Task List Chart Completed [Spring Fever Diaries #4.5]

It took a little longer to get to this post than I thought, but at least the Task List is up and the kids know what they have to get done this week.

Of course... the picking of the tasks (blindly) didn't go without a little drama. I should have video recorded it for you, just so you can see how much I have to put up with from a certain almost 13 year old. Sheesh.

Not only did she give me attitude, she also temporarily lost her task cards... so the pictures below show her as having ZERO tasks... when in fact she picked Kid's Bathroom and Trash & Recycle. She was not happy about the bathroom.

Oh well.

Because we will have Nic always take on "Dust the Stairs"... that left 7 tasks for 3 kids. I've decided that each week, one kid will have 3 tasks. They will rotate... and only have to do 3 every 3 weeks. This is in lieu of adding another two tasks to take on. I mean, I COULD EASILY give up dishes, if they want. ;)


The bulletin board border (say that 5 times fast; I'll wait)... is from a teacher supply store. The pennants were part of a scrap booking banner pack and I used Martha Stewart stencils and a sharpie for their names. Easy peasy.

They are attached with Velcro, so I can actually rearrange the task cards each week. Of course, being as impatient as I am, I didn't bother with going to the store and purchasing the 3M Velcro. And I may have added the below Velcro right to my painted, dry-walled walls. Oopsy.

I am not TOO worried; I have Spackle and touch-up paint.
{Pretty soon, my whole house will be Spackle and touch-up paint! lol - more on that later! hehe}

And there you have it.
And to be honest. The kids are glad to have a list, something easy to look at with simple, but direct instructions on how I want the work done. In fact, they kept asking me when we were going to finally pick tasks. For realz.

Love it.

Never Assume [Spring Fever Diaries #4]

As a mother to 328 kids {okay. not true, but it sure does feel that way sometimes}, I have learned to never assume they know anything or everything. I am not saying that to be mean... Of course not; I love my kiddos.

I am, however, saying it because if I tell one of the kids to set the dinner table, halfway through the meal, we realize Nic doesn't have a drink and not one of us has napkins.

In the more recent years, I've always assumed that the kids KNEW what was expected out of them, thus very few chore lists were ever distributed. I do not recommend this approach. Clutter, chaos and dust will ensue. Scout's honor.

Because we are focusing heavily on our Spring Cleaning around here, I've decided to go ahead and create a Chore Chart {of sorts} that should be pretty easy to understand. I looked at the things that needed to be done once a day or two times a week. I looked at what I could do vs. what the kids could take on. I even realized that Nic is old enough to have his own responsibilities.

Here are the things I decided on:

• Guest Bathroom
• Kid's Bathroom
• Declutter Downstairs
• Garage and Recycle Duty
• Set Table
• Clear Table
• Dust Stairs
• Dust Downstairs

Now, there ARE things around the house that still need to be done, but I've decided to take them on myself (like watering the plants and trees that are not yet hooked up to our watering system, feeding the dogs in the morning, vacuuming, and doing the dishes). And there are things that we will do every two weeks (like pulling weeds, giving the dogs their baths and sweeping the front porch and back patio). This will also help the keeps manage their time so that they can FOCUS on their schoolwork.

The above eight chores will help keep the house clean, free of clutter, and will allow for people to step inside my home. If the kids complete them and do so correctly, I will be one happy momma.

And since I want to be one happy momma, I made it easy for them. Now remember, while I *am* at home all day long, I do work full time. Some days, I can easily work a straight 10 hours. I have job that requires me to listen in on meetings, manage projects, write communications, etc. I also have Nic home with me. I juggle... a lot. But thankfully, God gave me 3 capable teenagers and one handsome five year old to help me out a little.

Here's how it works. On Sunday, the kids will blindly pick from one of the 8 tasks. I created cards, with SPECIFIC instructions on them. For example, for Set Table, they must remember to:

• Wipe down the table
• Use clean placemats
• Use 6 clean bowls or plates (depending on the meal)
• Place out necessary utensils
• Ensure everyone has a cup and a drink
• Ensure everyone has a napkin
• Ensure salt, pepper and condiments are on the table

The kids are all home by 3pm. This particular task of setting the table must be completed by 5pm. Even if I don't serve dinner until 6 or 7 (egads), at least the table will be set and ready to go. The kids will know how to set the table based off of our menu plan (more on that later in the week).

Now that I had the specific tasks, I had to come up with a way to turn them into a Chore Chart {of sorts}. Here are the supplies I used.  I LOVE Scotch's self laminating sheets!  There's also a ruler, scissors and the tasks I made using Picasa (of course, they can be made in Photoshop, but I already had the template loaded into Picasa, I just had to change the wording and then print).

Another must have?! A large sweet tea. Yummy!!

You know... for energy.

The laminating sheets are so easy to use.... See!!:

You may notice that on the specifics of Trash & Recycle, I don't mention bringing the bins IN. That's because I am going to take on that task. Well, Nic and I. That way, we have an excuse to get outside a few times a day (you know, between meetings and stuff).

