Marbles

OK, so I started a new....let's call it an incentive program for my kids. I am tired of nagging them to do their chores and pick up after themselves so I came up with an idea. I bought some of those decorative marbles and then took them to the dollar store and let them pick out a container.

The deal is, for every chore they do, they earn a marble in their jar. For every 6 marbles they get, they receive a dollar. I told them I'm not buying them "prizes" anymore. If they want something they need to earn the money for it. We thought about upping the marble:reward ratio to 4 marbles for a dollar, but I am giving marbles for things like brushing teeth two times a day, so we thought 6 would be appropriate. If it's a big chore, they get 2 marbles.

The flip-side is, if they have to be told more than 2 times to do something, I take a marble out of their jar.

I am hoping this will help them to do the things they should already be doing, and earning money to buy for themselves the things I would have otherwise bought for them anyway. But the beautiful thing about children is....they think it's a cool new game!

Today was the first day of the "incentive program". I had kids begging me for jobs!! Even Brooklyn was doing chores and earning marbles. Jackson liked it because he had kids fighting over taking him for a walk. I know the newness and coolness will probably wear off but I'm hoping we will be able to stick to this one. I've had trouble in the past finding a system that works but I have high hopes for this one. I'll keep you posted on their progress!

Loganisms

If you've had the honor of meeting Logan, you know he is one of a kind! The boy is so entertaining, we love having him around, he keeps us smiling!

These are a few of his latest Loganisms:

I was on the phone to my friend. Logan chimes in: I hate small talk.

Logan: Farting is a sign of happiness. (don't ask. I don't!)

Logan: Dad, I hunger for Macaroni and Cheese. Bryan: Your mom is bringing you home a hot dog from Costco. Logan: Oh, I really hunger for a Costco hot dog!

I was explaining to Alexis in the car the other day about a client my sister was helping. I told her that she was selling a house for this man and he had a heart attack and stroke and died unexpectedly. The tricky part was that he and his wife had been divorced for years and he had been with his girlfriend for 25 years but she legally wasn't entitled to stuff...yada yada yada...Logan pipes up, out of the blue, and says: so are you telling me that if I don't get married I'll have a heart attack and a stroke?

I asked Logan what treats he wanted to take to school for his birthday, his reply: empty calories!

A new favorite is: That's akward!

A Year, Already??

Remember this picture? This is 4 day old Madelynn and her 3 week old cousin Codee.

Codee was 3 weeks early and weighed just over 5 lbs. Mady was 3 days early and weighed 10 lbs 7 oz.

Fast forward one year.....

These are the same two monkeys on Codee's 1st birthday.

Very difficult to get a picture of them holding still!
They are virtually the same size now and Codee is walking everywhere!


Cute little cousins!!!
It's funny that they are 3 weeks apart, because their mom's are 2 weeks apart!

The Other Xman

Bryan bought Logan these Wolverine claws for his birthday but couldn't wait two weeks to give them to him.

Logan is now FIERCE!!! He attacks everything with his claws.

I'm glad to see he is a Wolverine fan, after all that's who he's named after! (That's what happens when you marry a die-hard comic book fan)

Logan's Collections

Logan has a habit of picking up everything he finds on the playground....everything!

Emptying his pockets for laundry has become a very interesting venture.

This is what I found in his pocket the other day...

Mady Moo

Mady Moo's 1 st birthday is only a few weeks away, time for an update.

She has 6, yes 6 teeth, crawls EVERYWHERE, stands up, walks around funiture and even takes a step or two before it freaks her out and she quickly sits down. She only wants to eat big girl food, and lots of it. We haven't found anything yet that she doesn't like. She babbles all the time and "no"and "dada" are still her favorite words. Oh, and she's stinkin cute! ;)

Tennis Time!

The kids were playing Tennis yesterday when we discovered Jackson's weak spot....a tennis ball!

He snatched the ball up and ran.....and ran, and ran and ran.

The kids couldn't catch him!
When they finally caught up with him, they had to wrestle the ball away from him.

Brookie didn't like Jackson taking the ball....at all! It became her personal mission to keep the ball away from him.

Smart girl! She put the ball in a jar and little Jack Jack couldn't for the life of him figure out how to get it out of there!

However, Brookie also decided that no one should have the ball. No one.

They eventually got the ball out of her jar. She was heart-broken.

That dumb dog goes nuts over a tennis ball. It was very entertaining and hilarious to watch! Poor Brookie, the keeper of the ball, was ready for bed!