children

Chore Chart – Again

November 15, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

Yes, about two years ago we tried out the chore chart. Lexi was NOT interested in earning stickers and eventually, Emma wasn’t either. And I got tired of pestering. But Emma has been begging for me to put one together lately. Both girls really are understanding money and with their birthdays and Christmas hanging around, they are all about earning some extra money. I’m interested in them actually earning the money instead of forking over money for a toy out of guilt so I think this is win-win so far. We started last Thursday and I did a shortened list until Saturday when I paid them.

I don’t know if there’s really a wrong way to do a chore chart. I’ve seen them done so many different ways with different rules and I’ve just come to the conclusion I just need to do what works for us. So I put stuff on there they actually wanted to do. Emma loves getting the mail. Lexi loves to wash the floor. Emma has been feeding Mattie for months unofficially. I don’t think this needs to be a form of punishment. Why not enjoy our work? So here were the chores for last week:

Lexi (6)

Unload dishwasher
Clean floors (she takes a wet washcloth and cleans the hardwoods)
Make bed
Spray house (oust)
Put out napkins and drinks for dinner
Put clothes in dryer
Clean the fridge (we clean out old stuff and wash down the shelves)

Emma (8 this week)

Feed Mattie twice a day
Get mail
Make bed
Put out silverware and plates for dinner
Clean bathroom counter and mirror
Take out trash
Vacuum
Dust

So yes, I don’t know why but Lexi loves to clean the fridge and Emma loves to take out the trash. It doesn’t need done every day but I can’t tell you how much I’m loving it!

I didn’t reinvent the wheel and make anything crafty. We just printed a free chore chart per week from here. I pay .25 per check mark EVERY DAY. It’s really hard for Lexi to wait a whole week for her payment so when I say come do this, you’ll get another .25 on Saturday, she’s like, I don’t care. Paying daily seems to make it more rewarding somehow.

And I know if they do every single thing every single day, that’s a lot of money. But I’m not making them do every single thing and we haven’t had one day where they’ve done everything. If they want the money, they are welcome to do it. There are certain things like feeding Mattie or helping at dinner that are not up for grabs but I’m not going to pester about vacuuming every single day.

We are only five days in but so far so good!

Heart Desires

November 12, 2010 by Amy 9 Comments

When did they…

…become them…

I almost don’t recognize them. And I don’t mean the missing bad perm and braces. That couple is a happy couple in their 30’s with 2 kids, a dog and a picket fence. And most days I feel a lot more like that 15 year old a lot less like that 32 year old.

But somehow that’s us and every single dream that 15 year old had 17 years ago got wrapped up in a few pictures yesterday.

I’m so blessed.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Emma and Lexi’s Build-a-Bear Party

November 6, 2010 by Amy 8 Comments

Today Emma and Lexi had a combined birthday party. Yes, we had the family one for Lexi’s at the house this week but this is the “big one” with their friends. I don’t make them have combined parties but when they have a choice to have separate or get to invite an extra friend (because of savings) they choose the combined party. We’ve never held or attended a Build-a-Bear party and was pretty curious how it would go.

First blog-worthy moment of the day is that we forgot the card to our camera. Thanks to my wonderful sister-in-law we had a photographer for the afternoon. I’m going to try to use pictures that don’t prominently show the other kids so here we go.

First off, you pick a set price for how much you want to spend per kid. Base price is the $10 bear that is offered in two colors plus however much you want to spend in clothing/accessories for each kid. So we decided not to do any accessories, but they could pick a full outfit. So the party helper set out all the outfits that were that price. It was SO much easier to only have 7 or 8 choices instead of that entire store plus accessories. Some of them were pretty bummed that they didn’t get shoes, etc but I told them their parents could bring them back for that and that seemed to satisfy them.

The next thing they did was really cool. Each kid got 3 hearts instead of the normal one. He had them prepare the first heart by doing different things like rubbing it on their hip “so they’re hip” or rubbing them on your nose so “they know you” and then finishing with a wish and a kiss. The cool part was the first heart of each girl went into Lexi’s bear and the second set all went into Emma’s. The third was for their own bear. Sweet, right?

