Summer!

Well, summer is here!  I have one goal and that's simply to survive.  I have a few ideas to help:

1. I have come up with a list of summer rules, basic really:  be patient and kind, be helpful, take turns, no hitting/kicking/throwing, be polite.

2.  I have come up with a list of chores: Feed and water the dogs, hang up your clothes, tend to your personal hygiene, and other duties as assigned.

3. To help enforce both of the above ideas, I'm concocting some sort of ticket program.  The general idea is that tickets are earned for a job well done, going above and beyond, and for good behavior.  Tickets are lost for everything opposite of that.  My hope is that at the end of each week the kids will have tickets to spend on various things- mainly "coupons" for important kid things like "choose what's for dinner" "an extra 15 minutes before bedtime" "pick the movie for movie night" (all things my kids love and beg for).  I also plan to think about allowing the kids to save their tickets for actual money (which will be motivating for the big kids).

We are going to have a "family meeting" this week and I'll roll out this incentive plan to my minions.  At that same meeting we are going to plan our "Gates Family Summer of Fun". Everyone has been told to come to the meeting with four activities, one per category: 1. Something outside, 2. Something New, 3. Something you love, and 4. Something free.  I plan to put everything on a cool poster and we will cross through activities as we go through the summer.  

I'll report our success/failures in August--- unless I don't survive summer!

Election Day

Caroline had a mock election at school today.  She told me she voted for Romney and that he had won.  I asked her why she voted for Romney and she said "Because Obama is mean.  He took the caramel dip away from the apples at McDonald's."  I don't blame her.  And, I've been wondering what happened to the caramel dip...

Fuzzy the Caterpillar

I found a caterpillar in one of my fall mums.  So, of course, it has become a family pet with a name and all...  Fuzzy the Caterpillar has been to show and tell with Caroline, has tried to escape more than once, and feasted on green beans and pears today (stay put little Fuzzy, the catering options aren't as fancy in the wild!).  We googled all kinds of info about caring for caterpillars, so this little guy is living the dream in a newly remodeled fish tank.   He is really cute and much more active than I would have imagined.  So, I'm hoping we don't kill him and that our kids are able to see this amazing transformation happen as a result of their my our careful care.  I guess if it doesn't work out for Fluffy, there's always Google.

The value of a dollar (or 2)!

If I were a betting woman, I would have put money on the dollar store having safety pins, which is why I headed there last night with both girls.  I have been consumed with yard sale stuff this week, so guilt trumped sense when I decided to take both girls to the dollar store...  Usually these trips are tedious and end in tears because one or both of the girls falls in love with something I won't let them buy or I don't let them get anything at all (gasp!).  Not last night.  As soon as we walked in the door, Betsy found a light up wand toy.  They had purple and blue, perfect.  The girls were so thrilled with their find that they didn't even think to ask for anything else while I searched the aisles for safety pins... Which the dollar store doesn't sell!  I know, you are all as shocked as I was!  The best part of the $2 I spent was listening to the girls sing "We are rock star sisters!" into their wands turned microphones.  They sang it over and over in the car on the way home.  Needless to say, I took the long way home.

Beautiful Weekend!

I am having a yard sale next weekend (why??  I have no idea!).  So, I spent most of Saturday in the basement with my fabulous pricing assistants, Betsy and Caroline.   If the item was something Caroline wanted to keep, her suggested retail price was high ($20 for some Halloween decorations that she really liked).  If it was something she didn't care about, she all but marked it "free"!  Betsy's mission was to remove all of the price tags as quickly as I could get them on...  

The weekend weather was perfect and I felt cheated after spending most of the day in the basement, so I insisted we have quality family time outside today!  To Eckerts we went.   It was great, we all had fun.  Betsy ate apples as big as her head, Caroline maintained quality control over our apple collection, and Sam enjoyed his very first "raw" apple (he's had lots of cooked apples though!).  We had a yummy dinner and left feeling revived from the fresh air and exercise.  

I love the season of fall and all of the terrific activities it offers for our family, especially if the weather is as outstanding as it was this weekend.

And, yes, I let Caroline hang onto the Halloween decorations.

School Days!

I loved first grade, loved it!  And, I'm hoping for the same for Caroline.  Her teacher is wonderful and the kids at her table are great.  Always the generous one, Caroline overheard me talking about rearranging Betsy's nap schedule to accommodate the school pick up and she said "You know mom, if it's too much trouble to get me from school, I'd be glad to stay home tomorrow." Ha!  Guess first grade wasn't love at first sight for Liney!

It's never too late!

Caroline's baby book is packed with photos and all of her important (and even the not so important) milestones are recorded. Betsy's baby book is somewhat up to date until about the 8th month page, where everything goes blank! As for my Sam, recordings of his infancy are looking bleak since I just bought his baby book yesterday (dyk those books are a crazy $40 at hallmark?). When Liney was born I even bought a journal with the intention of writing down cute stories of her childhood... 6 years and a mere 3 journal entries later, here I am... Hoping a public audience on the edge of their seats in anticipation of my next post will keep me motivated to document the Joyisms (I'm pretty sure I made that word up!) of our lives!