Survived what?
The first full day of summer vacation is what! And while you may not consider that an achievement, I sure do! The first day sets the tone for the whole summer so I'd say we are off to a solid start so far.
I was out the door at 6:00 AM for a run. I have to do it before my husband leaves for work because I'm just not comfortable yet leaving my kids alone while I'm our for a run. Maybe in a couple of years when they are older but for now, nope.
I got done with my run, showered, got my husband's lunch packed and sent him off to work. Then I settled in with a nice hot cup of coffee and my Bible. Got to get my daily bread!
Peter slept until 8:30 and Sarah slept until 9:30. But, that's what happens when both kids are still wide awake at 11:00 PM.
Then we headed to the library for a book refresh and back home.
I am trying to implement a new chore tracking system this summer. It's called My Job Chart. I've never been very good at keeping up with check lists for the the kids and they've never been very good at checking things off so I thought we'd give this a whirl. (It's free so I figured I have nothing to lose!)
It's online so all the info is right where they already are - the computer. I loaded it up with all the things I expect them to do every day and points for each item. You can make the points equal cash or the points can accumulate for some item they have been wanting. We are going with the cash option.
Sarah got right into it after breakfast and did all of her chores (practice piano, feed the cats, read, complete two pages in a math workbook, make her bed) right away. She got a charge out of checking each item off on the computer and posting messages for me through the message board on the website. And when she got done with everything for the day, it tallied up how much she had earned and gave her a big round of applause.
I told Peter several times to do his chores and he kept putting them off. Finally towards the end of the evening I calmly explained that what he didn't do he would not get paid for and he quickly went off to do his chores (sweep kitchen, practice guitar, read, math workbook, handwriting workbook, make bed).
What I haven't told him, and will probably tell him this weekend when he is completely over the new chore system is that if he doesn't have his chores completed by a certain time every day he will lose computer privileges for 24 hours. If you live near me and hear lots of screaming and wailing later on this week, you'll understand why.
I can add chores, delete chores, and change the point values for the chores very easily in this program. I imagine it will take some tweaking over the next couple of weeks to get it right but I've got high hopes for this system.
Sarah had piano practice later in the afternoon and Colton and Cheyanne also came over to play.
When Dan got home from work we headed off to see Sarah bridge from Brownies to Jr. Girl Scouts and after the ceremony, we dined on a menu planned by the girls.
They wanted color foods so this is what they requested:
M&Ms
Skittles
Red, yellow, orange and green bell peppers with Ranch dressing
Broccoli
Cheese Doodles
Cheese and crackers
Brownies
Strawberries
Cantaloupe
Red grapes
Pretzels
Lemonade
The girls were in hog heaven. The adults, not so much.
Here is a picture of Sarah with the rest of her troop (minus a couple of girls) standing around the little bridge they walked over:
Today I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some sunshine and no rain. Feels like it's been raining since November. I would love to take the kids to the pool this afternoon before swim practice and actually see some yellow light.
Day one, done. Day two, here we come.
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