week 26/52

Twenty six weeks of pictures! half way point!!!

day 169: big sister  

day 170: probiotics to fight the tummy bug! ...which one is best?

day 171: bottoms up in a bubble my mom & I made 

day 172: elmer the elephant

day 173: 10 months. How is this?

day 174: I don't often post pictures with others besides immediate family in them & I didn't take this one either, but it was my day. Spending it with one of my dearest friends doing something I love. Shooting a wedding of a bridesmaid of this beautiful bride. 

day 175: painting toes (and feet & legs & the stone front porch!)

week 25/52

Well we've been bombarded with sickness since we returned from the beach, so I'm a tad behind. 

day 162: beach baby 

day 163: my loves! 

164: bubble master

day 165: little prince

day 166: I broke the rules with this one. I didn't take it, but I'm using it! I was about 15 months old on this father's day with my dad, grandfather & great grandmother. Four generations of Roots. 

day 167: me walking w finn...he keeps the pace quick!

day 168: silly girly girl 

Summer Chore Charts and Our Week

i love to be organized. all my little ducks in a row. planned. together. neat.

but having four kids doesn't afford me much time to be or stay overly organized. what i have learned with our growing family though is that everyone can help. and should! little ones can fold kitchen towel, put up silverware and set the table. as they get bigger, they can fold and put away clothes, help load the dishwasher, and pour milk for dinner. their little worlds might revolve around playing and toys, but their days require so much more than that!

we've stepped up our consistency in making them take responsibility for their stuff as well as helping our family run more smoothly. we have a long way to go, but i've seen so much improvement in other areas once we implemented their chore charts.

i tried a weekly chore chart a year or so ago. it was just too much information. they couldn't track the days and chores on the chart. they couldn't remember to put their stars on and i couldn't remember to remind them!

so this summer with a 6 year old and two 4 year olds, we've started a daily chore chart.
some of the items (get dressed, brush teeth) aren't so much chores but taking responsibility. then there are things like folding and putting away clothes and feeding the animals that are chores. and it's working. they like it. and so do i! i could simplify some things and just do chores; but i found myself reminding them over and over again to do the same things, and i was getting frustrated! so now i remind them once to do a set of instructions and then refer them to their chart!
teeth are getting brushed and toys are getting picked up with little or no push back from them. i've given each child a time to feed the dog (3x a day) and i've divided up things like the dishwasher and wiping the table and feeding the cat among them. their charts don't look the same, but they have the same opportunity to earn points (pennies)! not every item gets moved every day, but it's there!

i've also started a weekly calendar.
our oldest loves to know the plan. she comes by it honestly. our calendar looks packed, but it includes things like school time and quiet time and breakfast and lunch. yet it shows them that we have camp before lunch and gymnastics after quiet time and which days we'll go to the pool. it's more about the order of things than the time. (the numbers at the bottom are their chore chart tally. they earn a penny a item for now). we're doing a theme a week (or so) with activities and crafts and learning a verse each week. in the whole grand scheme of the day, that organized aspect takes up very little of the day. there's lots of playing and downtime. but they love their charts!

i've had several people ask me about our chore charts after i posted one in our daily pictures posts. 

so here are the logistics: i started out looking at sheet metal and frames, but who knew sheet metal was so ridiculously expensive! i found four 12x12 magnetic chalk boards at Mich@el's and used 40% off coupons to get them.

i grabbed roll of magnetic tape, and each item can be moved or removed or added. the key word: flexible! i found clipart online (see below) and labeled them. i laminated (on our handy home laminater!) the cards because i knew they would be handled a lot and put a magnet on each. the items naturally fell into three categories: morning, day, and night/before bed. the chalk was everywhere, so i found some ribbon (that i thought had adhesive on it, but i bought the wrong ones!) and divided the chore charts into 3 areas.

it makes them look less overwhelming and the items are easier to find. 
these are our chore chart pictures and the to do/done labels. again, they are catered to our family, and can be changed and tweaked to fit yours. (side note: double sided tape works great to stick labels and ribbon to the boards.)

here is our our weekly calendar template and the pictures we used on the calendar are here and here
they are catered to our summer and our schedule, but there are tons of options online to use for this.

obviously, there's no right or wrong way to do this. our goal is to teach our kids about taking responsibility and working together to complete a task. it's all about planting seeds. 
...and watching them grow.

10 months

this little guy is somehow 10 months old. i need time to slow down! he's starting to move but still not crawling or pulling up. we're just soaking up this time and trying to teach the girls to pick up tiny toys before he takes off! he's the happiest baby. seriously. he loves people. he loves his sisters. and he adores his daddy! And his belly laugh is the best!

each month, i've done a picture with him. this month is once again a tad late due to a little tummy bug that's gone through 5 of the 6 of us (and my mom now too!).

taking the monthly pictures started off hard but kept getting easier...until today.

today it was hot and humid. i had to move locations and the lighting still wasn't ideal. i had to tape and retape to stabilize things.

and then i put the baby on the fabric.

because my goal was to get a cute little picture like this. it only takes one, but i usually like to get a few a lot!

and sit him up to get a picture (with him looking!!!) like this:

but with his rapid fire kicking, leaning over and ability to grab anything and everything, my nice neat little setup didn't last long.
 

and quickly dissolved to this: (with the one on the right being my favorite!)

{sigh} 

...it only takes one!

This little guy has taught me to soak up the minutes not just the days or weeks, to show myself far more grace than I'd ever thought possible & to just flat out let it go!

Addie has told me over & over that she's "so glad we have a baby brother!"

...and that about sums it up! 

Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. Lamentations 3:22-23

Week 23/52

Day 155: haircuts 

Day 156: Addie's frog story

Day 157: appliquéd shirts for cousins

Day 158: sleep finally

Day 159: Addie on the beach 

Day 160: ice cream and cousins

Day 161: brave

Week 22/52

day 148: chore charts and a flexible, predictable schedule

day 149: bike riding at asf

Day 150: JIMMY JOHNS

Day 155: thank you God for mommy & daddy & Andrew & Addie & Audrey Kate  & the potty & my friends & most of all Jesus. Amen

Day 152: how'd you learn to sew Rierie? How'd your mama learn to sew? So then how did mommy learn to sew? Answer to all of these questions: their mamas!

Day 153: he got called a girl three times in this blue bubble with acorns & foxes on it...go figure. 

Day 154: day 1 of our Under the Sea theme! Painting the top of our jellyfish!