Play money

It all started when I was driving back home with the kids. Andy said, "We should make some play money."

So I asked, "What would you buy with it?"

We had a small discussion about how you could not really spend it in a store, but then we decided that it could be currency around the house.
So we started talking about a list of what you could do to earn money and what you could spend it on.

Now each child has a small "wallet" made from construction paper. The "Bank of Mom" has printed out $1, $5, $10, and $20 dollar bills on colorful cardstock. We have a list with suggested tasks to earn money (everything from making your bed, unloading the dishwasher, brushing your own teeth, to doing your homework quickly). We also have a list of things you could buy with the money (TV or computer time, dinner choices, sleeping in your sleeping bag, etc.). I may need to adjust amounts some depending on how much they earn daily and how easy I want it to be for them to earn certain things, but so far they are really excited.
I was never really good with keeping up with the chore chart, but perhaps this will put more responsibility on them and make it more exciting.

Snow days

Some how snow days are quite a different deal when you are the parent and not the child.

We have had two..... I am looking forward to them being back in school tomorrow.

And yes, I was that mean parent who made them do at least a little bit of school-type work on their snow day.

What they want to do when they grow up

It is interesting to hear what my children want to do:
Josie- she informed me the other day that she wanted to be a girl builder (I think she means construction worker), a cheerleader, or a girl police officer. I think she settled on police officer, but within the last few days she fine tuned it to a girl ninja police officer.
She also vacillates between telling me that she will never marry and will always live with daddy and me, and informing me who she is going to marry. I am not quite sure why she is concerned about this at age three.

Doug- He first wants to be a football player for the university I attend. (He has also informed me several times that when I finish my program and am looking for a new job that onr job I could consider is being a cheerleader there.) He used to want to drive trains after that, but due to his current favorite online game (Lego Mars Mission) he wants to be an astronaut (the kind that is in charge and gets to drive...not necessarily a scientist).

Andy- He really has two ideas. He wants to be the first astronaut artist.
Then, you know the Coke Zero commercial that asks why there are not time machines? Andy seems to think that this is an important point and he intends to right this wrong. He is going to invent the time machine.
On his own he decided that after he invents the time machine the first "time" he is going to take it to will be the starting date of World War II and he is going to bring along a lot of fire power so that he ends the war before it starts. I am not quite sure where he got this idea, but he has been quizzing me about World War II whenever he thinks about it. We have also been having conversations about how changing the past might change the future...it might be time to watch the movie Back to the Future.

It's been a bit- so happy 2011!

I have been busy....Christmas has come and gone. We survived.
I did not get out a Christmas letter. I did do a bunch of baking (and my waist shows it). I semi-decorated the house and now have to put stuff away.
I did a bit of work on my dissertation but I seriously need to do more.
I spent a bunch of time enjoying having Jim home for two weeks and I spent some time just being with my children.

We had a few mad Nerf gun battles, I build countless Lego kits (I suppose I could count them but I would probably regret it...had to empty out some bins to make more Lego storage), have played a bunch of games with the kids (since we got a lot of games appropriate for Doug & Andy).

I have hopes for the New Year. I am not going to make resolutions as I like the idea that if you need to change something you should do it right away. I do have a few ongoing missions that continue into the new year.

• Lighten my load (I want to get rid of things I do not need and that just clutter up the house)
• Finish my dissertation (it is the gateway to many things)
• Continue to grow spiritually (God put some serious messages in my life during 2010 so I need to not just pay attention but also take some action)
  

Have a happy and blessed 2011.