Archive for November, 2009
Posted by Tricia at 11:30 am
Due to a very late bedtime for Abigail given her CCGD concert last night, we are enjoying a light return to schooling on this Monday after the Turkey Day holiday…but I am insisting on the children completing some school work before we turn to other things. Shortly after assigning Abigail some literature to study, I walked into the living room to this sight…
And I can’t even bring myself to scold the child because I am so impressed with her creativity….I mean….on my best day, I am hopeless at making the hula hoop stay up around my hips. Heaven forbid I try to hula whilst reading the dictionary….how do kids do it?
Posted by Tricia at 10:55 pm
Tonight we attended a beautiful Christmas concert! It was Abigail’s first time to sing at the Meyerson Symphony Center with the Children’s Chorus of Greater Dallas. The children gave an excellent performance, and we were impressed with the broad range of wonderful music from all six different choirs that sang tonight. Grammy and Grandy joined us, making the evening even more enjoyable.
It was difficult to take photos inside the symphony hall, but here are a few shots from the evening:
Shot of the pipe organ while we waited for the concert to begin:
Can you find Abigail in this photo?
The combined choirs with the directors in front:
And some close-ups just after:
I love this shot of our little songbird!
Posted by Tricia at 8:40 pm
Tonight after supper our family gathered ’round the kitchen table to begin our annual reading of The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. If you haven’t read it, you must…it’s a wonderful tale that will warm your heart as you contemplate Christmas. We are going to see the play this coming week at the DCT, so we have only a few days in which to finish it.
This year I thought it would be fun to string popcorn and cranberries for the tree while we read our book, and while I figured I’d do the bulk of the stringing, I hoped the kids would be old enough to at least enjoy helping a bit. But I wasn’t sure they could handle the corn and berries without crushing them in an effort to string them into garland. I shouldn’t have worried….
In the time it took Jay to read two chapters, I think I strung maybe a foot’s total length of popcorn and cranberries. The rest of the time I was kept busy cutting and finishing the ends of the children’s strings, and threading new needles for them to start new garland. Even little Josiah, who asked very matter-of-factly where his needle and thread were so he could string too, carefully threaded popcorn and berries along with his big siblings, and produced a very pretty little garland of his own.
I hope we can spend another evening or two stringing garland while we finish the story…but we made a great start tonight and managed 18 3/4 feet of popcorn and berries!
Posted by Tricia at 10:03 pm
We enjoyed a quiet holiday yesterday. Earlier plans called for us to travel to St. Louis to be with Jay’s brother’s family this year, but several factors led to our staying here instead. As my sister-in-law recently landed a wonderful new full time job that will begin in just a few days, we’d like to think we made the Thanksgiving weekend simpler and more relaxing for her by not descending upon her household with our large and noisy brood! But it would have been great to see all of them….
Jay’s folks (the Grammy and the Grandy as they are affectionately referred to over here) joined us for a fun and lowkey day. I would like to toot my own horn(e?) just a teensey bit and say that I worked very purposefully to not spend the entire day in the kitchen as I am often wont to do on a holiday, by sheer nature of the beast, er…..feast!!. Abigail and I made three pies on Wednesday, and I baked our pumpkin bread for next morning’s breakfast that evening. Jay also mixed up my Grandma Brunone’s celebrated shrimp dip the day before, so even our appetizer/lunch was all set. I still might have gone to bed later than I should have, given I stayed up past 1am feverishly working to hang over 60 little sparkly crystals on our new chandelier that Jay had just installed for me, so it’d be all spiffy for the Thanksgiving meal. But I digress…..
We chose prime rib for our main course instead of the more traditional bird, to simplify the sides for our dinner…if you ever make prime rib, you should try this recipe, it’s fabulous. It’s even more fabulous if you actually follow the directions and take the roast out of the oven at 120 degrees as directed, instead of making the incorrect judgement that it couldn’t possibly be finished cooking to medium rare already, and leaving it in to cook too long as I did! (The flavor was still excellent, even if the inside was a bit darker than we preferred, but next time I’ll follow the recipe more religiously!)
Our day was relaxing and fun; there was playing with and on grandparents:
Time spent outside in gorgeous, sunny weather:
Shrimp dip!
