Mom's Basket - JACKPOT!

My family, as I am sure most families do, think I am their servant.  I pick up everything for them, from shoes to toys to dirty laundry...everything!  I make my kids clean their rooms, but they have always done such a shoddy job that I wind up going in there every few months to get it clean myself and reorganize.  If I had a dollar for every I had to tell them to pick their things up out of the living room, I'd probably never need to work again!

Then I saw an idea on Pinterest....God bless Pinterest.  

Unfortunately, I never could find an original link for this picture.  But allow me to give credit where credit is due:  if this is your idea, I bow down to you. You are my hero.

I had a basket that I used to gather the kids' toys up to take into their rooms.  I emptied it, then called a meeting.  I explained that to my Flower (10) and Little Man (4) that anytime I found something of theirs laying around the house I was going to pick it up and put it in the basket.  If they finished playing with a toy and do not put it up, it goes in the basket.  

On day one, I had 10 hot wheels, a pair of ear buds, and several super heroes.  Flower wasn't too concerned about the ear buds, but Little Man was just devastated at the loss of his super heroes.  He asked for a chore, so I told him to sweep the kitchen.  He was actually excited, and swept with a happy heart and earned his toys back.  It was the worst sweep-job that kitchen has ever seen, but I don't care.  He learned a lesson, and did it with a great attitude.  

Last night, I picked up several superheroes, two pair of shoes, some jewelry, and a few odd toys.  This morning, at breakfast, I walked into the dining room with my basket.  I reminded them that they couldn't even go outside to play until they had done chores, because their shoes were in the basket!  They gave each other a glance, not sure what to think.  

About 30 minutes later, Little Man came up to me and said "Mama, I am going to go get dressed, then I am going to do a chore, ok?"  A few minutes later he came in dressed and said "Mommy, I decided I will clean my room and put all my toys where they belong.  I will even pick my toys up in the closet!"  Not too long afterwards, he came out and asked me to go look at his room - sure enough, the toys were all where they belonged and his room was spotless!!  Because he actually had quite a bit of picking up to do in his room, and because he had such a great attitude about it, I let him take all of his things out of the basket.  He was so proud of himself!  

Flower still isn't too concerned about getting her items back.  She really would rather lose them than to do chores to get them back (except I am holding her favorite pair of Converse, so it won't be long!).  But, she is paying closer attention to not leaving her things out.

I figure this is a win/win situation for me.  They are both doing a great job picking up their things once they are finished using them, which saves me from having to pick them up constantly.  When I do have to put things in the basket, I have less chores to do myself!  Their attitudes have been great, and they are learning that we have to work for the things we want.  

How do you get your kids to pick their toys up after they get finished playing with them?  Have you tried the chore box?!  It works!!

Be blessed today!!

Summertime activities!

We are working on our second week of school being out for summer, and so far I haven't heard the words "I'm bored!!"  Around this house, my kids know not to say that...I can always find something for them to do, and it usually isn't anything they would consider fun.  They've learned to figure something out on their own!

But, I do have a whole list of things ready for them to tackle as soon as I hear those words.  In fact, if they don't get bored soon, I may have to go pull weeds myself!

I found a few deals I thought I'd share with everyone today, that might help your little one busy this summer!

If your kids love to read, you can get 4 Disney Wreck It Ralph books for 99 cents!  After that, you will get 3 new books each month.  These are a little young for Flower, but are perfect for my Little Man and the daycare kids!

If Dr. Seuss is more your style, you can get 5 books for $5.95!  After that, you get 3 new books a month.

I did the Dr. Suess book club way back when Flower was a little thing, and we still have all the books!  The look a little sad these days, but my goodness!  They are about 7 years old, and have gone through both of my kids and countless daycare kids!  I'd say it was totally worth it!  

What activities do you do with your kids to keep the busy and having fun during the summer?

Wonderful Epic Weekends!

This weekend was truly one of the best I have had in forever!  When I woke up on Sunday morning, my stomach hurt...from laughing so hard on Saturday night.  God has blessed Barb Wire Man and me with some of the best friends a person could ask for!  We are all so alike, and all of our kids are the same age.  So perfect!  More on that later!

My friend, Tessa and I

I had to wake up bright and early Saturday morning to set up for the craft show.  I shared a booth with one of my friends here in town, and we had several hours to just sit and chat.  It was so nice!  We did pretty well at the show, although we had hoped to do better.  It wasn't as good as we hoped, but wasn't as bad as we expected for sure.  We made some sales, and passed out tons of business cards. We stayed at the park until around 4:30 or so, and finally packed it up because we were HOT!  Overall, I was pretty please with how it went, and hope they do it again next year!

Firework pictures never turn out like I want them to!

Later, Barb Wire Man, Little Man and I went to cook out with our awesome friends and their kids.  We ate burgers, then loaded up to watch our town's firework display.  This was the first fireworks display that the little boys had seen, and they thought it was amazing!  (As I went through pictures Sunday morning, Little Man sat there saying "oooh...ahhhh...oh I love that one" just like he did the night before!)

This year's show was great! 

After the fireworks show, we went back to their house.  We had a few drinks.  Our guys smoked cigars.

Our kids, after we picked them up off the floor!

The kids played so hard they literally fell asleep on the floor surrounded by the toys they were playing with.  Chairs were broken. Golf balls magically fell from the sky.  We laughed until we couldn't breathe, and we can't wait to do it again.

The night can only be described as epic.

God has blessed us with some of the most amazing friends, truly.  I don't know how we made it this long without knowing them.