A House of Order: The Dawning of a New Day

OK, so I'm not the world's greatest housekeeper. I admit it. But adding a 2 year old to my already not-so-organized household has been a real challenge. So I've started yet another chart to help with the chaos. It's sort of a take off of "Sidetracked Home Executives", a book written about 25 years ago which gives examples of all the household chores and how often they should be done.

We all have daily, weekly, and monthly chores. Of course, I have the most BY FAR. But it gives the kids a visual for how much a Mom really does every day. And if they want to go somewhere fun during the summer, they will get to go a lot faster if they help Mom out with all her chores.

Today was the maiden voyage of my chart. Things went fairly smoothly. Even Reed (Mr. "I'm NOT going to clean my bathroom....that's gross!") got his room AND bathroom cleaned. Although somehow he managed to get JJ to mop his bathroom floor for him?!?

Montana, of all people, was the first one done with her "dailys" and was on to her "weeklys" and also asking to help Mom with her chores. What a difference.

Not sure how long it will continue to be new and exciting, but I'll take what I can get out of it.

Why We Love Our Dad

Katelyn, age 6:

I love my dad because he lets me read to him. I love him because he tucks me into bed at night. I love my dad because he takes me fishing. He took me and Jessi to see "Farmer Astronaut" and he took us to Carl's Junior to get dinner and he let us stay up past our bedtime because the movie was really, really long. It was the longest movie I've ever seen. I love my dad because he lets me draw him pictures. And he likes it when I write him stories.

Jessica, age 8:

I love my dad because he is always so nice and kind. I love my dad because he likes taking me fishing. He always likes to do fun stuff with me like taking me to the movie theater. My dad is special because he always likes us to be healthy and eat healthy foods. My dad is really good at cooking stuff on the barbeque, like chicken and hamburgers and hot dogs and steak. My favorite is hamburgers. My dad always tries to be funny and weird. My dad's favorite T.V. show is BYU-TV.

Jacob, age 13

I love my dad because he likes spending time with me. We have fun together. We like to hang out and watch movies. He can always beat me in one-on-one basketball, but only by one basket. He's cool. He's rad. He is MY DAD.

Basketball Jones,The Historian,The Graduate,and Little Guy

Little Guy

Montana marching in to Graduate from Kindergarten

Trying not to smile because this is serious business

JJ sharing her family history book at the Mother/Daughter Luncheon

Jacob insisted on shooting a few hoops on the way home

Last Minute Camping

Hank woke up Friday morning and said, "Hey do you want to take the kids to the Hot Springs?" Sounded like fun, so I checked into it and found out that they have a lodge there with rooms to rent and they also have cabins. They were all sold out for that night, but they had a few campsites left. CAMPSITES??? Me, sleep on the floor of a tent? Princess and the Pea hasn't done that for many years. For some reason, I felt up to the adventure. So we (me, actually) spent the day getting packed up and preparing foil dinners and baking cookies. My grandmother taught me you can never go camping without homebaked cookies. Hank came home from work about 4:30 pm and we were on the road by 5:30 pm.


This is the footbridge that goes across the River. Our campsite was on the other side, so we had to pack all of our stuff into these big huge carts and walk it all over the river and through the woods.

Hank got the tents up and the fire started. I took the kids to the Hot Springs pool. (Hmmm. That doesn't sound very fair, does it?) I think Hank was secretly glad to have all of us out of his hair for a little while.

Cute little campers excited about sleeping in the tent

Too cool for school

Pancakes and fruit for breakfast

Posing for one last picture before going home

Korean Fan Dance

JJ was chosen to participate in the Korean Fan Dance as part of the culture day at school. She practiced every Wednesday after school for about 2 months. She really enjoyed it and loved wearing the Korean dress and makeup.

Memorial Day at the Beach

It was a sunny, windy, fun-filled day (hour) at the Beach. We didn't stay too long, since Reed wasn't with us. He was back at the cabin, bemoaning the fact that we actually left him as oppposed to waiting for him to shower. SHOWER? Before going to the beach? What is the point? But being the headstrong teenager that he is, he wouldn't come with us until he had a chance to shower. And we weren't waiting. You know when you have a spur of the moment idea and you just want to GO?

So we went. We flew a big colorful kite, played in the sand, climbed on driftwood, and walked out to the water. Christian wasn't too impressed with the ocean, but he LOVED running the sand between his fingers.

Angel Boy

I took Little Guy for a visit at DHS with his Mom and Grandma today, like every Wednesday. It seems to get harder for me each time. I get more possessive. They think he's their baby (he IS their baby!) but he sure seems like mine. He lives with me. I'm his primary caregiver. I'm the one who feeds him, bathes him, plays with him, teaches him, LOVES him 24/7. He's been with us only about 6 weeks now, but it seems like 6 months.

He came back after an hour with them and smelled like his Grandma. It's a nice smell, but it's not HIS smell. It's not MY smell. I want to wash it off.

Testing, Testing, 1...2...3

Please excuse me while I test my posts.

And enjoy a nice picture of my kids while you're at it.

Brag, Brag, Brag

Sometimes don't you just feel like bragging? I feel like bragging. About my husband. Do you know what he helped the kids get me for Mother's Day? Let me tell you. He took them to an estate sale (I love estate sales!) and helped them pick out a beautiful crystal serving bowl with this cool antique silver rim. I totally would have picked that out myself. He also bought me a new camera (the same exact model I bought a few months ago but it was stolen from the CHURCH) He knew I felt so bad about it that I probably would never have gone to buy myself another one. What a guy!

8 Interesting Things About JJ

At Activity Days yesterday, it was JJ's turn to do 'Sharing.' Each girl gets a chance to tell a few things about themselves to help the other girls get to know them. Here are the things JJ shared:

1. Snowglobe--she collects snowglobes and the one she brought was her biggest one. She got it for Christmas

2. Basketball picture--she loves to play basketball. She brought her individual and team basketball pictures

3. Fish food--she has her own beta fish named bubbles

4. A Light in the Attic: a book of poetry by Shel Silverstein, her favorite poet

5. Junie B. Jones book--her favorite chapter book series

6. A green bracelet that says OREGON DUCKS--she's a big duck fan

7. The movie High School Musical--her favorite movie

8. Piano book "I can play primary songs"--she's taking piano lessons and loves it