A letter to Korea

Last week Chad traveled to Korea for work.  Olivia was missing him, so she wrote him a letter.  I took this picture with my phone and sent it to him.  He responded right away with a big thank you/miss you too which made her feel very proud!

It is pretty cute so I thought I would share it with you too!

I love Chad's hairdo and Olivia's long arm :)

Now that he is back and Spring Break is over, let's hope I can get back on track.  I have two almost finished projects to share!

DIY Kids Chore Chart

If you build a chore chart, they will pick up.

For a long time, I tried to do it all.  I kept the house picked up, laundry caught up, toys were under control.  And then I started to notice how other members of my family were not picking up - or doing anything.  So I stopped in a sort of protest, I guess.  I thought I would show them.  That didn't work though.  No one seemed to notice and the house just got worse.  And worse.  And I got angrier.


Now, I am getting even.


Remember the list of projects I need to complete - this one?

#18 Make chore charts for kids.  And then make them do chores.  Chad too.

We have tried chore charts before, but I never really liked them so I didn't follow through.  Then, one day I found this one and it made perfect sense.  The chores were on cards (easy for the kids to see) and when the chores were done, the cards could be turned over.  I am a visual learner, so I knew this would work.

They are fairly easy to make.  Time consuming, but easy.  I had some of the materials at home (scrapbook paper, laminator) and only had to buy the frames (which I bought at the Dollar Tree) and some command hooks.

I cut my paper into 3 X 3 squares.

I placed colored printer paper in the cheap frames.  The colors are blue for Caleb, pink for Olivia and purple for Ella... the color of their walls and how we usually label things for them :)

I printed out the chores I wanted them to work on.  Some are basic like homework, others are what I need extra help with like wiping baseboards, dusting and laundry.

After gluing the chores on each card, I laminated and hole punched each card.  I attached the command hooks to the outside of the frames and asked Chad to hang them on the wall.

We hung the chore charts where they can be easily seen - and reached - in between the powder room and dining room (where we now do homework).

Once the chore is completed, the card is easily removed.

And is flipped over.

Amazing idea, right?!  Now, I just need to do my part and hold the kids accountable for their chores.  Next, I will post on how we are rewarding the kids.

Frankly, I am pretty excited about having some help around this house!  AND, I can cross one thing off of my list!!

Raise the roof and fix the fence

Sounds like the lyrics to a really bad country song, doesn't it?  Last week, we had a terrible wind storm blow through Texas.  Sections of our fence were blown over, two dogs that don't belong to us ended up in our now exposed back yard AND while we were working on homework black rectangles were flying through the air to the ground.  Those would be shingles.  From our roof!

At first they kids thought this was pretty cool, then panic set it when they thought our house was going to blow away!  Dad came over the night of the wind storm and helped Chad prop the fences back up until they could repair them.

To make matters even worse, Chad's truck was broken into (window smashed) last week and his work bag was stolen.  His laptop and badges gone.

This weekend Chad and Dad not only scaled our roof, but they repaired and replaced the broken fence.  Such a relief to have that done for a fraction of the cost we were dreading.  Thanks for helping Dad!

You can see how they propped the fence up so it wouldn't fall over again.  Our neighbor should really stain their fence...

Molly had fun watching them work outside.

What did we learn from this crappy week?  If you can climb to the very top of our roof with a hammer and nails, putting up Christmas lights IS possible!

Cleaning calendar

I am not doing very well at decluttering and cleaning the house.  I walk into a room, feel overwhelmed and walk out.

That doesn't help.

So, today I made a cleaning schedule.  A calendar that I am going to attempt to follow.  Each day I can glance at this calendar and take care of those "assigned" tasks.  I made this a generic calendar.  My plan is to print it for each month and then pencil in the dates.  Even if I only complete part of that days tasks, it is better than nothing.

I also have something planned for the kiddos that should help!  As soon as I am done hole punching I will take some pictures.  And, I am thinking I should make one for Chad too... seriously.

Have a great day and wish me luck in getting my house in order!