Sunday DayLook: May 18, 2014

Looking out my back porch... sun is setting & it’s slightly windy.

I am thankful for... the annual Father/Son Camping trip and easy to heat freezer meals.

I am reading… a few fluff books on Kindle, and pattern guides (it’s time to get those 4-H projects sewn).

I am praying for...  a peaceful, uneventful week with good travels.

A random thought… why is it every time I sit down to blog/read, the littlest figures that’s the perfect time to wake up from his nap.

I am hearing... the littlest squawking from his bed.

From the sewing/craft room… found time to sew several pairs of pajama pants for the boys.  Angelina is well on her way to completing her first dress; we’ll be waiting a few days for the zipper.

From the School Room... Greg still has a few subjects.  The room is a disaster area!  Needs a thorough cleaning and this years supplies need to be stored….another day.

From the Kitchen...  not much.  Thank goodness for frozen pizza and brats.

From the FarmYard… lots of feeding and cleaning.

A successful moment…

A few plans for the rest of the week…
Monday: Youth Ministry training in Fargo, Spring planting

Tuesday: Youth Ministry training concludes; Consumer Choices contest for Angelina, Zeke & Graham

Wednesday: home today

Thursday: dentist appointments for two boys & a shopping trip to Fargo

Friday/Saturday/Sunday: Family wedding, family get-together, graduation open house

A picture memory...

July 2011 – Louis after his first haircut

Clean rooms…

In an effort to encourage my children to clean their rooms and then keep them clean, I created an award.  The award is a prize of their choice (parental approval required) won by having the cleanest room at the end of the week – provided the rooms are clean.  Some prizes necessitate winning twice.

Interestingly, the award has been won – two weeks in a row – by Graham, age 7, and Louis, age 4.  Graham needed two awards to win his Hexbug and Louis needed two awards to win a Link shield. 

There have been weeks when no one has won because the rooms were simply NOT clean! 

There has been some movement toward a cleaner room for Greg & Zeke, who share a room.  Angelina loves her piles, so is farther away from a solid win. 

AND, this past week, I completely changed it up again.  Zeke was moved in with Louis and Graham into the room with Greg.  Because…I’d been finding half empty cups of iced tea and chocolate milk on dressers (and behind clean towels in cupboards), bowls of food in drawers, under the sink in the bathroom, in storage tubs…it’s just plain GROSS!  Of course, no one fesses up to the empty bowls and cups.  So, my solution was to mix up the living arrangements so I could keep track of the offenders (yes, I do have an idea of ‘who’ is doing it, but they’d always blame the roommate).  And, yes, my kids get plenty to eat, just not that kind of junk whenever they want. 

It’s part punishment/consequence for poor decisions, part older sibling helping younger sibling learn to keep a clean room and make good choices.

I have no idea if it will work or even help, but something needed to be changed.  Here goes.