Weekend recap

Guess who got to use his snowblower this weekend.......

 He has been waiting and waiting since November to use this snowblower we were given!  It's pretty amazing that it's almost the end of January and this is the first significant snowfall.

This weekend Andy and the boys went to the Wild Game Feed at church so Kaelynn and I had some mother/daughter bonding time.  We took in a small meal at McDonalds and then did some crafting at Clay Your Way.  It's a store where you pick out an unfinished piece of clay and paint it to your liking.  You leave it at the store for a week and they fire it for you.   

 She loved it!  She of course picked out a cell phone to paint.  It was quite detailed with all of the small buttons, but she worked diligently and got it done with a little help from me :)

This afternoon, the boys and friends- Micah and Tate, made a little extra money by cleaning off the rest of the driveway for us.  They did a great job and were quite speedy- 10 minutes!!!! 

We are looking forward to a somewhat low-key week with no Wednesday or Thursday evening activities this week.  I wish these kind of weeks happened more often because they are very much needed!

The Ransom Box

Just the title peaks your interest doesn't it......

A huge shout out to Pinterest for our newest way we are trying to teach our children responsiblity :) 

I as a mom, can spend a lot of my day picking up after my three cherubs.  They can make a royal mess if they are allowed.  I do not indentify with the quote, "Excuse the mess, my children are making memories".  My Type A, slightly anal self likes to have a clean house.  This doesn't go so well with three kids who like to leave things all over the house.  It kind of makes this mama crabby!   

Insert the RANSOM BOX!

Instead of constantly nagging my children to pick up their things, I give them one warning about not leaving something out or picking something up.  If they forget to pick it up, the item/s go into a container:

In order to get the item out of the box, the child must chose a task from the "task jar".  These tasks include but are not limited to:
          *clean up a siblings room
          * write a note to dad to thank him for working so hard for our family
          * sweep the upstairs floors
          * do 25 jumping jacks while singing "I am a cleaning machine"
          * you are free, but this is a warning!
            ...........and many more

Oh look, we just started it and there are already items in the box:

Kaelynn will need those snow pants for tomorrow, so she better get them out of there. "Take a task Kaelynn":

She got- clean a bathroom mirror while singing any song.

Task completed and snowpants retrieved and put in their place. 

Can you tell how much fun this is for me?  Teaches my kids responsibility and keeps my house clean in the process.  I love it!!!! 

If you are interested in this for your own home, here's the link to this woman's blog. 
http://madsmemories.blogspot.com/2009/08/moms-ransom-rubbage.html
She includes all of her tasks for you to copy or to get ideas from for your own.  I took a lot of hers :)

Day off = work for me and fun for them

We had today off to honor Martin Luther King Jr.  So what did we do?  Well, what I did wouldn't make a very interesting blog post.  I don't think you want to see pictures of me cleaning the blinds and bathrooms.  So I'll tell you what the kids did. 

They started the day off with a nice competitve game of Monopoly.  Andy planted this idea in their brains before he left for work by telling them that it is what he and uncle Matt used to do on days off.  It took up about 45 minutes until things got heated and I shut the game down.  

 Connor woke up with the idea to organize the box of Andy's old baseball cards.  He wanted to organize them into teams.  He started at 6:55am and didn't finish until 11:45am.  Of course there were a few interruptions in there, but his goal was to get it done before lunch and he did.

 Even though the temp is frigid, these boys love to play together.  It's Monday and we always have Micah over for a couple of hours.  Some, if not all of those hours usually include outside play time with our neighbor Tate.  I love it that our kids have friends in the neighborhood to play with. 

 Kaelynn likes to play with the magnets every once in a while and she built a holder for her marbles today. 

We also got in piano, reading, a little homework,and a trip to Sam's Club to get Angry Birds cupcakes for Connor and Carson's school classes.  Their half birthday is tomorrow! 

Andy and I get to go out tonight, so all in all, a pretty great day off was had.   

For the love of DIY

PINTEREST!!!!!  I absolutely love this website!  This website helps me to think outside of the box- which I am not gifted in.  For those of you who don't know what pinterest is, it is a website that helps you to organize ideas you have or have been given for everything from DIY projects to recipes, from birthday party ideas to styles you love, and tons more!  People "pin" (post a picture and a link to the blog or website they got it from) things on this website and then it is free for anybody to see.  Here are just a few ideas I have gotten from the website:

Our new key holder:

Wall art for our family room!  These are simple 12x12 styrofoam cushions with scrapbook paper glued on them and then black ribbon glued around the edge. A $20 project that would have cost at least $100 had I bought them in a store already done.   

I have had this sitting in storage for a few years now.  I was going to take it to the thrift store, but Pinterest helped me see it in a new light.   I took out the baskets, but didn't throw them away as I have an idea of how to repurpose them.  I covered the back of each nook in scrapbook paper that matches my main bathroom and.....

....now it's hanging in my bathroom filled with little things guests might need.

This is one of my favorite inspirations.  It's a canvas print of "our family rules".  I saw this on Pinterest and decided to do my own version of it.  It is now hanging in our living room for all to see!  I often have to remind myself of these rules during the day as I walk past them.  I love it so much!

I have gotten so many recipes off pinterest and have loved everything I have made.  I'm very excited about the possibilities that lie ahead because of this website!     

Girls Weekend

When the boys went fishing, the girls had some fun.  We started off with a lunch at Truffles Cafe.  They have amazing desserts and we enjoyed delicious chocolate truffle cakes.  We then went to downtown St. Paul and took in the James J. Hill House.  He was the founder of the Great Northern Railroad and many other things having to do with shipping and trade.  He was a very wealthy man and his house is amazing.  In 1908 when it was built, it cost him $931,000.  I can't even imagine what it is worth today.  We couldn't take any pictures in there, so you'll just have to imagine. 
After that we went to the American Swedish Institute in Minneapolis.  It is a mansion of some Swedish immigrants and they had it decorated for Christmas.  It was beautiful and really fun to see all of the bright colors and heritage that is so familiar to us. 

They had a small children's area that focused on the traditions of Christmas for children in Scandinavian countries.

The woodwork was amazing and this stain-glass window above the staircase was something you could stare at for a long time. 

The next day we took in the Mall of America with the goal of enjoying lunch at the American Girl Doll Store.  We arrived a little earlier than our reservation so we decided to look at a few other stores.  Kaelynn had a really hard time being patient in these stores.  She was so excited to get there. 

We had been there before, but never to have lunch, and never with money to spend in hand.  It was a bit overwhelming with a lot to look at and lots of people to wade through, but we emerged victorious. 

Kit got her ears pierced and some very cool sunglasses along with a beautiful purple party dress. 

We enjoyed a wonderful lunch.  Kit got to sit in her own chair with her own little cup and saucer.  They really gave us all the royal treatment.  It was definetly the highlight of the weekend! 

 After the MOA we did a little more shopping in Maple Grove and then settled in for a movie night at home.  We watched a classic from my past- Pollyanna.  It was so fun for Kaelynn to share in that movie that we all have loved. 

Thank you to both grandmas for such a fun couple of days!  We love you so much!