John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt

We're suffering from a bit of spring fever. Even though it was chilly we built a fire Wednesday night and roasted hot dogs for dinner.

Bree and Abby were totally on board.

They knew smores were on the menu too.

They were not prepared for their mom and dad to bust out the ol' campfire songs.

Oh yeah, it's like riding a bike, you never forget campfire songs.

Bree wishes the previous statement wasn't true.

Let the children...Do chores!

I was raised by…homebodies…you thought I was gonna say wolves didn’t you? Well that is a whole ‘nother blog post folks once I block my mom from reading my blog. I kid…I kid…I wasn’t raised by wolves but by well meaning, over protective, loving parents...in the middle of nowhere. So naturally I tend to be a bit of a homebody too. Around our house, we’re here most of the day, most of the week, most of the year, and if I don’t really stay on top of things, this chinobilly house can quickly spiral downward into a pit of baby doll clothes, craft projects, empty Capri Sun containers, filth, and squalor. Oh and laundry I can’t forget laundry.


Now that Abby and Bree are old enough Matt and I decided they are perfectly capable of pulling their own weight around here. Actually we were just trying to come up with a solution to better manage those oh so lovely whining sessions while teaching a few character traits as well. My genius husband (see this post) came up with this idea and we all love it. Let me explain the concept.

Each child has a jar (we let them make their own)

Each child earns a ticket for good behavior or completing a chore, washing one’s hands after going to the potty, etc. Each child looses a ticket for whining, being asked several times to do something, fighting with one another, etc.

Mommy has a rewards basket filled with goodies from the dollar bins at various stores. Each reward has a value placed on it. Inside the basket are items ranging from pieces of gum to chocolate-covered granola bars to gummy bears to small bath toys to a set of sidewalk chalks to books to craft kits to princess figurines…all the way up to really sweet items, like a Dr Seuss DVD to the amazing voice magnifying soop-a-staaah -microphones to wind up fishing games. Everything is priced appropriately and remains in the box until someone buys it…or I eat it, which has been known to happen.

Each child has the choice of saving up the tickets or “cashing” them in for rewards (whenever mommy remembers usually once or twice a week).

What I love about it is, it’s totally flexible and can be used in different ways to achieve the objective you want. It also teaches the little hooligans valuable lessons about contributing to the machine of a household, the benefits of being a kind, caring, civilized human being, as well as the value of saving (vs. spending) money.

I think it has helped them to see that when everyone chips in, the house is a much more hospitable and harmonious place. Plus, it eliminates the mommy nagging All. Day. Long. AND it doesn’t take long for one of the kids to watch their sib buy things at the reward basket before they get with the program.

The idea is, each week when the reward basket is open, the kids have to decide whether they want to blow whatever tickets they’ve earned that week…or save it and let it accumulate over a period of weeks in order to buy one of the nicer items in the box. It’s always fun watching the minds of my three year olds churn each week as they internally evaluate whether to give in to the immediate temptation of the candy and gum, or save their shekels for something better.

We’ve been using this system for over a month now and I think the system is working beautifully. Or maybe I just have really great kids. Well, yeah, I do have really great kids. Now I have really great kids that pull their own stinkin’ weight around here. Just kidding. I love my kids very much and I’m quite proud of them.

Memorial Day

As many of you know I come from a military family and I am very, very proud of that fact. I'm also blessed that the Lord brought each of my loved ones home and I know I am very lucky for that. I had been working on a Memorial Day post of my own for Monday but I believe my Aunt Helen did a much better job than I ever could. So please take a minute to visit her blog by clicking on the link and please join my family in the remembrance of those fallen in service to our country. Let's not take this day for granted!
THANK YOU VETERANS!
A Proud To Be An American Chinobilly

Eggs-iting Time

LastFriday night we hosted an egg decorating party at our house. I've not had so much fun decorating eggs in a long time. We had four "stations" of egg dye at the table and a "creative station" at the kids table. There was a contest held at the end of the evening so each person entered their favorite or most creative egg. By this time I was so busy that I forgot to take pictures of the entries. This family is so stinkin' creative let me tell ya! I'm thinking this might become an annual thing but don't hold me to it.

Easter Traditions

WOW! Easter is in a few weeks. Since it is the most important holiday of our faith I want to create Easter traditions that would emphasize Jesus as the real reason for the celebration.
Of course we will attend church, spend the day with family, participate in the family egg hunt (if the day is spent with Matt’s side of the family) but I want to create traditions that are unique and special to our family too. I want our girls to have fond memories of Easter that will reinforce God's great love and sacrifice for them.
As a child my family often did not attend church so the Easter Bunny was a big deal for us. I have fond memories of the Easter Bunny delivering our Easter baskets. He would use our dining table to display our beautiful and bountiful baskets. There was always a special gift from him too. The Easter Bunny would also hide the eggs we colored for him outside in the yard. My dilemma is incorporating this fond memory/tradition into our routine without it becoming the main attraction.
Here are some ideas I would also like to try:

* Read the Easter story to the kids, using a Resurrection figurine set or Resurrection eggs to recreate Jesus' resurrection (similar to how we use the nativity at Christmas to teach the kids about Jesus’ birth).
* Make Resurrection cookies. All the ingredients have a meaning and a scripture verse that you read as you go along. You turn the oven on ahead of time, and then when you put the cookies in the oven, you turn the oven off, and put a piece of tape on it to signify that Christ was sealed in the tomb. Then you go to bed and wait to see what you have in the morning! Here are some websites to guide you through the process. http://www.annieshomepage.com/resurrectioncookies.html; http://homehearth.virtualave.net/rescookie.html
* Spend and evening coloring eggs with the kids.

Do you and your family have any Easter traditions or suggestions you would like to share? Please feel free to post your comments here on the blog so we can all benefit from your family traditions or suggestions.

~Blessings