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...

Got Bit by the Bug [Spring Fever Diaries #3]

Yesterday was the first day of Spring. And although we were officially on Spring Break last week, I am declaring this upcoming weekend as our Spring Cleaning week.

During our staycation last week, we got a whole lot done around the house. But not any true, lemony, deep cleaning. Oh, I can hear the screams of joy from the kids right now.

Here is our line-up:

I am giving us four full days to get everything done. The kids *will* be glad to learn that two of those days, they will be in school and the husband and I will do most of the work.

Besides the usual purge of unwanted or unnecessary things, we will also focus on really deep cleaning the house. We've lived here for a year and a half now, and there are some things that REALLY need to be focused on.

Here is a list of products and tools we will use:

I will be sure to focus on each room and how we tackle them in more detail later on this week. I think it's always helpful to see what other people do - in case something is missed! Like, changing the air filters?! I always forget to do that!

As I mentioned, we did get a good start last week by completing some outside work, cleaning out and making pretty our laundry room and by Dropping, not Shopping at Goodwill. On Sunday, I had a Mazda full of bags and boxes I handed over to the Goodwill Guys. Unfortunately, I forgot to take pictures. But I promise, the back of the car and trunk were FULL!

* * *

The kids are in their last 9 weeks of school... and to go along with the No TV Rule...we've moved the larger TV back downstairs. They need to focus on their school work and their chores. Smack Down, baby.

I am in the process of updated their chore lists and working on ideas to help lessen their idle time. Abby will be getting ready to head back home to her daddy this summer, so we do want to spend some quality family time together before that happens. Electronic free, of course! ;)

 * * *

Are YOU working on Spring Cleaning?! I'd love to see how you work things out... drop me a line (err, link?!)

Paved the way to a nicer Pad [Spring Fever Diaries #2]

Another project to check off our list.

We have this wonderful RV gate... but no RV. And, really... we aren't looking for an RV.
Instead, we need a place to house {hide?!} our garbage and recycle bins. And the garage is NOT that place.

We've kept them on the side of the house. But their "pad" got a little makeover during the past two days.

We had a ton of leftover pavers from our landscaping adventures. So really, this project cost us not much in the way of supplies. A ton of sand is only $27 {man, I wish more things could be done with sand!}...

Regardless of the number of pavers we had on hand, we knew we weren't taking the pad to the far right wall. We wanted to make sure we could run water lines or do stuff if we needed to, so we left about 24" which will be filled with landscaping rock.

Here is my seat. As the for{wo}man, I had to ensure everything was going smoothly and that no one was slacking.  :)

Of course, as any good leader would do, I also helped out; shoveling sand, filling up buckets, transporting pavers. You get the idea.

Oh, I also wrote in the sand a little.

I love this man. I could tell you all the reasons why. His winning personality, his imperfect, but perfect for me smile, his great head of hair, etc...

But the two things I LOVE ABOUT HIM THE MOST?! His patience and his work ethic. This man rocks.

Another example of ME, hard at work. Hey, someone has to document!!

Here she is... nearly done.

The boys and I were up until midnight (sorry, neighbor Jen!). The next morning, they went back out there to add the twinkie border and cement. 

Today, they just need to add the sand, mist it down and call it a day!

The entire time?!?!
This is what the doggies were doing:

And I've watched enough Cesar Milan to know exactly what them pups were conversing about:

Happy Friday Eve!

Spring Fever Diaries [Entry #1]

Ladies and Gentlemen…. Let’s get ready to rrrrrrrumble!! It’s Spring Fever Smack Down.

In my most recent posts, I talked about this being the time of the year where I am seeing green. I’d like to point out that this is also the time of year where I am seeing RED.

I love my kids and niece mucho mucho… but I think they are starting to really get a case of Spring Fever (as they do every year).

I am not going to lie… I am too. Know how I know?! I am starting to let things slide a little. Punishments are cut short. Cell phones are still out. Bedtime is being ignored. Chores are done half-…. wait, they aren’t being done. Sure, if I give someone a direct order, they will whine Why me?! and eventually do as I ask (after the 18th time).

Around this time, the last two years, the husband and I successfully implemented “Ayala Family: Unplugged.” That is where we unplug the electronics and make the kids GO OUTSIDE.

We will be doing something quite similar this time around, but add a bit more to it. From getting the kids reattached to their chore lists, to purging unwanted or unnecessary things – we are going to make this March a month to remember.

Starting today!

Effective immediately, there will be no idle TV watching. I will allow time for learning opportunities, such as the History Channel or NatGeo. However, I will not allow all 4 TVs to be on at the same time, killing our brain cells.

There is to be a major cell phone policy change towards the middle of the month. One of our lines (we have 5) has its contract up. We are cancelling that line and that phone. Which so happens to be Alex’s. He and Isabel will share her line/phone. I will change the # so that it becomes THEIR phone, not hers that he borrows. I am doing this for several reasons… I am tired of seeing Alex’s phone. In his hands. All of the time. And I am tired of the added expense. Ohhh. They are going to hate us.

The husband and I figure that if they are BOTH going out, then I can loan them my phone, so they each have one. While this practice is starting this month, just in time for Spring Fever, it’s one practice that will certainly remain come April 1st and so on.

Effective today, the Wii and PS3 are on strike. I mean it. 31 days of nothing coming from those boxes.

I have a ton more things planned… everything from cracking the whip on school/homework to spending quality family time together.

I really want to focus on this Spring Fever smack down / crack down, but I will only be sharing updates once a week, on Thursdays.

It is my hope that this year proves as successful as the last two years. Our focus will be shifted for at least the next 31 days. We are going to focus on family, preparedness, responsibilities and attitude. The whole lot of us.

* * * *

One of the things I wanted to get started on right away is my 31 bags in 31 days. I spend so much time shopping and buying at Goodwill, I need to give back. Really, I do! ;) But when it comes to donating clothes, I want to look for other organizations that could really use the clothes, that provide them to people for free.

With my office makeover still in progress (sheesh!), I have so much stuff to go through before I start loading up the new space. I will not be bringing everything back in, that’s for sure! Since that’s the project we are working on now, the first four days of 31 Bags will be focused on clearing out office and craft room stuff that I do not need. That includes SHREDDING (groan!!), recycling, donating, etc.

After that, it’s all about the rest of our humble and chaotic abode.