An impressive and competitive game of scrabble:
An impromptu nap by the littlest guy who was “just so tired of waiting to eat pumpkin pie with whipp-ed cream”….
The feast!
After dinner cuddles and snuggles:
Happy Thanksgiving to All!
Posted by Tricia at 8:36 pm
Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good.
His love endures forever.
~Psalm 136:1 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Psalm 136:1 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F19136001" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F19136001" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p19136001.01-1">His Steadfast Love Endures Forever</h3>
<div class="block-indent">
<p class="line-group" id="p19136001.06-1"><span class="chapter-num" id="v19136001-1">136:1 </span>Give thanks to the <span class="small-caps">Lord</span>, for he is good,<br />
<span class="indent"></span>for his steadfast love endures forever. (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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Posted by Tricia at 1:16 pm
Alrighty, folks! I admitted to you a couple posts back that I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator. Despite being immensely freeing to admit this truth to the bloggy world, this declaration also explains why I am just today finally posting Halloween pictures of my little Star Wars children. Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, it seems appropriate to finish up the last of the Halloween chitter chatter, if not the last of the Halloween candy (four large ziplok bags of which sadly still fill my pantry and often drop out on my feet when I open the door – sigh).
Thanks to Jay’s new job at Epsilon (oh, what a blessing to have income again, folks, after such a long time without!) the children enjoyed not one but two evenings of candy-gathering!!
Epsilon’s many different groups get together and decorate their particular areas of the office in a theme for the kids to come walk-through as they pile tremendous amounts of sweets into their Halloween bags. I wish I had thought to take my camera so I had pictures of some of the creative set-ups to share with you! There was a Dr. Suess-land, Pajama Party, Super Heroes, Circus Time, and many others.
The employees got further into the spirit of it all by dressing up to coordinate with their “sets” and the costumes were really great.
Our kids spent over an hour trick-r-treating with sweet family friends (here is the group of 8 kiddos all decked out):
and it was a really great time.
On Saturday the kids donned their Star Wars apparel again, and prepared for a night out around the ‘hood. We enjoyed seeing some of our smallest neighbors first:
Our sweet-as-anything Mrs. Jean from next door decked out in her Halloween best:
and then we posed for a few pictures:
The fearsome Darth Vader:
Gorgeous blue-eyed Jedi Luke Skywalker:
Pretty Princess Leia:
And of course the cutest “Baby Yoda” as the other kids called him…I took about a thousand photos of this munchkin:
Following in his big brothers’ footsteps, Yoda insisted on staying in character all. night. long. Which meant he ran from house to house all night hunched over Yoda-style (this slowed things down just a bit for the other kids) just like:
I think we can safely say that Halloween is now officially over…May the Force be with you all!
Posted by Tricia at 11:35 pm
This morning, Abigail’s little pet gerbil, Muffin (named for the golden brown color of her fur) passed away. It has been a hard day for my girlie in many ways. The gerbils are the first pets she has had almost sole responsibility for: their cage was in her room, and other than occasional help from her Daddy cleaning the little gerbil house, she has been Muffin and Mitten’s “mommy” and done a great job caring for them for 2 1/2 years!
