Chore Charts

It's finally happened...Joseph has been added to the chore chart. 

Sarah will be jealous, but it will be hard enough helping Joseph and the whole point of having the kids do it is so that I don't have to!  And of course, to teach them responsibility.  *wink*

I think Joseph must be advanced because we didn't add Rebekah to the job corps when she was 4.  Or maybe we just need him to be busy with something productive.  I have a feeling he'll be honored to see his name up there, regardless.  :)

You can see the old chart was getting a little worn out and beaten down.  When Daniel squirted it with cherry juice today, I took it as a sign.  Let the fun begin!

Flower Trough

We finally put this old water trough to good use (we've also used it to drown skunks in).  The house looks a little cheerier.  Now if I could just get the kids to keep those curtain sheers looking nice...we'd be respectable!

Un-Mechanic

Nathan has been learning today.  Better his cars than mine!

Wait For Me

I'm feeling a little philosophical today.  Maybe it's because I am sitting in a quiet car, waiting for Daniel.

Anyway, I just witnessed a mother and 3 or 4 children walk into the high school, a boy about 4 trailing behind a few steps.  As his mother and sisters opened the door and started going in, he picked up his pace while repeating, "Wait for me.  Wait for me, Mom!"

The mother didn't look at all like she was going to leave him behind and I suspect he didn't really believe that she would either.  But it didn't stop him from pleading for her to wait.

I wondered how often my own kids feel like I'm not waiting for them.  (Sometimes I'm seriously tempted not to!) 

And I thought of the times I've felt the same way.  Sometimes the world around us and even those who love us seem unable to slow down and wait for us.  At times like these we find our steps quicken in an effort to not be left behind.

Slow down world!  We are all headed for the same place.  Let's go together.  And maybe we can hold onto those little ones to keep them from getting too distracted and noticing too late that they've fallen behind.

The End.  ;) 

Work

Here is what faces me today.  Housework.  Blech.  I think I should move to a cleaner house.

I can do it by myself!

Sarah thinks she can wash her hair by herself.  Her exact words were, "I can do it.  I don't need help.  I can do this by myself."

Of course, she never got the front part of her hair wet and never used shampoo.  So when she asked me if she looked clean, I had to say no.

But she remained certain she'd done the job to completion.  :)

All of this followed the show of slapping soaking wet undies on the bathroom floor because she got in before remembering to take them off!

Our new toilet seat

I know when I buy something like this, I am past the magic of parenting young children.  Maybe I feel richer and think I can indulge in things like this.  Regardless, let me introduce you to our newest upgrade.  And I do mean upgrade.

This is our new toilet seat.

This is also our new toilet seat. 

Actually, it's Sarah's new toilet seat.  Do you see how the top picture show the little seat up and this one shows it down?  It stays up there with a strong little magnet until needed.  Sarah pulls it down when she needs to use the bathroom.  When she closes the lid, it snaps back into place again.

(We have trained all of our kids to close the toilet when they are finished.  Sarah does it about 99% of the time.  They also flush.  I know the last person to use the toilet is a guest if the toilet lid/seat is left up.  We've also had a lot of little guests who don't flush.  Yucky.)

One last thing we like about this toilet seat is that it closes s.l.o.w.l.y.  This is an action shot of the toilet closing.  No more slammed or dropped lids!  We do hear a snap if it is connecting with the child seat, but nothing else.  You have be standing right by it to hear it close, otherwise.

I've known about these seats for a while, but I hadn't talked myself into buying one with Joseph.  After all, he stands most of the time!  But Sarah is a sitter and it suddenly became worth the $40 if it meant I didn't have to keep flipping off her little seat every time I wanted to use the bathroom.

It has been TOTALLY worth it!

Where can you get one of these engineering marvels?  You can get them online (amazon.com).  I got this one at Home Depot.  The down side: they only come in white.  So, it doesn't match our toilet.  Oh well.  When I'm sitting there, I can't see any of the toilet and when I'm out of the room, I don't care!  ha ha

This particular model is called Next Step, made by Bemis.  I do believe there are other choices out there.  If you love this, and get one, let me know so that I don't have to feel so over indulgent!  ;)

*All opinions are mine and offered voluntarily.  I was not compensated in any way for this review.