Think I'm Going to Have to do This

I found a blog called No Big Dill this evening. I've seen it mentioned before but now I'm in love. Her most recent project is this and I think it's awesome. I think I'm going to have to give it a whirl. We'll see how it pans out. the possibilities are endless. Fancy Nancy, Pinkalicious, The Prayer Tree, The Gorilla Did It, Alexander and Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, If You Give a Pig a Pancake, Caps For Sale, The Magician's Nephew, Rainbow Fish....just thinking about made me excited!!!! I can't wait to see what I come up with. Maybe I'll alternate letting the girls choose a book and then make them something inspired by their choice. Hooray!

Spring is in the Air

*Yep, I totally copied this idea that Dana did with her kids over at Made. Just FYI, none of this was my own aside from the creativity that was had in decorating the butterflies...that was all us!*

We were supposed to have a friend come over to play today so I wanted to come up with an art project for the three girls to work on together. So this was the plan...decorating butterflies and hanging them up for all to see. Unfortunately, plans fell through and Emma couldn't come over (we sure missed her but I already have another idea of what to do when she does come over to add in with the butterflies) so me and the girls did the art project and we had so much fun!!!

Siobhan was very proud of her butterflies....this is a mommy butterfly carrying her baby butterfly.

The mess....it always happens when you craft with kids! But this is nothing compared to what we've had before!

Audrey hard at work. She would get so excited about them going up on the wall that she would just color a little bit and then make me hang it up!

The top of the stairs....

Bottom of the first flight of stairs...

The top of the second flight of stairs...

The bottom of the second flight of stairs....


We hung them up in the stairway going down to the basement and Audrey was so excited that Spring was 'coming up in our house.' We had a blast and I think they look so fun and beautiful!

Money Talks

*Go to the next post if you want to read about Audrey and St. Patrick's Day Parade*

I've never been an allowance type of person. I don't have anything against it per se, I just never really saw the merit in it. Inever really got an allowance. I vaguely remember my parents trying (I could be totally wrong and making that up) but it just didn't stick. I don't have any strong or deep philosophy of why I've never bought into the idea aside from the fact that I want my kids to take an active role in the household and I feel that they should do that without expecting payment for doing so. I also don't want my kids to start expecting more than I can give them so if I were to pay them too much, it takes a lot out of my pocket that I could spend on things that they actually need as well as giving them unrealistic expectations. Now while I still do feel that way, I feel like I've found a way to mitigate my concerns and still teach my kids the value of work. I also realized something else...how is giving the kids an allowance that much different than promising a new toy if they behave for a certain amount of time or taking them for special time with mommy/daddy or extra TV time. Those are all fine rewards, but they weren't working for our kids. So we tried a new approach. After reading some articles online, I combine a few different people's approaches and so far, the system that I came up with has proven very successful.

So this is how we do it...Siobhan never earns more than 30 cents a day (yes cents) and can only earn the money on weekdays but she still has to do the jobs on weekends. She has 5 jobs that are mandatory and five more that are more optional. The mandatory jobs include things like cleaning her bedroom and making the bed, cleaning the playroom, taking care of laundry both clean and dirty. The optional jobs are things like taking out the garbage, sweeping the kitchen floor and few other things. The five mandatory jobs are worth 4 cents and the others are worth 2.

Audrey earns 20 cents a day and four mandatory jobs that are similar to Siobhan's and four optional jobs like setting the table for dinner and cleaning up the toys and books that end up in the living room. Mandatory jobs are 3 cents, optional jobs are worth 2.

Mr. Will does a total of four jobs. Helping mom clean his rooms and put away laundry as well as coloring and cleaning the playroom. All for a total of 10 cents.

We settle up every night before bed rather than putting them on a two week payment schedule and here's why. Young kids don't really understand why they didn't get paid their full amount because they didn't do all their jobs last Tuesday for instance. This way, if Siobhan gets 24 cents rather than the full 30, I can explain to her that it's because she didn't do everything. And at the end of the month, we will total up all the kid's money and have them pay their tithing.

So why am I sharing all this? Well, for starters, I'm really proud of myself that I came up with something even slightly clever. Second, we're starting on the 3rd week of this system and almost every night, the kids have gone to bed with clean rooms, a clean (straightened) bathroom, clean playroom and me having to do very little clean up of their messes before I go to bed. It's all so much less contentious and I love it! The kids actually get really excited to do their chores and to tell me that they've completed their job. 3rd, we changed one of Siobhan's jobs from making sock pairs to doing the breakfast dishes. Today was the first time we tried it and she did way more than I expected or asked for. She did every dish in the sink including the glasses that were there from the night before, she loaded everything into the dishwasher, put dishwasher soap in, and started the dishwasher. I was really impressed. But here's how the dishwasher looked......
Such a good try and kind of awesome!

