Easter

Some highlights from Easter week:

My Mom and Ken visited the weekend before Good Friday, and I got to try out my new recipe for Quinoa Chocolate Cake; it was yummy!
The kids coloured Easter eggs with Grandma and made a lovely centrepiece. The in-laws visited and the cousins had a blast playing together. On Sunday morning they hunted eastery things together and amassed quite a haul!

We played at the playground together, where Madison took Rhys for a walk in his stroller by herself. She was pretty proud of how well she was taking care of her baby cousin!

Nana and Grumpa brought presents for all, and even Rhys was eager to dig into his bag of gifties
Some more random cutie-pie moments:

New Neighbours

Yes! The house is finally in enough order that I feel able to relax and live in it. Of course there are several minor projects still waiting for me to attend them, but such is life. We unpacked the last box and hung the last picture this weekend, and now I have been straightening and cleaning up after the madness.

One of the first things on my relaxing-and-living-in-my-new-home agenda was to take gifts to each of our neighbours. Yes, all of them. But don't get excited, we only have two other houses on our street. As we were moving in, each of the wives brought us welcome gifts, along with their names and phone numbers should we need anything. How great is that?
The couple immediately next to us brought a beautiful bouquet of orange and pink roses and a card. They have offered the kids to play on their lawn any time; have offered to lend us tools, lawn care equipment, etc; have even treated our trees for us (with some horticulture oil mixture so they don't grow fungus? - I don't really understand it).
The couple on the other side of them brought us muffins and cookies as we were in the chaos of moving; invited the kids to jump on their trampoline, offered our kids to play with their dogs any time, and had Madison and Kai over for a playdate with their niece when she visited this weekend.

So as soon as the house was put together, I made some thank-you cards and some apple pies and Caylie helped me carry them over (she carried the card, I carried the pie). The steaming pies were warmly received, and promises made on both sides that we'll get together soon to visit.

Already we have interacted more with our neighbours here after a few weeks than we ever did over years at other locations (with the exception of Revelstoke, where we had the best neighbours ever)! I am so pleased with the warm welcome, and I just know we're going to be a small, but close community on this lovely little street!

The main floor of our house is mostly tile, so we bought an area rug for the living room. We chose the trendy, “new” shag that is currently popular and is oh so cozy on the toes. Since we’ve laid this carpet down, it has become the new favourite place for the children to hang out. They like to play there, or just roll around on it. When Caylie wakes up in the morning feeling a little tender, she toddles over to the carpet and snuggles down on it for a few minutes before breakfast.
It reminds me of a kitten I once adopted named Puddin’ Face, who was removed from her mother at the SPCA a little too early and would take solace in our fluffy bath mat.

Job Charts

We are still in a shambles in our house. No single room is finished enough to post a picture for you to admire. However, the children's rooms are assembled enough that their beds and clothes are unpacked, and therefore their job charts are back in business.

Before we moved I spent a little time researching and stealing ideas for job charts for the kids. The idea is that they will do their assigned tasks without nagging on my part, and with the added bonus that they'll maybe help with some chores around the house.

So I made each of them a board with their need to do jobs for morning, after school, and bedtime; plus a spot for extra chores if they happen to be motivated to do one. Their jobs are the usual tasks like brush teeth, get dressed, eat meals, etc. The extra chores are things like empty the dishwasher, dust, collect garbages, etc.

The kids were so excited about starting the new charts, and focused on getting all their jobs done so they could get a token every night. They didn't fuss or fight, didn't stall or argue when it was time to get ready for school or for bed. So life has been a little smoother so far. And at first they were so gung-ho about doing extra chores it was delightful! Hopefully it keeps up that way.

Each day they are awarded tokens for their jobs, plus a token for each chore they do. When they've saved enough tokens they can cash them in for rewards. So far the most coveted reward is "private bubble bath" (20 tokens). Madison has just saved up enough to buy that one and is very excited about it. Other rewards include "pancakes for breakfast", "mani-pedi", "stay up 1/2 hour after bedtime", and the most expensive one: "un-birthday party"!