Oops!

Jon and I have always worked towards independence in our children. If they are mentally and physically capable of doing something themselves, let them go for it. We'll be right there beside them, but they can do it themselves. 

We are also of the philosophy that work is good for a body. And since our children are a part of our family, they can contribute to the family by helping out.

Normally this isn't a problem. The kids wake up in the morning and do a small list of chores. Any not completed that morning are finished when they return from school, gymnastics, etc. Works pretty well for us. Since they both love learning new things and doing something that is "above their age limit" they have accomplished some pretty cool things. This also means that our household runs pretty smoothly and typically stays pretty clean.

Tonight I ran into a snag. I went to the school to help out the teachers set up the books for a book fair that starts next week. Dominic went with me and helped too. He was in ecstasy seeing all of those books. So he asked my budget for books next week. It wasn't enough to get him everything he wanted and even adding his stash of cash to the mix didn't cut it. So he asked if he could do some additional chores to make more money. Now the problem begins. I have no idea what to give him. I've googled chores and they are either already doing them, or have recently helped me do them. We don't have any extra things that need to be done.

We just washed and cleaned the car. Their closets are organized (last month). The house is clean and is being maintained by regular chores. The kids already help with laundry, dishes, and meal prep. Yard work is non-existent in this lovely single digit weather. We just washed windows and dusted all of the base boards. Caitlin just helped me mop yesterday.

I could just give him the money, but I appreciate his desire to work for something he wants. I'm just not sure what to give him. I went through all of the chores on those charts up to the teenage years. I'm either putting too much on my kids or people seriously don't expect much for their children.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Because my ocd has created a problem. =)

Spirit Week

I completely forgot to post the rest of the pictures from Spirit Week.

Day 2 - Animal

Skunk

 

 This kid cracks me up.

 I ran into a bit of technical difficulty. I made the assumption that I would be able to find white hairspray since it was in the stores last year. But every store was out. So we tried to make silver work. I also thought I had some face paint and couldn't find it anywhere. So I used an old tube of mascara and didn't tell Dominic.

 This outfit gave me FITS! I am not a seamstress. So when I pulled my sewing machine out of the closet I had to clean off a massive layer of dust. Then I couldn't figure out the bobbin thingy since it had been so long since I last used it. But the end result pleased Dominic. So it was all good.

 I might be biased, but this is one really cute kid! Even with wonky mascara all over his face. =)

Day 3 - Backwards Day

 

 

Day 4 - Pajama Day

Day 5 - Food

Fortune Cookie

 Another technical nightmare. I couldn't find tan clothes. So we had to go with slightly burned cookie. And the sewing part, while much simpler, was still not easy for me.

If any Chinese people are reading this, I apologize for my appalling Chinese handwriting.

Spirit Week

It's that time again when my child can express his inner total craziness.

Since there wasn't school yesterday due to weather we'll be going into next week.

Today was Crazy Hair/Mismatch Day.

Every single time I looked at this child I laughed.

He chose the clothes and let me have free reign with his hair.

 I LOVE his hair!

 Goofy kid!

 Want to know the funny part?! 

As we were getting ready to leave he made the comment that he was a 

bit embarrassed to go to school looking like that.

When I asked why he said his hair was "a bit too weird". 

The clothes and faces were fine though. =)

Big Girl

Caitlin has been growing quite a bit recently. So we told her after the holidays and all of our company left, we would exchange her bed for a big girl bed.

It was bittersweet for us as parents. Caitlin was in heaven though.

I had given her Lalaloopsy sheets for Christmas and she could hardly wait to put them on.

She looked so tiny in that huge bed. But I'm guessing she'll fit soon enough.

Freezing Cold

The weather this year has been crazy! It's warm, it's cold, it's freezing. Every time they call for snow, they start out with several inches. But by the time it reaches us, it's only an inch or so.

Sunday night the weather was calling for some crazy ran/sleet/ice/snow. We woke up Monday morning to a lovely inch of snow (instead of the predicted 4-6). But underneath was a layer of solid ice. Jon waited until the sun came up and left for work.

 But school was out so the kids wanted to play in the snow. But the temps were hoovering in the single digits with wind chills below 0.
 The kids had a ton of fun playing Legos, but the cabin fever was getting pretty bad.

Finally after lunch I bundled them up like the Micheline man and let them go. I tried to get a picture, but they were so excited to get out that they were gone before I could even get the camera turned on.

 

A friend was kind enough to take this picture for me.

They played for several hours and returned with very chapped and rosy cheeks.

But we, sort of, returned to normal today. Because Dominic is in private school we started back today with a delayed start. So we slipped along the road until we arrived at school.

Today the temps started out around -6 and rose to a balmy 11. So most of the roads were able to melt, but it's still freezing out there. Temps tomorrow? A high of 45 degrees!