Well today started out with Peytons therapy here at the house with ECI. She just loooves the lady who comes here and has a blast everytime and just latches right on to her! I love it!
The kids pulled out "bowling" for today but decided they'd rather wait on it and go to the pool. So we got all dressed, loaded up and headed out to the local pool only to get there as they were shutting down from a kid throwing up in the pool! Bummer! Of course my kids had to blame this on me as if it was my fault and bawl the whole way home!
So to make it up we got a sweet treat and rented How To Train Your Dragon to watch again for the evening!
It was also a hamburger helper night here tonight, which you would think it was a commercial in my home because the kids were singing "mommy's making hamburger helper" like it was some super special treat because I absolutely DESPISE hamburger helper and never make it but the kids and hubby love it! I'll eat tuna helper but not the other!
after a wonderful few days visiting with their grandma Lisa and grandpa Kenny and the rest of the family camping out at the lake, enjoying the jet ski, visiting the musuem in the mountains in Lawton, getting buffalo burgers and more.. the kids are home and worn out! They had a blast!
Aidan apparently fell in the water and his bathing suit was to loose and came off and floated away haha I think he was trying to skinny dip and get by with it!
We met them in Hillsboro about an hour and a half away from here and since the closest Braums is there, Bryan of course had to enjoy that while we were that haha
I did a blog on this awhile back but can't find it and recently have had some people ask me about them when I've mentioned them so I thought I'd post one again!
We encourage our kids to do chores early on! Peyton of course is a little young and is 19 months old but we do encourage her to pick up her toys, put her laundry in the dirty clothes, little things like that which make her feel big! Plus she loves doing things like unloading the dishwasher with mommy!
Now for the other 3 kids who are 4, 6 and 8 we have what we call Naughty or Nice Jars that was a spin off of some things a few of our homeschooled friends did and articles we read. We started doing these about a year ago and they have worked wonderfully for encouraging them to do their chores and keep up good behavior! We do them as a joint jars so that it's like team work and they will encourage each other to all pitch in on the work around the house and behave because in the end if one of them acts up and they loose their reward they could all suffer if the jar runs out!
So we have cards with random things on them ..
"get a sonic drink"
"get a new toy from the dollar store"
"stay up an hour late"
"get out of chores for a day"
"go to the park"
"movie night, kids pick"
"pizza night"
"family game night"
"go to wazoos"
"go bowling"
"earn $5"
"have a sleepover"
"camp out with home made tent in living room"
"visit the candy store"
"go get ice cream"
when they have been good for the day and they have done all of their chores and acted in a good manner they will get to each put one card from the deck in the "nice jar"
if they are bad at the end of the day and didn't do their chores, faught a lot, got a color change at school, back talked, dirty mouth, anything that is out of line the kid who did bad will have to draw one of the cards out of the "nice jar" and stick it in the "naughty jar"
at the end of the week on Friday they get to pick one card from what is left in the "nice jar" if there is anything left. What they draw will be their treat for being good for the week and a joint treat. If they don't have any cards left they don't get anything (this has actually happened lol)
They get really excited about getting to put in the "nice jar" and really upset over the "naughty jar" so it works great for us for now!
I'm not happy with how our summer has gone! I feel like we could've done so much more with it and waisted the first month of summer! Though we did get to catch up on some much needed rest and relax a bit I just feel we should've done so much more as a family and more outtings!
My oldest did go to church camp and my 2 boys went to visit their grandma for a few days and spend it out at the lake. We went to Oklahoma a week to visit family but stayed in most of the time. But I want to do more!
I got a stack of note cards, cut them in half and I'm placing a fun activity on each one to do for the rest of the summer! Each day we will pick one and that will be our fun exciting activity for the day!
So far I have..
Go to the spray park
Go Bowling (this will be used more then once with the free summer bowling!)
Water Balloon Fight
Host an Ice Cream Social
Get Ice Cream from the Ice Cream Truck (used more then once)
Go to the Lake (use more then once)
Go Out for Ice Cream
Go to the Movies in the Park
Go to the Water Park
Go for a Bike Ride
Go to the Races
Chalk and Bubbles Day
Tye Dye Day
Go to a Baseball Game
Go to Wazoos (bounce house place)
Bake Cookies
Family Game Night
Balloon Party (room filled with several blown up balloons!)
Host a Just Dance Party on Wii
Go to Snow Cone Shop
Scavenger Hunt
Chucky Cheese
Go Skating
Go to Local Pool (used more then once)
Go to Pool on Post with Diving Boards (used once then once)
See New Transformers Movie
Go to the Zoo
Water Gun Fight
Hopefully we can get the best out of what's left of this summer!!
let the potty training begin!!! We do elimination communication around the house so my youngest runs around undressed and has showed interest in the potty since a little before 1yrs old and we keep the potty out for her but haven't started potty training just yet. My oldest was trained at 14 months but regressed when he went to daycare when I went back to work. My other 2 were trained around their 2nd birthdays so I figure she will be about the same but let her go at her own pace of course.
She HATES having diapers on and pulls them off all the time and now pulls them off when they are wet and tells you "ewwww"
We got home from Oklahoma and she has been using her potty non stop everytime she goes with out us asking or telling her! I guess I missed the memo that it was time! haha
So we are still running around undressed or now in underwear at home and encouraging it to see if she wants to train!
Don't miss out on this great back to school sale at Toys R Us!
Right now buy any back pack $12.99 or more and get a FREE lunch box!!
All crayola crayons and markers are B1G1 FREE!
Lots of school supplies B1G1 50% off!!
25% off Thermos, food and drink containers!!
Ends July 9th!!
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We kept it pretty low key this year since the boys were not here and they are the ones that are really into the bigger things and Brooklyn still shows a lot of fears. The festival here is just so big the lines are so long that it's not really worth it for her and we decided to stay out of the heat. Not much fun this year with the burn bans in effect! We wanted to see the fire works but the traffic is just ridiculous to even get to see that!
So we decided to stay home this year and stay in and I printed out Brooklyn a free coloring sheet to decorate and made these as treats!
Ingredients
Mini ice-cream sandwiches
Sprinkles or nonpareils
Colorful cupcake liners
Instructions
First, skewer mini ice-cream sandwiches on popsicle sticks.
Then, press the exposed filling into a plate of sprinkles or nonpareils.
To keep mess to a minimum, serve the pops in colorful cupcake liners
Ingredients
12 ounces white chocolate chips (we melted marshmallows)
Strawberries
Blue sugar or edible glitter
Instructions
Melt 12 ounces of white chocolate chips in a microwave according to the package directions (make sure the container and the berries are dry; even a little moisture will alter the texture of the candy).
One at a time, dip strawberries into the chocolate and then into blue sugar or edible glitter.
Set them to harden on waxed paper.
Makes 35 to 45 decorated berries.
