So our new chore sticks are working pretty well.  Savannah did great today and did every job she has sticks for and earned 1.30!  Max had a hard day.  He didn’t get much and Karson…still working on how to motivate him to care about doing jobs.  Money doesn’t really work for that kid.  I chose three things I want them to get done everyday…clean their room, have a good attitude and read.  Those sticks have stars.  If they don’t have those sticks turned over when we pay them at the end of the day, they actually have to pay me a dime, per stick.  I’m not quite sure about paying my kids to have a good attitude.  Something about that doesn’t seem quite right, but I’m thinking it’s worth more than just a dime to me to have them have a good attitude for the whole day.  Also, I should say:  this system isn’t set in stone.  Very likely there will be some adjustments, I am sure.  But it’s somewhere to start…and it’s working so far.

This morning after breakfast…which we all ate together (except Sam – he was in the shower), we came up with our schedule.  For our exercising activity, I thought we would go geocaching.  I found one close to our house within walking distance.  So we had a snack and set off on our adventure.  The kids weren’t totally sure what it was all about, I think.  We did one as a family in the fall…but we didn’t leave anything (or take anything from the cache).  So before we left we scouted around our house to find a small treasure we could leave in the container.  It was a miniature monkey in a tree – an antique.  I also told the kids that they all needed to find one treasure from our walk and that the object we take out of the container was to stay in a family collection (hopefully eliminating fighting about who claims it).  So we walked.  We were almost there when the boys started to complain.  Then seeing our destination across the street was enough to keep them going.  They were kind of afraid to walk into the cemetery.  I assured them it was fine.  Reminded them to respect the gravesites.  They were really good about it.  They asked a lot of questions about the gravestones, and I showed them how you could tell what war they served in.  It was a beautiful setting and very peaceful.  I’ve been there to draw before.  It took us just a few minutes to find the geocache.  We backtracked a little.  But Savannah found it.  She’s really good about looking everywhere.  I signed the log book and we all decided that the army guy would be a good treasure to take away, since it was where all these “real army guys” were buried.

And the treasures we brought home from our walk…me: a stone from Mt. Evergreen Cemetery, Savannah: a tiny stone, Max: a lucky penny, Karson: a feather, Jasmin: a shrek baby.

Ok.  I knew I’d have to tell you more about the Shrek baby Jasmin found.  I don’t even know what possessed me to pick it up, but I did, and as soon as Jasmin saw it, she loved it.  She held it in her arms all the way home.  I think it might be one of the Shrek babies from the 2nd Shrek movie.  Maybe it had a diaper on at one time.  But the back (butt) seam was ripped out, the eyes were partly rubbed off, and who knows where it had been…oh yeah, and it was missing a lot of stuffing!  So we brought it home, threw it in the washing machine, stuffed it and sewed it up, and fixed up the eyes.  It doesn’t look brand new.  But at least now I am comfortable with letting Jasmin carry it around.  I think she really likes it because we just saw the movie the other day.  I am going to make some clothes for it though.  We added a little length to the eyelashes with a sharpie, so we named it Felicia.  Savannah and I were thinking a little tutu would look really cute.