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!
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:
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!
We had an amazing response to the giveaway for the Barbie magazine and Hot Wheels magazine subscriptions. The lucky winners are:
If you didn’t win, you can still get your own subscription to either magazine for only $12.00 per year. And both magazines make great gifts (perfect for an Easter Basket, too)!
Thanks to all who entered! We have some more great giveaways lined up so check back often.
In years past St. Patrick’s Day has always been on March 17, but since March 17 is also part of the traditional Easter Holy Week this year, some are electing to celebrate it today or tomorrow. At Casual Friday, we are having our own St. Patrick’s Day party today!
Since my Grandparents live in Ireland, I have been there many times. It is one of my most favorite places in the world!! Let’s get in the mood with some of my favorite photos from our trip to Ireland in 2005 and 2006:
Kinsale Harbour (about 10 minutes from my Grandparent’s house)
St. Colman’s Cathedral in Cobh, Ireland (where the Titanic sailed from)
A view from the cottages at Oysterhaven Center (my favorite place to stay in Ireland)
Good old Fish and Chips from a great Irish restaurant in Inchydony.
And some more items for our party!
Get your jig on at JibJab and send your friends a custom St. Patrick’s greeting starring you!
St. Patrick’s Day Feast recipesÂ
St. Patrick’s Day Printables and Activities for the kidsÂ
Let’s get the party started! All you have to bring to the party is your St. Patty’s Day links, recipes, stories, activities and such today!!
Kris Abel of CTV.ca (a Canadian network) just published his list of 100 websites to help keep the kids busy during spring break or any other day for that matter. There are some really cool sites included in his list, many I have never seen before. My favorites from his list include:
There are 96 more fun sites to discover (he even included my Printables4Kids site on his list) - that’s sure to keep everyone busy, having fun and even doing a little learning, too.
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