Saturday, March 24, 2012

Mommy's Ransom Box

Where have I been? I've been spending a lot of time at pinterest. Oh my! You thought facebook was addicting this site I can sit for hours at. I now have 42 boards and have pinned 1,171 pins. I have 74 followers and I'm following 73.

I am forever struggling with my kids stuff. They tend to leave stuff all over the house. Worst part is Daisy loves to eat everything so I'm forever trying to save Daisy from choking on something. So when I found this Mommy's Ransom Rubbage box idea from pinterest. I had to try it out. Here's my version of it. Yes, I did spell Ransom wrong on my box which I did fix but after the photo was taken. Also my little box is just too small. I also have a shoprite type bag hanging on the bottom of my steps that I am using for this as well.

I copied MadsMemories chores and edited mine as follows:
Clean out the car

Clean out pantry
Clean out fridge

Pull weeds in back yard for 10 minutes
Pull weeds in front yard for 10 minutes
Rub dad’s feet for 10 minutes and do, ‘this little piggy’ to him.
Clean a sibling’s room
Wipe down kitchen
Wipe bathroom toilet

Clean a bathroom mirror while singing any song.
Clean out silverware drawer
Wipe down outside of fridge and have a treat afterwards.
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Scrub upstairs bathtub
Give mom and dad a hug and say, “I will never leave my stuff out again.”
Wipe down walls by garage door
Wipe down garage door inside and out
Empty all garbage’s
Write a letter to someone who has done a service for you and tell them thank you.
Dust the 2 tvs and piano
Match 10 pairs of socks
Rub dad’s head for 10 minutes while telling him how thankful you are for him working so hard.
Rub mom’s head for 10 minutes while telling her how thankful you are she picks up after you all day.
Sweep kitchen floor
Feed and water Daisy
Walk Daisy in backyard for 10 minutes

Clean out junk drawer
Empty Dishwasher and put dishes away

Clean front glass door
You are free but this is a WARNING!
You are free but this is a WARNING!
Tell all of your siblings 3 things you love about them.
Write 50 times “I will not leave my things out.”
Do 25 jumping jacks while singing, “I am a cleaning machine.”
Run around the house for 1 minute and see how many things you can pick up and put away.
Draw a picture of you picking up things and your mom and dad smiling BIG!
Make up a song about a clean house and perform it in front of your family.
Make your bed blindfolded.
While hopping on one foot, wipe the kitchen counters off.
Choose 2 items of yours to donate to Goodwill.
Vacuum the living room.
Vacuum the computer room.
Vacuum the fish room.

Hand wash 3 dishes
Scrub your toilet while singing, ‘whistle while you work’.
Beg your mother for forgiveness.
Design a machine on paper that cleans the whole house and gets you ready for the day.
Water mommy’s plant in kitchen.
Tell us the story, ‘The Little Red Hen.”
Organize mom and dad’s shoes.
Vacuum one set of stairs
Read a book.
Play with Daisy 10 minutes
help cook dinner
In Conclusion:

Victoria picked clean pantry. This job took a long time to do but she did help Mommy and we managed to get it done.


Here's Justin doing jumping jacks while saying, "I'm a cleaning machine." He loved that one.

The kids loved this new concept so much so they kept pulling out more and more strips just to see what's next and doing them. Yes, they did pull out the Daddy toes one which they thought was so funny. In one day I got more jobs done than any other day plus Daisy got played with more and walked more.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Penpal Journals With My Kids

I saw this Mama and Me Journal idea on pinterest. My kids are in 2nd grade and I thought this was a fantastic idea to get them to write more. When I was younger I loved to penpal. At one point I had about 50 or so penpals. I really enjoyed receiving letters in the mail. To this day I still am in contact with 2 of my penpals from when I was a teenager but we now are facebook friends and send cards to each other during the holidays.

I started each book with the same thing:

Dear _____,

Would you like to be pen pals? I thought it would be fun to be pen pals, but instead of sending letters through the mail, we’ll keep them in this notebook. I will write to you, and leave the notebook on your bed. Then, when you want to write me back, you write on the next page and leave the notebook on my bed.

You can write anything you like. It can be funny or serious or anything you want to write. Sound like fun?

Love,

Mom

P.S. Write back soon! XOXOX!”

I bought composition notebooks and covered them with some fancy scrapbooking papers which I have been hoarding for years now. Here is what their books look like.

Naomi's book I went with a pink color and dance paper. She's going to love this.

Justin's book I just loved the colors of this paper. I wanted his book to look more in boy colors.

Victoria loves purple like I do. I found this gorgeous purple flowery paper in my stash. It looks beautiful in person. The camera doesn't do it much justice.

Here are all 3 books.

I can't wait till they see these books in person. I think I will wait till they go to school to plant them in their rooms. Tomorrow is Friday so it will be nice surprise.

Sunday, March 04, 2012