Show Your Green*

*Other possible titles for this post include: Twist and Shout, Danke Schoene, Before the Parade Passes By, and Don't Rain on My...

Most people don't know this, because I kind of tend to let information slip through the cracks (totally unintentionally by the way), but Audrey has been taking Irish Step Dance since the beginning of January and she has absolutely loved it! She takes at a small studio here in Sandy which, according to the parade announcer (I'll get to the parade part in a sec), has the most 'champions' out of all the schools in the area. So we've had a blast getting to know the world of Irish Dance which is surprisingly different than the dance world I'm used to.

We found out a few weeks ago that Audrey would have the opportunity to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade here in downtown Salt Lake. She would also have the chance to perform in the Siamsa (dance performance) following the parade. It was so neat and a super fun tradition that I hope we can be a part of for many years.

Anyone who knows me knows that I am very proud of my Irish heritage and I've always wanted to learn Irish Step Dance. But while it's too late for me (at least to have it be a big part of my life) I'm glad that Audrey is enjoying it so much. And after the parade and Siamsa, Siobhan now wants to try it out and I think she'll really enjoy it as well. She actually didn't march as she's so tiny she would probably get trampled by a horse or something. So she rode on the school's float.

The theme for our school in the parade was something having to do with lads and ladies from Ireland around the turn of the century (the last century) but obviously a little duded up. This is what we came up with. I was determined to not buy anything for this costume so this is what we pulled from her closet.

Up close. She's so pretty. I don't know why she doesn't smile in pictures.

Audrey and one her fiends from class. This girl is actually in the 'new beginner' class and Audrey is a Tir Na Nog (the younger class) but they have class at the same time.

All the little ones that came for the parade hanging out on the float/truck.

I have a video of Audrey dancing, but it won't upload...does anyone know of a good way to upload a video to blogger? At the very least, I'll put it on facebook.

Unfortunately, this did not happen, but wouldn't that have been cool?

First Meeting

Here's some fun pictures of Siobhan, Audrey and Mr. Will meeting Ethan for the first time at the hospital. Siobhan and Audrey were immediately taken with the handsome little guy and Mr. Will was just excited to have all the Oreos and Sprite that a little guy could want from the snack area. So all in all, it was a pretty great experience for all involved! Now, enjoy looking at how cute my family is....especially the kids!

Siobhan loves being the biggest sister. She's even changed Ethan's diaper...one time by herself without telling me. She actually did a great job, but was instructed that from now on, she can only do it with Mommy or Daddy's permission and while we're there with her. She loves him so much!

Love this picture!!!! So sweet!

Audrey is, as always, her sweet loving self with him! Every time he cries, she says, 'Mommy, I think he wants more boo boos milk!' She enjoys babysitting him while he's in his bouncy seat.

While at the hospital, Mr. Will just pretty much ran around and was very cute yet very indifferent to Ethan. However, things have changed a lot in the last six weeks. He loves to give Ethan hugs and kisses and is always concerned when he cries. Even though I caught him dragging Ethan across the floor one evening, he just wants so badly to play with his little bro!

Best picture we could get of all four.


Wow, this family is getting big!

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BTW, the stuff on Siobhan and Audrey's faces are Utah Jazz tattoos.

Haircuts

Yeah, I keep promising meaningful posts and they'll happen eventually. But for now, here is a post about Siobhan and Mr. Will getting haircuts on Monday. We went to a fun place called Cookie Cutters which is pretty much just like every other kids salon. They did a great job with both kids and were super patient. When Mr. Will was getting his hair cut, Audrey was very insistent that she did not want her hair cute but as soon as Siobhan was getting started she wanted her hair done. We decided that we would keep her hair long like Repunzels. So here are the final products.

Carson was very against the idea of a full on mohawk. He's kind of conservative that way. But in the end, I won out-like usual :) I just think that while he's 2, he can get away with it. Although while he's wearing that camo outfit, he kinds of looks like a hellian, but that's okay.


You may remember this post about the first time we cut Siobhan's hair. Well she's been begging us to get it cut again so we did! We cut off 6 inches! I asked her how she would feel about getting it cut up to her ears and she said she wanted it cut up to her eyes. But we stuck with a cute little bob. I love it!