After printing, laminating and cutting... here is the end result of the task cards.
Doesn't TASK sound better than CHORE?!

Tomorrow I will post part two, showing you where I have the cards set up so the kids can grab them to take them along on their task. Something that can't easily be lost or destroyed, and something the kids can refer back to should they suddenly forget what they are supposed to be doing in the guest bath.

Those silly kids.

Hey. You can click here to see the other posts related to the Spring Fever Diaries...

Betcha don't know what today is?!

Two things to tell you about. So that makes it a SPECIAL day!

First. I bought an ironing board today. I've never, ever owned one before. I've had an iron for years, but never a board to iron on. Random, I know.

Second....
I wanted to share with you the theme for Isabel's impending birthday party...

Isa (eee-sah, just in case you didn't know how we pronounce that!) will be 13 in ONE MONTH on April 18th. It was time to decide on a theme and get shopping.

For Isa's Sweet 13 (or trece ducle as we are calling it), we are doing everything in rainbow colors. We had a blast shopping today. We went to Michael's, Target and Party City and got most of the decorations (some of which are pictured below).

I was going to make our own invitations, but they had such cute ones at Party City, I decided to hand-make other things, and leave the invitations to the party people.

Isabel is going to invite 5 of her closest friends over for a slumber party. We are working on the details now, but it should be COLORFUL and fun!!!  Here's a link to the Pinterest Board I made in the girl's honor.

P.S. One more thing. It HAILED and SNOWED in our neck of the woods today. We've been dealing with a crazy winter storm... in MARCH!

It was 85-90 during Spring Break this past week... and then this?! Crazy!!

Momma-Type Decisions

I say momma-type, but I assure you... daddy has a say, too.
I have some decisions to make regarding Nic and where we are going to send him for Kindergarten in the fall.

We are pro'ing and con'ing, hemming and hawing, and everything else we need to do. We want to make the right decision for Nic.

Nic turned 5 last December and well, truthfully, he's a pre-school drop out. The school's schedule wasn't working with mine, so he's been home with me every day since the beginning of the year. I don't mind it - he's a good kid.

But having him home has allowed him to fall back on his educational duties. A little.

Both of my older kids have only ever gone to public school... until we moved out to QC and put my daughter in the school across the street... a back-to-basics Charter school. We (me and the school) haven't gelled much. I am not sure I even want to send Isabel back there for her last year (as an 8th grader).

So, the baby daddy and I have been scouring the net and GreatSchools.org trying to determine where we should send these kiddos, especially Nic.

Is he traditional?!
Does he need more free time?
Would he rather be more hands on than repetitive?
Do I want to drive him to school everyday?
What happened to all-day Kindergarten?!
What's this three hours stuff?

Lots to think about...

Why must our kids grow up?!

STNS #13 {Uh oh!}

Not naming any names....

but someone FINALLY decided to get his permit.

And SOMEONE is having too much fun with BeFunky.com. {Who, me?!}

P.S. Can you believe he wore his red sombrero to get his picture?!

Aye Aye Aye...

STNS #12

Oso

Nic received a treat from Costco the other day... He wasn't with us, so we planned it all out.
We'd get home, call for the kids to come help unload our loot...

He was in HEAVEN.

Wouldn't you be?!
53" of pure LOVE!

Happy Leap Year Day

Does that even sound right?!
Should it just be Happy Leap Day?
Happy Feb 29th?
Happy Day that doesn't Exist every 3 out of 4 years?!

Not much going on around the casa.
Testing at school for the kids.
Ortho appointments.
Work, work, work for me.
And the husband.

It's like any normal day.

So to make it slightly abnormal... I give you Isabel....

Oh the skills and talents that one has.
And I am not just talking about the self-portraits either.

Hope you have a wonderful day, regardless of how you celebrate it!

xoxo,
me

Doorway to the Unknown

Puppies can be scaredy cats, no?

We are in the midst of some house projects... One that has been a long time coming is installing a doggie door.  We looked at several different options and ultimately decided on a model from Petco, that installs into the wall.

Marcos completed the task yesterday and did a fine job.

Now if we can just convince the pups that having their own door is a great thing. And that if they just use their noggins to push the flaps, they can come and go as they please.

The second picture on the bottom row?! That's Ellis' head. She's just not sure of the darn thing. So, like any normal little sis would do, Olive pushed past her and was the first to try out her new entrance.

Lucky dogs.

Happy V-Day, Peeps

It's Valentine's Day... and I feel like I am out of it.

Too much work, too much on my mind... not enough LOVE.

This is the first year I haven't had to do Valentine's cards at all. Isa is in 7th grade, not cool mom. Alex is in H.S. - he has only ONE Valentine. And Nic is a pre-school dropout.

I did give Abby and Isa a large bag of candy each, V-Day style, to hand out to friends or random people (wouldn't that make your day, if someone randomly gave you a Valentine?!)

Alex had me at the store yesterday evening to pick out flowers for his girlfriend, Deanna. I blog about this, only because I don't want to forget it. He didn't want me taking his picture... but I swore I wouldn't put it on Facebook. THIS isn't Facebook. :)

There are several different outtakes of this pic... normally he wouldn't be smiling so... But I forced him to.
I'm the momma.