The guy we had to do the party was FANTASTIC with the kids. Waiting for 10 other kids to get their bear stuffed is not the most fun thing to do but he got them to play games for probably 45 minutes. The first game they passed a heart around and Lexi had to determine who had it when she turned around.

They also played charades. Emma got “robot” and I thought for sure she was going to be bashful and back out but there she went, doing the robot. One of my favorite moments!

Next the girls got to wash and then dress their bears.

Here is Lexi’s.

And Emma’s. They got the same outfit but different colored bears.

I loved this…the guy brought out 6 big containers of bows and let the girls each pick out FOUR. You would have thought he’d just dumped a million dollars on the floor.

Finally , the kids do a fashion parade to the front of the store and take a group picture. It was SO cute watching all the girls holding their dolls. Several people walking by ooh-ed and aah-ed. Very cute moment.

Oh and they present each of the girls with another special bear that each guest gets to sign.

The bad part about our Build-a-Bear is that it doesn’t have a room for the cake/presents. So we left the store and squatted in a few tables in the food court.

A little story about the cake.

I painstakingly ordered the cookie cake yesterday. It was supposed to be the normal round one that said “Happy Birthday Emma and Lexi”. Well, we went to pick it up and it was not ready. He said, I thought it was supposed to be 3:00? No, 1:00. Then he pointed at a design of a super hero. No, Build-a-Bear. He promises it will be ready in 20 minutes. So Scott leaves during the party to get it and comes back with this humongous cookie cake that says “Happy Birthday Bennett”! Turns out the whole order was for someone else and they never could find ours. And this one read “Happy Birthday Ben”. Scott told them to fix it by putting Bennett on there. And THEN we had to pay TWICE the cost than the original size. GAH! Oh well, no one could care less and everyone was starving after building a bear so we dug in.

My favorite moment of the day of course was Emma opening her American Girl Doll. This picture just makes me so happy.

Thank goodness for Groupon that was put out yesterday though as every single guest we invited showed up and while I am SUPER glad they did, my envelope system sure didn’t. But I think I can safely say my envelope system’s memory will never outlast the memories we made today.

Lexi’s Cupcake Flower Birthday Cake

November 3, 2010 by Amy 16 Comments

This weekend I realized that omigosh, Lexi’s birthday is in 3 days and we haven’t picked out a cake yet. Normally, they can not WAIT to finally pick out a cake from the grocery store. They have always loved going by the cake case and deciding on which they will pick for their birthday. Well, sadly I think they are getting a bit old for that so a cake was not on the forefront of my mind. So a-googling I went! I was inspired by this cupcake cake and thankfully Lexi approved!

And this is what we came up with:

It’s not as professional as the inspiration and Lexi REALLY wanted blue flowers instead of the pretty pink but overall, I’m super proud of it and Lexi LOVES it.

And I’m happy to say we took some pictures along the way so you could see how it’s done!

First, Lexi wanted yellow cake. Sorry to all my chocolate-loving family including myself that will be eating yellow cake tonight.

Next, Daddy got involved a cut some board to 20×30” and wrapped it in tinfoil.

After the cupcakes cooled, I arranged them how I wanted them. I put the puffier ones in the middle with the smaller ones would fit better.

Then I made some of my mom’s icing. I separated them into 4 bowls, the largest going to the blue that is not pictured. We used this really cool NEON food coloring I got from Harris Teeter.

Then, I got to decorating. This is approximately 9pm at night so sorry for the bad lighting and hair.

Then, dear goodness, I actually broke out my cake decorating set. I have to say, I had fond memories of my mom doing this very same thing the night before my birthdays. Mom, thanks for all the hard work you always put into our birthday cakes! I put 3 purple dots at the edge of each flower near the middle. And then outlined each flower so it made it look more like one cake.

And I just have to include this bad picture because it catches me going, “Oh my, is this going well? I’m really not sure!”

I used the rest of the purple to write “Happy Birthday Lexi” on the side. Given my bad handwriting skills, I felt like it went well.

And then, I used my spatula to “paint” a stem with the green.

