Tied

Since Monday my poor hubby has been really sick!

Chills, fever, hacking cough, headache, body ache - the flu has hit!

My goal all week has been to show him love and concern from far enough away that I could keep myself and the rest of the household well.

I was beginning to think I had been successful.

Then this morning C woke up sick!

Darn it all!

And eight hours later T had it hit....

(yes, sick four year olds sleep on the kitchen floor at our house because wood is easier to clean than carpet.  But before you judge me, just know that moms to sick four year olds at our house sleep on the couch to be able to hear the sick four year old on the kitchen floor - so it all works out.  And not in my favor!)

I am REALLY hoping that the three of us remaining will have the bug bypass us!!!

Team SICK: 3

Team WELL: 3

Currently tied!

{Cleaning House} Bring It On!

According to my Goodreads account, I read 42 books in 2012.

This book changed my life!

and I am proud to announce, that it will soon be changing the lives of my children :)

I heard the author, Kay Wills Wyma, speak about her book on Family Life Today in August (go here to listen) and I immediately requested her book from the library.

I got the book right before Christmas and read it over my New Years getaway.

LOVED IT!

It is about her experience initiating more work/responsibility into the lives of her kids - she terms it fighting youth entitlement.

I saw myself in so much of what she described of herself.

I saw my kids in so much of what she described of her kids.

I have great kids, but lets be honest...their momma does WAY TOO MUCH for them and they are capable of doing more.  

They need to do more.

(from "Cleaning House") The message we want to send to our kids is..

"I love you.

I believe in you.

I know what you are capable of.

So I'm going to make you work."

Rich and I have been wanting to change the way we do allowance...with the kids getting paid more but also being responsible for more of their purchases.  I read "The Entitlement Trap" by Richard Eyre and loved so much of it but have been overwhelmed with instigating it.  I think "Cleaning House" was the missing link for me.  She takes the tasks that she wants her kids to learn and spreads them over 12 months and works on one area a month.  

I can do that!  

Man am I ever energized!

I have pages and pages of notes between the two books and the new year is the perfect time to begin.

My kids will never know what hit them....(insert evil laugh)

(from "Cleaning House")

"We should view daily household chores as a necessity because the kids themselves need to work.

Our kids need to know how to persevere.

They need to know that no job is beneath them.

They need to know what it takes to operate a home.

They need to know that sometimes you have to get dirty to get things clean.

They need to know how to serve.

They need to know that a family operates as a unit; everyone pitching in.

They need to know that they belong, that they are part of the group, that they are needed."

New Year's Getaway

We took off on Christmas Eve and headed to Eagle Crest Resort in Redmond, OR (near Bend).

Much to the kids delight there was SNOW...which is how the kids spent the bulk of the next three days!

T was in heaven, even with there not being really that much snow...

C tried to give T a snowboarding lesson... 

but T found that sitting on the snowboard worked best for his size...

J was kind of hard core.  No surprise there.  He is always my quiet one, but determination (stubborn) is his middle name.
Every morning he was first to be dressed in snow gear and ready to take his turn on the board...

The snowboard actually belonged to C, who was a great sharer.  Turns out he isn't too bad at boarding either.  Add it to his list of athletic pursuits...

With the temperatures ranging in the mid-teens, I was not outside as much as the kids.

I found my New Year relaxation in the form of reading...and reading...and reading.  No wireless access was a bummer at first, but it did aid me in my goal to read four books (I read 3 1/2).

Rich and C spent a fair share of their days enjoying the football games that tend to prevail those first few days of the New Year.  And I think, overall, they were pleased with the outcomes of the games that they watched.

At some point each of the kids swam - with K and C actually going for the outdoor hot tub despite the below freezing temperatures.  I threw in a couple of snowballs for good measure...

We were also able to spend a bit of each of our three evenings there with Rich's brother and his family, playing games and enjoying the relaxation of being away!