Here is Abigail in June 2007, soon after she and Jay brought home Muffin and Mittens – I love this shot of her and Muffin:
Here are the gerbil sisters together:
After Muffin died, Abigail and I looked at the verses in Matthew 10 [show]<div class="esv"><h2>Matthew 10 <object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40010001-40010042" width="40" height="12" class="audio"><param name="movie" value="http://www.esvapi.org/assets/play.swf?myUrl=hw%2F40010001-40010042" /><param name="wmode" value="transparent" /></object></h2>
<div class="esv-text"><h3 id="p40010001.01-1">The Twelve Apostles</h3>
<p id="p40010001.04-1"><span class="chapter-num" id="v40010001-1">10:1 </span>And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. <span class="verse-num" id="v40010002-1">2 </span>The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; <span class="verse-num" id="v40010003-1">3 </span>Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f1" id="b1" title="Some manuscripts 'Lebbaeus', or 'Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus'">[1]</a></span> <span class="verse-num" id="v40010004-1">4 </span>Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.</p>
<h3 id="p40010005.01-1">Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles</h3>
<p id="p40010005.07-1"><span class="verse-num" id="v40010005-1">5 </span>These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, <span class="woc">“Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans,</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010006-1">6 </span><span class="woc">but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010007-1">7 </span><span class="woc">And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010008-1">8 </span><span class="woc">Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f2" id="b2" title="'Leprosy' was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13">[2]</a></span> cast out demons. You received without paying; give without pay.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010009-1">9 </span><span class="woc">Acquire no gold nor silver nor copper for your belts,</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010010-1">10 </span><span class="woc">no bag for your journey, nor two tunics<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f3" id="b3" title="Greek 'chiton', a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin">[3]</a></span> nor sandals nor a staff, for the laborer deserves his food.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010011-1">11 </span><span class="woc">And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010012-1">12 </span><span class="woc">As you enter the house, greet it.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010013-1">13 </span><span class="woc">And if the house is worthy, let your peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010014-1">14 </span><span class="woc">And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010015-1">15 </span><span class="woc">Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.</span></p>
<h3 id="p40010016.01-1">Persecution Will Come</h3>
<p id="p40010016.04-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010016-1">16 </span><span class="woc">“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010017-1">17 </span><span class="woc">Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues,</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010018-1">18 </span><span class="woc">and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010019-1">19 </span><span class="woc">When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010020-1">20 </span><span class="woc">For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010021-1">21 </span><span class="woc">Brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death,</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010022-1">22 </span><span class="woc">and you will be hated by all for my name's sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010023-1">23 </span><span class="woc">When they persecute you in one town, flee to the next, for truly, I say to you, you will not have gone through all the towns of Israel before the Son of Man comes.</span></p>
<p id="p40010024.01-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010024-1">24 </span><span class="woc">“A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a servant<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f4" id="b4" title="Greek 'bondservant'; also verse 25">[4]</a></span> above his master.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010025-1">25 </span><span class="woc">It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f5" id="b5" title="Greek lacks 'will they malign'">[5]</a></span> those of his household.</span></p>
<h3 id="p40010026.01-1">Have No Fear</h3>
<p id="p40010026.04-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010026-1">26 </span><span class="woc">“So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010027-1">27 </span><span class="woc">What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010028-1">28 </span><span class="woc">And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f6" id="b6" title="Greek 'Gehenna'">[6]</a></span></span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010029-1">29 </span><span class="woc">Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?<span class="footnote"> <a href="#f7" id="b7" title="Greek 'assarion', Roman copper coin (Latin 'quadrans') worth about 1/16 of a 'denarius' (which was a day's wage for a laborer)">[7]</a></span> And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010030-1">30 </span><span class="woc">But even the hairs of your head are all numbered.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010031-1">31 </span><span class="woc">Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010032-1">32 </span><span class="woc">So everyone who acknowledges me before men, I also will acknowledge before my Father who is in heaven,</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010033-1">33 </span><span class="woc">but whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.</span></p>
<h3 id="p40010034.01-1">Not Peace, but a Sword</h3>
<p id="p40010034.06-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010034-1">34 </span><span class="woc">“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010035-1">35 </span><span class="woc">For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010036-1">36 </span><span class="woc">And a person's enemies will be those of his own household.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010037-1">37 </span><span class="woc">Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010038-1">38 </span><span class="woc">And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010039-1">39 </span><span class="woc">Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.</span></p>
<h3 id="p40010040.01-1">Rewards</h3>
<p id="p40010040.02-1"><span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010040-1">40 </span><span class="woc">“Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010041-1">41 </span><span class="woc">The one who receives a prophet because he is a prophet will receive a prophet's reward, and the one who receives a righteous person because he is a righteous person will receive a righteous person's reward.</span> <span class="verse-num woc" id="v40010042-1">42 </span><span class="woc">And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.”</span> (<a href="http://www.esv.org" class="copyright">ESV</a>)</p>
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<div class="footnotes">
<h3>Footnotes</h3>
<p><span class="footnote"><a href="#b1" id="f1">[1]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:3</span> Some manuscripts <em>Lebbaeus</em>, or <em>Lebbaeus called Thaddaeus</em>
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b2" id="f2">[2]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:8</span> <em>Leprosy</em> was a term for several skin diseases; see Leviticus 13
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b3" id="f3">[3]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:10</span> Greek <em>chiton</em>, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b4" id="f4">[4]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:24</span> Greek <em>bondservant</em>; also verse 25
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b5" id="f5">[5]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:25</span> Greek lacks <em>will they malign</em>
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b6" id="f6">[6]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:28</span> Greek <em>Gehenna</em>
<br />
<span class="footnote"><a href="#b7" id="f7">[7]</a></span> <span class="footnote-ref">10:29</span> Greek <em>assarion</em>, Roman copper coin (Latin <em>quadrans</em>) worth about 1/16 of a <em>denarius</em> (which was a day's wage for a laborer)
</p>
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where we are told that God cares for each little creature that falls:
29Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your Father.