Guess who was up this morning searching for tissue paper and ribbon?! That kid owes me.
I couldn't let him give her the flowers in the clear plastic wrap. I would be so embarrassed.
My motto...?! If you are going to do something - go all the way and do it right.

It's all about presentation... I tell him. He shakes his head and says that it's what's inside that counts.
Hmph. But at least we raised him right.  BTW, three red roses for their three months together. Nice.

Speaking of "WE".....
I can't wait for the husband to get home tonight. We are having ♥ shaped burgers and fries... and there will be a few mushy things for the love of my life.

I hope your Valentine's Day is wonderful and merry and bright! ;)

If you don't have a Valentine... consider adopting me. I like chocolate.

xoxo,
me

Almost a teenager...

I am slowly dying inside...

 When Isabel was little, I worked a 3-midnight shift. I feel like I missed out a lot on both kids (Nic wasn't around yet) during those 2 years. But we did what we had to do to keep them out of daycare, etc.

Isabel has grown up. She will be 13 in April.
It's not always been easy. In fact, call my mom (867-5309) and she will tell you that there are times when I've called her crying, screaming, begging for her to let me come home.

She just laughed her EVIL laugh...

 

And said, "PAYBACK, BABY!!!!"

I whimpered. Why does she have to be some mean?! *I* think I was a good girl.

Enough about mom and me. This post is about Isabel.

Isabel, when it's just the two of us, or her and Marcos... is the sweetest, dorkiest, funniest, wittiest, girl... ever. (I think she gets that from me!!!).... 

 

But if her brothers, her cousin or washing the dishes are involved, WATCH OUT!

We are taking raising Isabel day-by-day... as patiently as possible. It's a phase. She will outgrow it when she's thirty five. We can handle this. 

There are those moments when I want to pull my hair out...

And there are those moments, like this morning, when she came to me asking if I could help straighten her hair (she just got her hairs cut, too!!).  

If I do say so myself... Isabel looks stunning today! 

It's Pride Day at school. She goes to a Charter School... and since the Jr. High students have had an awesome semester so far, they decided to give them a day to dress down and to have a party at school, with music and snacks, etc. 

She asked if we could go get a new outfit for the occasion.

Last night, we were at Tilly's getting her shirts. She begged for new Vans, I caved on new shoe laces for her current Vans. lol...  Since Tilly's doesn't sell jeans in a size larger than super-skinny, no meat on the bone, we took a chance on Tar-Jay. And scored. They had the gray skinnies on clearance for less than eight bucks.

I think she looks adorable and grown up - ALL AT THE SAME TIME.

 

It's hard to believe that the big ONE THREE is right around the corner... and that I will officially have two teen aged kids. 

Off to get medicated.

P.S. Just kidding about the medicated part. Maybe.

P.S.S. You didn't think I'd give out my momma's REAL phone number, did you?!

P.S.S. Happy Friday!!

Ellis & Olive

Crud. I keep forgetting to get better pics of Dunbar.

Sorry.
But to tide you over... I've got some great pics of [the dogs].

Wait - the third member of this groups isn't a dog. He's just my brother.
But, it was definite bonding time. They loved him!

These dogs are so dirty. They need baths in a major way. Their dark coats show every speck of dust, dirt and crumb.

Anyone want to do the honors?!
Anyone?

Jesse's Girl

Showing my age with that title...
but really...
here she is....

Someone looks a little happy today. Wonder why.
Why, Abby?!!? Why are you so happy?!

OHHH! Well, that makes sense!!
My brother, Jess, got home from Iraq in December and came out here to Arizona as soon as his schedule would allow. We haven't seen him in 4 years... it was the last time he was home. Nic's 1st Birthday party.

Of course, Abby's saw him back in May and June.

Today... we are hanging out. Going to celebrate my mom's birthday tonight. I've made shredded beef tacos, homemade rice and beans. Marcos made an awesome pico de gallo. I made a butter cake with homemade coconut butter cream frosting.

I've never made homemade frosting. It was soooo easy. I also made some chocolate cupcakes for those that don't like coconut. [raises hand]

While we are waiting for my parents to arrive.. Jess got out Abby's guitar.
That boy can play.
And sing.
I cannot.
Do either.
And crap, I just gave him a compliment. Two really.

He played some Tom Petty, Niel Young, -- it was fantastic.

And some of this:




After the guitar was put away, Nic took it upon himself to make a memory of his own:

1) Look at that face.
2) Nic is going to be into photography one day, I can tell.

Our hearts are full. Abby is feeling a little bitter sweet (she doesn't want to have to say goodbye come Wednesday), but we are all happy that we get to spend some time my parents' oldest spawn.

Love ya, Jess. Glad you came home to see us all!

Science Projects...

Isabel has a big one for the upcoming fair...
Alex had a little one, but it was oh so much fun.
At the last minute.
You know how that goes.

And no... that's not a cantaloupe. lol... It's a Styrofoam ball!
lol...

Imagine all of the fun we are having in my house this time of year.