Just Don't Call Him a Balloon Clown

Recently, we attended a family picnic put on by Rob's dept. in the Army. They had really gone all out with a moon bounce, face painting, a live amphibian show, tons of food and a clown making balloon animals. Alton really took an interest in what the clown was doing and decided he wanted to make balloon animals. So I did what I always do when one of the kids shows an interest in something and requested several library books on the subject. Once armed with those, he used his money to buy some animal balloons at a party store. Since then, the sound of twisting and occasionally popping are a regular part of our home atmosphere. He's gotten good pretty quickly. He's had balloon sword fights with Avery and has begun filling Alayna's room with almost any balloon animal she could want. Make no mistake however, he has made it clear over and over that he does not want to be a clown! He is only interested in making things with balloons!

A Box of Crayons for the Baby

While I was reading the newspaper this morning, Avery came over and began shoving a box of crayons up my shirt. I asked, "What are you doing?" He continued to stuff them up my shirt. Alayna came over and said, "Mom, he's trying to give them to the baby. I told him that Grandma had sent them for the baby." I had to laugh. Grandma from Texas had sent school supplies for each of the kids and didn't want to leave the baby out. Avery was seeing to it, that he got them delivered. When I explained that it wouldn't really work and the baby would have to come out first to get them, Alayna suggested that I swallow them.

TV/Computer Budget

For those that don't know, Rob and I started out our married life with no TV at all! We actually used to do productive things with that time that we could've been sitting in front of it mindlessly. Time passed and when Alton was 18mos old, we began to realize there could be some benefit in just having a video for him to watch occasionally. We bought a small TV/VCR combo and because we were stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood Mo, there were no stations to be had without cable. The same went for our next duty station, Ft. Polk. However while there, Rob came home one day with a full sized TV and entertainment center. We still had no channels, just the opportunity to rent movies and watch them on a bigger screen.

This worked great for awhile. Time passed and our 8th year of marriage, we moved to Ft. Carson CO. Then came the big slide. I came home one day to see Rob hanging out on the couch watching the World Series. I asked how this was possible. With a half guilty, have joyous expression, he pointed out the rabbit-eared, high-tech antennae he had purchased for the big TV. I was annoyed by this. I didn't let the kids watch anything except for "Funniest Home Videos" on Sunday nights. The problem was, there was no one to monitor my own TV usage. I quickly became an HGTV and reality show junkie. Every evening of the week there was something to watch on TV. Now Rob was annoyed (he hates reality shows), but I simply pointed out that he was the one that got the antennae. Oh yes, and before we left Ft. Carson, we had Dish. We were now like any normal American family.

Since then, I've always been strict with the kids about what and how much they watch, making exceptions only if they were sick or I was super busy etc.. This summer, with unpacking boxes and trying to get settled, it was very easy for me to say "yes" anytime the kids wanted to turn on Boomerang (Alton's favorite channel with all cartoons that I grew up with). Now, that we're more settled and school has begun, I've implemented a new system that the kids really like.

I had some colored popsicle sticks and assigned each kid a color. Each stick represented 30 minutes of either TV or computer time whatever they chose (yes, there is much competition for the computer at our house these days). They each get 9 sticks for the week which comes out to 4 1/2 hours a week. There is the opportunity to earn bonus 30 min sticks for each book they read (but no more than two) for a total of 5 1/2 hours. Both Alton and Alayna are quick to earn their bonus sticks. Avery never even gets close to using all his sticks and since he cant read, well... The interesting thing so far, and this is our third week, is that no one has ever used all their sticks for the week yet. They are very conservative with them. It has definitely cut back on watching tv just from boredom. There are some exceptions. If Rob comes home and turns on the TV for 15 minutes before dinner is ready, then they aren't charged a stick. Alton has also figured out that I will allow him on the computer "stick free" if he is doing research about something on Wikipedia.org which he does often for all the comics and stories he writes. As for all the TV I was watching in Colorado? Well, there just doesn't seem to be time for any these days. Rob and I cancelled Netflix and only watch one or two shows that we record each week. The annoying thing is, it takes us forever to watch that. We just last night found out that Joshua won "So You Think You Can Dance." It took us that long to get to it!

Anyway, if your family is watching too much TV, try the stick budget and see what happens!

The Family Bookaholic

Lately, Alayna holds that title. It started with the summer reading program. While the prizes offered were substandard to say the least, Alayna was driven by an unknown force to conquer the program and conquer it she did. She had read the required 25 books by the first part of July, but even having finished the reading program, she didn't stop there.

I can hardly keep her in library books. She loves to read and does so every spare chance she can get. Now if I can only get her to read something besides princess and fairy books. I have managed to branch her out to American Girl, Junie B. Jones, and some Magic Treehouse. Mostly, I am just glad she is reading. The picture above shows the books she finished this week. Actually, after the picture was taken she also finished "The Light Princess" by George McDonald which is a more challenging classic I "forced" her to read.

Chore Packs

With a new school schedule comes new chore packs. Once again we use a resource from http://www.titus2.com/ called Manager's of Their Chores. We've used this system for about 3 years now and it's still working well for us. The kids actually wear their chore packs, so there's no forgetting to do them.

This is Avery's first time to get one. He was very proud and as soon as he was outfitted with his new chorepack, ran to his Daddy and said, "This my chorepack." Because he can't read yet, his all have pictures instead of words which you can conveniently set up and print out on the website after you enter your book code.

I love the fact that I don't have to ask, "Did you do this?" and "Did you finish that?" They turn their chorepacks in when they've finished and I know it's done. I do a room inspection to make sure that their definition of a clean room matches mine, but other than that, it is maintenance free.

Back To School!

Today is the day and we have officially begun our next school year. We have to start early this year because we'll be taking off the month of Oct to adjust to the newest member of the family.

With every new year comes new challenges that have to have solutions. This year, keeping active Avery busy and occupied and caring for a new baby will add a new dimension to our school room. We're on the first day of our new schedule which I feel good about. Of course, it will all be blown away when the baby comes. I'll have to start a new one. We're continuing to use the "Manager's of Their Homes" strategy as it seems to work the best of any. If you homeschool and don't have that book, then go straight to http://www.titus2.com/ and get it.

Even if you don't homeschool, it is awesome. I am always 10X more efficient getting things done, there are less fights and fussiness, and our family runs very smooth when we implement it. Free falling this summer has shown me that while a break is nice, getting back on our schedule is where we want to be. You probably can't really read this. Sorry, I couldn't get it any bigger, but it might give you an idea of how it's done. The Dugger family with their 18 or however many kids they have now, have always used this.

The kids have been excited about starting all their new cirriculum and so it has made our day easier. I'm sure that will wear off in a few days, but we'll enjoy it while it lasts.