Archive for Family
April 29, 2009· Filed under Family, Product Reviews
My son recently traded in his PS2 and all its games in order to get an Xbox instead. While looking through his stack of PS2 games I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the games were bought but not really played. I know he had his favorites but there were definitely some that maybe got 2-3 plays.
I wish I would have registered for GameFly™
sooner. Imagine the money I could have saved. It allows you to basically rent video games and have them delivered to your house. The kids can play them as long as they want and if they really love it, you can buy it or return it and pick a new title.
Rarely do my kids play more than two games at a time anyhow. Not only does using GameFly save me money by purchasing games that don’t really live up to the kids expectations, it also means I don’t have to store all of these games either! That is a huge selling point as far as I am considered.
June 12, 2008· Filed under Family
Today is the last day of school for my kids and while one part of me dreads it, the other part is kind of looking forward to summer vacation! Last year I published our summer chore chart and it has been a big hit, not only with my kids, but it seems a lot of you have been looking for one, too!
I have revised the chart this year and created it in the more download friendly Microsoft Word format if you want to customize it for your family.
I will update the chart weekly. The chart has each child’s picture, a rotating job of the week (one that has to be done daily), and one major chore each week day - with one “free” day each week. The rule will be that before friends can come over or we leave for an outing, these things must be done. None of the chores should take more than 10 minutes anyhow.
June 5, 2008· Filed under Family, Holidays
Are you ready for summer? I am. I am excited about this summer because the kids each have a sport to focus on - my oldest plays ice hockey and is looking forward to summer league and a week of camp, my middle child has gymnastics 4 days a week over the summer and will do a week of horseback riding camp, and my youngest is doing swim team and a week of horseback riding camp. In addition to the running all over the place for practices, time with friends, hanging out at the pool, and relaxing, I will be filling in the gaps with some fun, educational activities from Camp Weary Parent.
Weary Parent is a site I co-author that focuses on parenting tweens and teens. Each week this summer, my co-author Christine, and I will be picking a theme and publishing daily activities based on that theme. We’ll have games, projects, crafts, recipes and field trip ideas. Here’s the best part - this camp is FREE! You can join us for a day or stop in everyday - we don’t mind.
Looking for even more fun for the kids over the summer? Here are some of my favorite resources:
And don’t forget to pick up my summer chore chart to help keep the kids on track this summer.
March 16, 2008· Filed under Family
A few months ago the girls favorite kitty died and they have been asking for a new one every day since then. My husband promised to take them to the kitty adoption center this morning and they came home with a spunky, 4 month old, orange tabby named Fritz.
Fritz is playful, curious and very entertaining already. Something tells me this is going to be one very loved kitty! And something else tells me he is going to provide me with many LOLCAT photos!
March 16, 2008· Filed under Family
Friday after school, I decided that something had to be done - I couldn’t face the weekend with a totally messy house (and the cleaning ladies don’t come until next week), but looking around I realized that most of the mess was created by my three kids. I wanted them to help clean up, but know from experience that there is the hard way of getting this accomplished - screaming, yelling, demanding, and general dictatorship - and there is the easy way!
The secret is MAKE IT FUN! I devised a plan and when all was said and done, it took us about 2 hours to really make this house shine. 
The Ingredients:
- A timer
- Strips of paper labeled with each room you want cleaned (we have done this with actual tasks, too)
- A bowl
- Some fun music
- A mystery/reward
The Plan:Â
We started by having my youngest daughter pull a slip of paper out of a bowl - this let us know where we would start. Once we knew the room, my oldest set the kitchen timer for 20 minutes and my middle daughter picked the tunes on the iPod. We all headed to that room and started picking things up, putting them away, wiping down surfaces, and getting the room clean.
When the timer went off, we stopped - no matter where we were in the process. I added a twist to the fun. As a reward I had planned on letting the kids get a movie off Pay-Per-View and having a family movie night, so I gave them a clue for the reward. I have never seen my kids so excited to get something done (especially my 6 year old who normally refuses to help with anything)!
After the 20 minutes was up, everyone got 5 minutes of free time before we started the process over with a new room. I switched up who got to pick the room, set the timer, and pick the music each time so that the kids felt like they were in charge.
You would be amazed at how easy this was and the kids were so proud of their work. I even overheard one of them reminding the other to pick up something in the bathroom because we had just worked so hard to make it clean!
With spring break right around the corner, I will be pulling out the Chore Chart again as a warm up for summer vacation!
PS - we watched The Game Plan as our reward. It was such a cute movie and totally appropriate for a family movie night!
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