, in nature t.v. style, when the furry black spider pounced on the grasshopper!! We were all amazed and it was great fun.

So the boys, now numbering 5, found some more grasshoppers and Mr. Spider didn't disappoint. He grabbed them stung them and webbed them right up. The 5 girls in the house were less impressed with this spectacle.

Too cool.

Kristen