Chore Follow-Up

If you have read my post, But That’s Not Fun, then you know I have been working on getting my kids working. The last few weeks we have had Work Saturdays at our house. We cleaned the garage (also the laundry room) together in just an hour, and it was actually fun. We turned up the music and organized, swept, and cleaned. Some friends of ours have a set routine where they have a family activity one Saturday a month, and it is such a great idea. We are now doing that too. Tomorrow will be our Activity Day, and the kids are so excited. The anticipation actually makes it even more fun!

I have also found a kind of cheesy, but effective site where you can build your own chore charts for printing. Every week I pick a different picture for Hunter and Emma’s charts and list four chores they are in charge of for the week. With homework and things it was just too much to expect that all four chores get done every day. So for now they need to pick two from their list every day except Saturday. (On Saturday they need to do all four.) When they tell me the chores are done, I go and check them and then award a star on their chart. At Family Night on Mondays they are paid by the star as their allowance. So the more chores they do in a week, the more they will get paid. They can earn just over $5.00 per week if they do all four chores every day, but that hasn’t happened yet. So far it has worked pretty well, although it is still a program that needs some tweaking.

I came across a pod-cast that has some great advice for getting kids to do their chores. It is by Kelly Nault on Ultimate Parent, and she starts out the 16 minute talk by saying that we are inadvertently training our kids not to like doing chores. By telling the kids to go and play while the adults work or taking over a job when they don’t do it right, we are actually doing them a disservice.

Two suggestions she gives for keeping kids motivated:

1- Encouragement and Thank Yous -acknowledge how your child’s actions help you.

2- Notice the positive. Say what the child has done right.

Four suggestions she gives for making it more fun as you work along with them:

1- Dance to music

2- Make chores a game -Time them

3- Talk to each other

4- Make up stories

She says if all else fails and you’re dealing with older kids -Go on Strike!

I’ve been trying to remember to encourage and notice the positives more. I have to admit I do spend a lot of time saying things like, “You’re still not done?” or “You missed something.” Hopefully I will keep getting better about that part.

Baby Bird Brina

Lately Sabrina has taken up a new way to communicate when she’s hungry. She looks wide eyed at whatever you’re eating and opens her mouth as wide as she can! It’s so cute, and she reminds me of a baby bird waiting in the nest for her momma to feed her. We all smile and laugh every time she does it. Such a cutie pie!

Somebody Else Sees It Too

Rob forwarded this article on to me and I liked it so much that I just have to share it. Here are some highlights:

Find a fairer way to judge Mitt Romney by Rich Lowry

“For once, the media aren’t so thrilled by a “first.” Usually being the first African-American, woman, Latino or anything else to run for a major office gives a campaign a frisson of excitement in the press. Such pioneering campaigns are said to hold important lessons about the tolerance of the American public.

But former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney represents the first “first” that has elicited a lukewarm reaction from the media. Journalists constantly run stories about whether Romney can become the first Mormon president — with an undercurrent suggesting that they’d be just fine if he can’t.

…A trope in Romney-as-Mormon stories is that evangelical Christians won’t be able to vote for a Mormon. There is a whiff of wishfulness to this, as if reporters hope evangelicals prove as bigoted as reporters have always suspected they were…

…If Romney is the Mormon church’s intended instrument as president, it must be because the church has hatched a sinister plot to bring better management techniques to the federal government and cut wasteful spending, Romney’s rather unthreatening campaign pledges. There is zero evidence of the church having ever “controlled” Sens. Harry Reid, Orrin Hatch or Gordon Smith — all Mormons — let alone Romney while he served four years as governor of Massachusetts…

…Indeed, rather than recoiling at his Mormonism, Republican primary voters may conclude that the handsome, “golly”-exclaiming, (newly) down-the-line conservative is simply too good to be true.That wouldn’t necessarily be a “first,” but it would certainly be a fairer way to judge Romney than on his religious faith.”

Pinewood Derby Champ

Hunter worked hard on his pinewood derby car for the big Cub Scout event! He and Rob went online and found plans for the perfect car. They ordered the pattern, got all of their tools and set to work. Hunter did most of the work, while Dad supervised. Mom supervised the painting, but Hunter did that too. The car is called Inferno, and it was super hot last night! Check out the gallery to see it in action. There were twenty cars entered in the race, and after all seven rounds were finished, Hunter came in third place! He took first place in every race he was in except the two he came in second! He was also awarded with a certificate for “Most Artistic” entry. Great work Hunter! We are so impressed!!

Support Mitt Romney!

Unfortunately, we missed the debate last night, but we have been following the presidential nomination race pretty well. A friend e-mailed a link to Mitt Romney’s Sign Up America and I joined his team. Watch this video to see if he has the things you want in our next president too. Rob and I both feel that Romney has the best qualifications to lead our country. He’s got a great track record for saving failing endeavors, with large corporations and the Salt Lake Olympics. Since America has recently reached a low point both with our reputation in the world, and with our lack of unity among ourselves, I think he is the man to turn us around. So sign up to join him for 2008!

Light Tent

For my birthday Rob got me a light tent. It looks a lot like a small white pop-up tent, and came with two lights and a black or white background. I hadn’t gotten around to setting it up until last week, and it is so much fun. I haven’t done much with it yet, but it is a great way to get an even light when photographing objects. I have also seen a lot of blogs that show you how to build your own, but it’s nice to have one that is a bit more substantial. I took a picture of some toys Hannah picked out for me, and a bowl Emma painted in an after-school art class. For anyone that’s big into Ebay, you might want to try this out!