Happy Belated Halloween

From the Grandma Zombies (Sissy and her BFF) 

And Bean as The Trash Can!

Firsts...and a Last

August is usually an ending to summer and the beginning of another school year. This year we also had another first. Sissy started her first job! She's a sandwich artist! I'm very proud of her for sticking with it and getting hired when there weren't many opportunities. We also learned many places want their applicants to be 18 years old. I think the smile shows she's proud of herself too! She should be!

This school year Bean is a 4th grader! I can't believe it! A first for him is having to change classes for Science. This has been a big adjustment for him, he likes things to be routine, but he's settling in and getting used to the changes.

Bean's also playing soccer this fall and is the starting goalie. He's very excited! When I see the ball flying at his face, I'm not real excited. Sometimes I "watch" with my eyes closed.

Sigh. Well, here it is. Sissy's first day of school picture. She's a senior. That makes it her last first day of school. With all the busy-ness of the end of summer I don't think the full impact of her being a senior has hit me yet. She's doing a great job at school this year and with her new job. When she's busy and we have several days of not having dinner as a family I realize just how soon she'll be out on her own. Yes, it's bitter sweet. I'm excited to see her maturing and making good decisions but I'm also a little sad to think there will be a time when I don't see her smile every day.

Empowerment Project

The saying is that you can't judge a book by it's cover. This book cover had my attention even before I read the title, it has a kid doing chores. The title begins Cleaning House yes, I'm familiar with that part, the next part drew me in, A Mom's 12 Month Experiment to Rid Her Home of Youth Entitlement. Youth Entitlement that sounds so much better than my description; buy me, take me, do we have..., do it for me. Yep, Entitlement sounds so much better. I bought the book, (gasp) paid full price for it too.

I dove into the book full force! Kids picking up after themselves, making their beds! Wow! I'm hooked. I prepared myself to break it to the kids we were starting a New Project! And they were it! They aren't really excited about this Project, but I am!

Empowerment Project 1 is bedrooms and bathroom. That's also where the author Kay Wills Wyma started. She's my new BFF (well in my head anyway). Bean and I cleaned, sorted and purged his room. Organization was the next step, medium sized open see through bins for different groups of toys would work best for him. Gone was the big lidded toy box and many small boxes for micro organizing! Those didn't work for him. I took pictures of the finished room so there would be no question about what is expected. I taped the picture to a plastic cup and put in 14 chips, we're working on a two week plan because they we can use a little practice in waiting for what we want.  Sissy got a cup and picture too, her chips are red because the set didn't come with yellow. Empowerment trail was under way!


One chip is equal to a dollar. At the end of the 14 days how many chips they have left in their cup is how many dollars they get. We made it to the end of our trial. One kiddo kept all the chips the other only lost 3! I was totally surprised! I knew cash would motivate them both, one for gas money and one for Legos. I didn't think about taking money away as a motivator until I read it. This is awesome!

Phase two has started and it is going to be activity filled. This will be a real test for all of us. School starts next week, I hope this has become enough of a routine that we can keep it up when we add school and homework (hopefully a paying job for Sissy) to the mix.

I also added laundry to the Empowerment Project. Sissy has been doing her own laundry for about 7 years, but not in a timely manner. So to encourage her to get it done on the assigned day they each have one chip per week. If their laundry is washed, dryed and put away on the assigned day they don't get a chip taken away. At the end of the month they get one dollar for each chip they have left. Bean is going to learn to do laundry starting with towels. Next summer he learns to do his own clothes!

Thank you Kay for sharing your experiment with the rest of us! I've been inspired, motivated and convicted (ouch). I've even wondered if we've met because you're describing my kiddos so very well!

Some of the up coming areas of Empowerment are, grocery shopping, budgeting and cooking.

A Puppy's Tail

Yes, I'm a dog person. I don't have anything against cats as a species, but when it comes to a companion, yep, it's a dog.

Max is my furry little companion animal. Honey is pretty sure I'd give him away before I'd give my dog away. Ummm...no comment.

Max was a puppy mill rescue, he was suppose to be put down but was saved along with 15 other puppies. It's been six years since Max adopted us. I found the rescue through Petfinder.com. I took both kids to visit two puppies the rescuers thought would work for our family. I told Honey we were just going to look, of course he knew better, I was bringing home a puppy.

When we arrived this little white fuzzy bundle of excitement met us at the door I couldn't get the Bean down to the floor fast enough for the loving to begin. Stumpy, as he was called, was all over us, jumping, wagging, wiggling, giggling (the Bean) and kissing. The puppy wasn't afraid of Bean grabbing at him or the noise a 2 1/2 year old can make. We visited with the other puppy too, he was a little smaller and a bit timid. I'm sure he would have worked for our family when he got comfortable with us, but Stumpy was a better match for our busy young family. So Maxwell Edison became part of our family.

Max had a few fears to over come, going through doors, walking in the grass and he was afraid of people in baseball caps. With patients, time and gentle guidance he's gotten over most of his fears one step at a time. I know, just like Max, with patients and time I can get over my fears and short comings too. It just takes one step of faith at a time.