And that’s it!

Oh, until we get to the end and go, oh my, how are we going to keep this covered until tomorrow? And then Scott’s resourcefulness and OCD took over.

I think it’s safely covered until the party tonight.

Here is my mom’s icing recipe I used:

1 cup of Crisco
4 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract

Dump all of this in a bowl and blend with a mixer. If it’s too thick, add a little more milk.

Good luck on not eating it before it makes it to the cake!

Happy Birthday, Lexi!

November 3, 2010 by Amy 6 Comments

“I can’t believe I have a 6 year old!” I keep repeating that to myself to make sure I understand that my BABY is 6 years old. I mean, LOOK, she doesn’t even look like a preschooler anymore! Just that picture taken this morning before school says so much about her.

She loves everything bright and glittery. She loves dresses. She loves her picture taken. She loves long socks that are fixed just so in her tennis shoes. Which by the way, she wears so the mulch doesn’t get in her flip flops and irritate her. Her school teacher, whom she was getting ready to go see in this picture tells me she loves everything neat and tidy. She’s a sweet girl that is respectful and well-behaved.

When she’s at home, where she is in this picture, sometimes she’s dramatic and admittedly fake-cries when she doesn’t get her way. And when that happens or she gets hurt, she always, always wants a hug. Well, she ALWAYS wants a hug anyway. And lately, gives two kisses, one on each cheek and sometimes a 3rd on her Daddy’s head.

She loves playing on the computer and coloring and Barbies. She loves jumping on the trampoline and playing school. And anything her big sister will do with her.

She’s a complete joy to our family and I feel so blessed to be her Mommy!

Super-mom Sunday

October 24, 2010 by Amy 2 Comments

There are not many days I can say this but today I leave the day feeling like Super-Mom.

Church,

CVS trip,

made brunch,

nearly completed school project ,

birthday party invitations created, printed and addressed,

Halloween cards and gifts made, packaged and addressed,

attended TWO birthday parties and

made roast beef for dinner,

nearly all by myself with the girls.

Oh, and washed a load of towels.

Yes, feeling like super-mom.

And unabashedly savoring it while I can.

Now can I please get a weekend from my weekend?

Wordless Wednesday – Mommy, Why Are These So Poopy?

October 13, 2010 by Amy 4 Comments

Catalyst 2010 Day 1

October 7, 2010 by Amy 3 Comments

OK, hang in there for this one. But basically I’m going to treat this like I’ve called you up on the phone and I’m going to tell you all about my day with a very excited voice, barely pausing between to breathe at which point you’re just going to go uh-huh, uh-huh, really?, that’s awesome. But not in the bored way. K? Here we go.

So first thing, I have to talk about the crazy stuff outside. They had a stage set up and they were doing dance competitions. Besides it, they had a huge tub of bubbles where people were wrestling. It was just all-around fun before you even went in. Oh, and someone proposed on the stage outside. She said Yes!

The praise and worship was amazing all day. I especially enjoyed this morning’s session where they started off with this Eminem song and I don’t know, the talent and creativity just in the worship kind of blew the hinges off the doors right out of the gate. It’s just one of those times where you just go God, you are so awesome that you gave these people these gifts and it’s so amazing they are using them for You. I don’t know who this guy is but he needs an album if he doesn’t have one and then I need to buy it. AMAZING voice.

Ok, so as for the speakers, this REALLY would be a long post if I typed up every single thing I wrote down but I’ll give you all some highlights.

Andy Stanley. I loved him. He was really funny and real and did a really great job of weaving Scripture in with application. He talked about our appetites. To be loved, appreciated, wanted, respected, for fame. And it creates a vocabulary of “more”. They are never fully and finally satisfied and always whisper that it must be satisfied NOW. He used the story of Esau selling his birthright to Jac0b and how his appetite for the stew was so strong that he traded not just his birthright, but possibly his legacy for generations to come. Instead of Abraham, Isaac, and Esau it was Abraham, Isaac and Jac0b. Our appetites get blown out of proportion but we must reframe them and see what the cost will be. Ask yourself these questions: What can’t you say no to? What are you talking yourself into? What are you contemplating that your spouse is uncomfortable with? What is not illegal or immoral but you don’t want anyone to know? Learn to control your appetites.