Those verses brought some comfort to her in the midst of her sorrow, but there were tears aplenty all day long.
Jay arrived home early from work so he could dig Muffin’s grave before it was too dark. Abigail carefully chose a casket in which to bury her little fallen pet – this is a box which she loves, it was a gift from her Grammy:
Our whole family assembled to have a small graveside service, and through tears, each of the children choked out a remembrance of little Muffin:
Abigail remembered that when she and Jay went to the pet store to look at gerbils, that she didn’t choose Muffin; Muffin chose her! by climbing into her open hand and resting there happily as if to say, “I’m yours…please take me home!”
Nicolas mentioned that he always loved Muffin because when he would try to hold her, she wouldn’t run away from him (like Mittens does!).
Jonathan, trying to be brave through his tears, shared the encouraging and wise, “It is very hard when things like this happen, but we must always trust God in what He does, even when we don’t understand.”
For my part, I am not a gerbil lover…but even someone who finds gerbils somewhat icky is moved to tears when their children hurt. So instead of sharing the notion that while I wasn’t a huge Muffin fan, I did actually prefer Muffin to her sister Mittens because to me, Muffin with her golden-honey coloring looked less like a rat…..I reminded Abigail that she helped a tiny creature have a warm, loving, and happy life here on this earth, and that we knew God was pleased with how she loved and cared for one of his smallest parts of creation. And that though it hurt so much, to draw comfort from the precious times she shared with little Muffin and to be thankful she had such a sweet little pet.
Jay prayed, and we buried Muffin.
I cannot believe I am sitting here sobbing as I write this…I will close with this last picture of Abigail at Muffin’s graveside. I love that sitting right next to her is another faithful pet.
Shasha and Lucy stayed near to Abigail all day long in her grief, clearly sensing something was very wrong. As sad as this picture is, it also makes me thankful, because it reminds me of the goodness God showers upon us when he gives us animals to love and share our lives with.
November 23rd, 2009
Sadness
Posted by Tricia at 9:05 pm
Muffin the gerbil has gotten very sick today, and sweet Abigail is fretting over her with tears aplenty. I will not write much tonight, as I want to spend some extra time with my little girl…
More tomorrow.
Posted by Tricia at 10:00 pm
I am a procrastinator, pure and simple. Why do today what I can put off till tomorrow?? Sad, but true. Not always, but in many aspects of my life I struggle with procrastination. Or as I prefer to think of it, “Having a lot of amazing ideas of what clever things I will do next time I have nothing else looming to do”. Hah!
So if you should ever happen to visit my humble casa, one item you will often see on my counters are a group of dark colored (some would call them “rotting”) bananas. Because well, once they get past the point of being edible with breakfast, no one wants to eat them. I of course always have great plans to turn them into banana bread or banana muffins or (our favorite) banana chocolate chip pancakes….tomorrow. And then, the next day. And so on….
Failing to actually set aside time in my day to make the dreamed-of banana bread, I finally toss the now-black bananas into the freezer. Which truly can work – they will last now until I am ready to use them in a recipe! But they always seem to be precariously stored while still in “bunch” form. And inevitably one of these bunches of frozen black bananas will fly off the door shelf when my husband is rummaging in the freezer for something, and hit him in the head, or cause some other equally annoying and painful injury.
Well, as usual, I have had a nice group of blackening bananas adorning my counter for the greater part of a week now. Until tonight when I had a super-fantastic idea:
I peeled the bananas, popped their insides into plastic ziplok baggies, and stuck them all into the freezer. Just like that. Where they will wait until I am ready to cook them into some delicious bakedy-goodness of some variety.
