Work It Out

The weather was extra nice today, and my best friend Shaunna was heading over with her son. We thought it would be fun for the kiddos to play in the backyard, and enjoy the Winter Sunshine.

She also brought along her rake, so we could get to work on the garden. While the kids played, we raked 6 bags of leaves out of the side yard, and I weeded the flower beds, just a bit. It is way more fun working on the yard with your best friend, than all by yourself. This week I’ve taken out 10 bags of leaves, so I hope that I’m all done.

It looks like we are off to a great start on the yard so far, and I can’t wait to start planting the veggie garden.

Happy Birthday Rob

Happy Birthday to the Best Brother Ever!!!

I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty sure that I have the best Brother ever! I think the kiddos would agree that he is a pretty awesome Uncle too. We love you and we wish you the very best on your birthday Rob!

Not Going Out In March

This is an experiment that might come back and haunt me, but I’m going to give it a try. I want to see if we can eat every meal; Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, and Dinner at home for the entire month of March. Yep, your read that right, zero Take-out and zero Fast Food for the entire month.

I’m hoping that it will help out the food budget a bit, but I bet the boys will grow tired of home cooked meals, and riot against me with a flurry of take-out foods. I wonder if there is such a thing as Happy Meal withdrawal?

Wish me luck, this is going to be an interesting March.

P.S. Look forward to savings totals, and a few guest posts from my hubby James… Which may or may not be grumpy.

Who Wants to Help

Chores, chores, chores… Like them or not they have to get done, and I like to have my kiddos help out where they can. I feel that it is important for them to know how a household works and all of the cleaning that must be done, and I think they have fun helping out a little too.

Both of my boys like to help out with the dusting, and they love using their Swiffer Dusters to get the job done. They are also in charge of the before bedtime pick up in the living room, and their bedroom too. I would like to use the “before you get another toy out, your put up the last one rule”, but that doesn’t always happen, so the living room is a bit cluttered at the end of the day. The boys make a game out of picking up the mess and filling the toy bins. They race to see who can pick up the most toys the fastest.

Another job that the kiddos have is taking care of the cats. I’m still in charge of the icky stuff (litter-box), but Thade and Dylan take turns feeding the cats, and giving them fresh water too. They both always want to feed the cats, so Dylan is in charge of the a.m. feeding and Thade takes care of the p.m. feeding. The kitties seem to like it too.

Both of the boys like to help out in the kitchen too. Thade loves to help with the cooking where he can. He is in charge of smashing, and helping to roll out Pasta dough. Dylan likes to help unload all of the grocery bags on shopping day.

Getting the kiddos involved in chores really helps me out too. It saves me a little time, and it is teaching them to be more responsible around the house too.

What about you? How do you delegate chores in your home?