Scott Harrison – He spoke on behalf of Charity Water. This guy came out of New York as a very successful nightclub promoter and has now started and runs Charity Water. Amazing stories and charity.

Daniel Pink – Daniel’s talk honestly was probably more geared towards businesses and church administration. I found myself connecting the dots based on my work environment versus church. But basically his idea is a person’s real creativity and ownership comes out when they are given 3 things. Autonomy, mastery and purpose. Autonomy basically means letting your employees dictate what tasks they work on, when they work on it and the technique they use. It’s the opposite of micro-managing. Mastery we need to set goals and give yourself feedback. Especially the millenial generation is very feedback oriented. You also must marry purpose and profit. It’s not enough just to say we need to raise profit share 2%. He closed by talking about people’s lives are one sentence. Like Lincoln’s was free the slaves. Is your life an amazing sentence or a muddle paragraph? What’s your sentence?

Christine Caine – She blew the roof off the place. She was so passionate and talked about the church being the church instead of attending church. But it must be born out of love for Christ. We are not to judge and condemn but to love and find the lost. When people get lost, they don’t plan on it or maybe they just make a miscalculation. It doesn’t matter, we must have compassion and show them the right path. We have to be God’s GPS. And true compassion only starts when you do something about it. Otherwise, you’re just getting emotional. She talked a lot about sex trafficking and she has started A21 Campaign. I’m so excited about this and can’t wait to get more information.

After Christine, they did more presentations for sex trafficking. Atlanta actually has 2-300 children that are trafficked every month. An Atlanta based group has created a film about it that you can have shown in our city. Find out more info at stopthecandyshop.org. The Atlanta based group is Street Grace.

Rani Hong – She’s a trafficking victim for India. She was sold at SEVEN. SEVEN. That’s Emma’s age. It BREAKS MY HEART. She ended up getting out of India and adopted by a mother who ended up dying of cancer when she was 16. Her story is amazing and she has started the Tronie Foundation to be the voice of victims.

Seth Godin – Honestly I don’t think I’m smart enough to recap Seth Godin. He talked a lot about industrialization and how the factory mindset has taught America how to create things faster and in the same way and have people be replaceable. We’ve lost the ability to solve problems creatively. We must change and become indispensable people. We must learn to connect. We have to learn to try new things and not be afraid of failure and to not be afraid of emotional labor. Emotional labor is all those hard emotional places you don’t want to go like giving someone a call that you know will hurt. When we find our “art” we will become those a person that people will miss when you’re gone.

Beth Moore – Beth! She talked about fear and insecurity. She talked about how leaders are dealing with instant scrutiny with social media these days and this inner war of insecurity starts. This leads to self-focus and narcissism. We have to rely on God and follow Him wherever He goes. We usually start well but Satan tries to render us ineffective. We need the Spirit to give us staying power.

At this point they did a presentation on adoption and Compassion and I was a MESS after that. You’ve read that we are considering adopting and there was something an adoptee/adopter said that is going to stick with me. He said there is a child that God has ordained to be yours, he’s just not under your roof yet. That SLAYS me to think our little boy is already out there somewhere. It makes me want to run off to Haiti or wherever, just yelling to find him. I mean, if Emma or Lexi were lost I would go to no ends, spend as much as I had to get them home. Why am I not willing to do the same for this child?

Francis Chan – Francis Chan tonight was impossible to contain or summarize. Man was on fire. He leaves in 2 weeks to go to India with his whole family (FOUR kids) for an undetermined amount of time. You could just see and hear how in love with God he is. He’s being completely led by the Spirit and it’s just amazing to see.

And in closing, let me show you a funny video. These two guys who were basically comic relief I guess had these awful bowl cuts. They were making fun of all the different hair styles of pastors and then tried to get others to do the bowl cut and said Chris Tomlin had one which of course no one believed. Then they showed this video. Hilarious!

Check out more awesome pictures here.