Seven

Not only do we have Christmas upon us, but Riley's birthday is this weekend. We always have a little gathering for the girls...which means I have to clean house. Luckily, the girls and I cleaned on Sunday before we decorated. They are really getting to be a big help with things like that and I also think they are beginning to understand that if they help then I have more time to do things with them. This time I came up with a brilliant idea...I went into each room we were cleaning and made a list of what needed to be done and left it in that room. That way they knew exactly what to do and I was free to work somewhere else. Brilliant, I tell you!

We only cleaned up downstairs and I told them not to worry about their rooms because we would do that this week and they were very happy. This week started yesterday and they were not so happy. I told them that they only had to spend 30 minutes each afternoon in their rooms, which would be their chore for the day. If they finished before or by Friday, they would get three extra dollars. We use a "Daddy Dollar" system, each chore/job in the house earns a certain number of "dollars" (i.e. not real money!) and then they can spend what they earn in the "Mommy Market" on things like play dates/sleepovers, watching TV or movies, etc.


My goal was to have the rooms cleaned up before Riley's party and also before the jolly man in a red suit comes to bring more stuff.


So...back to the activity of the day and the whole point of this rambling story. The girls had to do homework, read for 20 minutes, study math facts, study spelling, K had to practice clarinet, shower, eat dinner AND clean their rooms for 30 minutes all before we did our activity. Which was to write their letters to Santa. Exciting stuff.


Seriously, though...how good are these kids?!? They did it all without complaining or whining. To top it all off, their lists are completely reasonable. So proud.