BIG NEWS.....

So.... Steve got into four dental schools so far!!!  YEAH!  Go Steve!

 And..... We found out we are expecting BABY #3!  ... a month before school starts.  To those of you who think we are crazy... we are :)  But we love it!   

Ok, our "baby room" looks NOTHING like this.  haha! Just a picture from google :)

We are SO very excited for our two littles to have another buddy, but I am also bracing myself for the oncoming wave of "morning".... all day sickness.  So, I'm trying to get stuff in order and do some projects before it begins.  I want to devote every daily ounce of possible energy to my kidlets and hubby, so I'm trying to prepare for it.  This pregnancy (along with finding a live black widow inside my home - ahhh!) has motivated me to getting this home extra clean and organized.  And... most importantly, I want to teach Brayden to have fun WORKING HARD and CLEANING UP.  So I created this.... (after being inspired by a powerofmoms.com webinar)

Little pockets out of file folders - one that includes index cards with his chore for each day of the week and also one for the various toy items he needs to clean up.  I was going to also create a Morning and Bedtime Routine pocket but you know... you just can't do everything, right?!  I know a family who developed pictures for their kids doing each step of their bedtime routine, and each night the kids take turn deciding which order to do them in .... scriptures, prayer, pajamas, brush teeth, bath, etc...

You can see below the weekly cleaning routine I created, and Brayden gets to do a part along with me! 

I think it's so awesome how really young kids think it's super cool to clean up like Daddy and Mommy and there's so many ways you can make work FUN.  My little boy could even decide on the order of toys to pick up.

For those of you with OLDER KIDS, here are some ideas:

* set the timer, and say ok everybody if we can clean this in (a certain amount of minutes), then let's have some ice cream!

*If there's something your child really wants, maybe you could create a chart with squares and as they do certain tasks for you, then they fill in the squares and eventually earn it.

*Put on fun cleaning music that you can sing and dance to as you clean

*Teach them to look around and soak up how nice it is right after you clean something. 

*Find moments to laugh and connect with your children as you clean together.

CLICK HERE to see April Perry's (from powerofmoms.com) ideas on how to make housework fun for your kids.
CLICK HERE  to see a post on teaching kids to work hard and be more independent!