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"!

Moving... again.

Moving time is upon us and we are looking forward to setting up our new house. We live among a forest of boxes, piles, stacks, and heaps. I am trying to organize and purge as I go, but I’m sure there will be plenty of superfluous stuff carted into the new house and then discarded as I try to find a place for it. I am determined to keep my new home organized and clutter-free (at least more so than my current home). My rule for determining if we’ll keep an item or not is this: Do I use this? Do I love it? If the answer is no, then it gets listed or freecycled.
The task ahead of moving our life into a permanent home is almost too much to swallow. I am so sick of moving! But this time will be the last time (or so we are telling ourselves). And I really am excited to live in this house - I love it! It’s at once modern and historic, functional and characteristic, stylish and comfortable. The location is great, and there is space and privacy. I’ll be proud to entertain there and I’m looking forward to having our first guests over (after we unpack, of course).
So this spring break will be busy enough with lifting and hauling, unpacking and cleaning. But I hope to get some pics of the new house and of the kids soon enough, hopefully in not too long!

Bike riding

Our kids each have a bike. It seems like ages since we've had them out riding them, so we piled them all into the truck and loaded up the helmets. We took them to the KVR so we could show our weekend guests how beautiful a trail can be.
Madison has a big-girl bike that she's hardly ridden since she got it for her birthday last year. But she's getting pretty good at riding now!

Kai has had brief periods of practice without the training wheels, but for a long-ish ride like this he's more comfortable with them on. I had to push him for most of the way up the hill, but when we happened upon a friend of his on the trail, he whispered "You can let go now, Mom!"
Caylie loves to pedal her tigger bike, and she loves for us to hold the tail on the uphill portions of the trek. The downhill portions, she's off and racing away on her own!

At the park with the cousins

Brea and Rhys are visiting (along with their parents) and today we had a fun-filled day with them around Penticton. They played at a playground near Skaha Lake, and Madison, Kai, and Caylie thought it great fun to push their little cousins on the swings and show them around the park. Still a bit chilly here, looking forward to spring!

Superheroes

A Sunday with nothing much on the agenda while we waited for Kent to get home from his long run. The kids asked to have their faces painted and I thought "Why not?"

Kai chose a mask of fire, and then wanted fire on his hands as well so he could shoot his fire-power as a weapon.
Madison chose to have ice-power.
Caylie has "star power".
This simple activity netted at least an hour of fight-free playing time with all three kids involved in a very active, imaginative, roll-playing game.

Veggie Lasagne

This is what I'm making for dinner tonight. It's a familiar stand-by for this family, we have it at least once or twice a month.

12 whole wheat lasagne noodles, cooked until tender and drained
1 pkg firm tofu
1 pkg frozen chopped spinach (or use fresh)
2 eggs
1 jar tomato based pasta sauce (or make your own)
1 pile vegetables chopped (use up whatever is in the fridge, but today I'm using cabbage, carrots, zucchini, cauliflower, and green beans)
1/2 block (or more) part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
sprinkle parmesan cheese

Steam veggies or pre-cook them in the microwave. Pre-cook and drain noodles. Mash tofu with a fork or pulse in the food processor for a few seconds. Add eggs and drained spinach and mix. In a 9x13 lasagne pan layer noodles, sauce, veggies, tofu mixture, and cheese until you run out of ingredients or the pan is full. Top with the remaining mozza and sprinkle with parmesan. Bake at 350 for 1 - 1.5 hours until it's bubbly and the cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

Beautiful, beautiful world

Still running. And it’s often hard. Or boring. Or otherwise unpleasant but I’m still slogging through my training plan. While I’m focused on getting my miles done, it’s easy to keep to the tunnel vision of just watching where I step and paying attention only to what is directly in front of me for the duration of the miles I need to cover that day. But this week I found myself on a different trail and I looked around myself to enjoy the spectacular view of Okanagan Lake and valley. It was so beautiful! When I left the house that morning it was icy. There was a layer of thick ice coating everything. I had to chisel my way into the truck, skate my way downtown, and there was no chance of running on roads, sidewalks, or pathways that day. So I went to the KVR where the gravel isn’t slippery even if it is icy. The gravel path climbs up through orchards and vineyards above the Okanagan Lake and through the hilly valley.

I felt like I’d forgotten until just that moment how beautiful my surroundings are. And then I remembered that I live in Canada, one of the most beautiful countries in the world. And then I remembered that I’ve been to beautiful places all over the world. I felt a new appreciation for the beauty all around us. My family, my friends, and most of the strangers out there are beautiful too and I am so grateful for them.

It was as if I had been sleeping all these winter months and just now awoke and took stock of what wonderful things are in my life. It reminded me of this quote from the 1999 movie American Beauty:

“…there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much. My heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst. And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it. And then it flows through me like rain. And I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life.”

I resolve to open my eyes to the beauty in my world. To enjoy my children and my husband and my parents and my friends. To stop and savour at least once a day how wonderful it is to be alive. Time passes by so quickly, I don’t want to miss the gifts of life because of tunnel vision.

I’m glad it was icy that morning.