No longer will I have ugly black bananas on the counter. No more frightening freezer fruit projectiles to injure my sweet husband when he forages for ice cream. I think I have hit on something fabulous, and because I like all of you so much, Dear Readers, I had to share this revelation with you.
So, how long do you suppose it will take me in the future to start procrastinating about actually peeling and freezing the overripe bananas that grace my kitchen counters? Hmmmmm…..let’s just not go there tonight!
November 21st, 2009
Tomatoes
Posted by Tricia at 10:13 pm
All our sweat and work to start our garden was not in vain. Here are some pictures of a few of my tomato babies…I’m still working on trying to get the lighting right indoors…
November 20th, 2009
Cheating
Posted by Tricia at 11:43 am
Ok, I admit it: I am backdating this post to squeak in my 30 posts in 30 days. My wonderful hubby whisked me out on a date last night, and so instead of catching up with you, Dear Readers, I spent some quality time with Jay – we chatted for hours over a leisurely supper of prime rib. So fun. As we sat and talked and sipped our wine, it struck me: what a blessing it is after 14 1/2 years of marriage that we can have so much fun together just talking and hanging out. I don’t ever want to take this for granted…I am so in love with and so thankful for my husband.
Last night was actually my second date of the day as I also got to spend some lovely one-on-one time with the youngest little man in my life during the afternoon. Josiah and I dropped the older three children off to try out an art class here, and then the two of us walked and talked all up and down Snider Plaza, his little hand in mine almost all of the hour and a half we spent together. We stopped by a toy store (to his delight!) and a book store (where he had a blast finding all the “Bativities” on display), had a coffee/hot chocolate break outside on a park bench, and truly enjoyed time together.
Homeschooling right now means that I don’t always spend a ton of Mommy time with just Josiah, so I cherish these little moments with him. It was a great afternoon.
And as for the other 3, they loved their first time with “Miss Casey” at A Little Artsy…which came very highly recommended, and we were not disappointed. What a welcoming and happy little studio, and Casey and her staff are sweet, talented, and wonderful with children. If you live in the Dallas area and are looking for a nurturing and unique art experience for you and/or your kiddos, give Casey a call!
Posted by Tricia at 8:58 pm
Tonight I did something in the kitchen that I haven’t done in a very long, long time. In fact I cannot even remember the last time…
All by myself, after supper, while the kids were taking baths/showers, I emptied the dishwasher!
Why don’t I ever empty the dishwasher anymore?? Because these days I have a host of little people around the house who are absolutely capable of accomplishing this task, and each day they take care of it for me, the sweet things. Only the 10 and 8 year old deal in breakables; the 7 year old empties “non-breakables” and the 4 year old helps at random, very enthusiastically, but definitely still learning. He started trying to help with the dishwasher because he watched his big siblings work at it, and wanted to help too.
Earlier this week, the 4 year old began making his bed all by himself, and not because I taught him. He has watched his big brothers, whom he shares a room with, and he hears me each day praise their efforts. Monday morning he proudly called me to his room where he pointed triumphantly to a very well made-up bed, especially for a 4 year old’s first effort. And I was delighted!! To think: after all these years of teaching the older ones how to do chores, they now not only complete their own work, they are training the baby of the family too…what a deal!
Of course there are days when chores are not done cheerfully, and Mommy must urge and nudge and yes, even perhaps threaten…but on the whole I am blessed with sweet help from my children.
So, all this talk of dishes and bed-making prompts me to ask you, Dear Reader: what do you do around your house about Kids’n'Chores?? Do your kids do any? Do they do none? Do they do it all while you lounge on the couch and pop Godiva chocolates into your mouth one by one??
If your children help around the house, how do you organize chores for each one, and if they attend traditional school (as opposed to home-schooling), when do they usually accomplish their chores?? Do you pay allowances for helping, or not?? How do you deal with bad attitudes toward helping around the house?
Please do chime in with your two cents on this topic; it is always great to hear ideas from other parents! I have heard many a parent groan that it is just easier to do the housework themselves rather than go through the agony of trying to teach their children to take responsibility and ownership of chores, but I think I am finding out that once the kids learn, the entire family reaps the benefit of everyone pitching in to help as they are able.
So, pull up your favorite comfy chair, enjoy a warm cup of coffee (I will bring the Godiva chocolates!) and let’s chat chores!
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