Allowance & Chores

{I'm taking a little break from unpacking, ok?}

So I thought I would do a post on our system of allowance. Tons of people have asked me about how I do things. Seriously, it's nothing earth shattering but I'm astounded about how well it works for our family. Here are the details:

- The big kids get $1 for every year old they are, each week. Kenna gets $4 and Carter gets $6.

- We pay their allowance to them using quarters.

- They are required to pay tithing (10%) and save (40%), leaving 50% to spend. We round up using the quarters. It never hurt anyone to pay a little bit extra tithing anyway ;). The saving gets transferred to a bank account every couple months. {And when I start running out of quarters, I transfer things into dollar bills} These are the jars that we use to divide up their money:


- Allowance is NOT tied to chores. I want my kids to help around the house because they are part of our family. My kids do have chore charts and are expected to complete them every day.

Their daily chores: Make bed, pick up toys, empty dishwasher, take out trash/recycling, set the dinner table, plus one varying chore every day (wash windows, wipe down bathroom, dust, wash off appliances, clean baseboards, take trash out of car, etc.)

- However, allowance can be lost for complaining about chores or not doing them. We usually give one warning and then they lose a quarter out of their SPENDING money. The kids can also lose quarters for back talking, breaking a rule, having to be asked several times to do something, etc. I'm big on giving them a warning before taking it away. And it almost always only takes one warning.

- The kids have 24 hours to earn quarters back by doing an extra chore. After that, it's mine.

So that's the gist of it. I especially love it because it is giving them great lessons about money. I love that when we go out shopping and they ask for things I tell them that yes, they can buy it, with their allowance money {right down to the candy in the gumball machines - I'm a hard nose!!}. I can almost ALWAYS tell them yes but then it is up to them to decide if they really want it. Sometimes they go for the silly, frivolous dollar spot toys but they're doing that less and less. Carter is saving up his spend money for a new Wii game. He has worked hard and I am really proud of how he has stayed focused on his goal.

So that's it. Hopefully that helps someone. Let me know if you have questions about our system.

{Oh, the jars are from Dollar Tree and I just used scrapbooking rubons for the lettering. You could also order cute vinyl lettering for them.}

Arrived

Hi! We are here. We are drowning in a sea of boxes but we are slowly getting organized and unpacked.

It has been a whirlwind of a couple weeks and we fall into bed exhausted and slightly overwhelmed every night. Allen is swamped with work {as usual} after missing 4 days while we moved. And I am trying my hardest to get things unpacked, organized and making this place feel like home all while trying to keep the 3 yahoos happy and busy. The kids have been total troopers. Nothing about moving is fun for them. Nothing. They have been good about keeping each other entertained/tortured while we get things done. Yesterday I threw in the towel and we had fun together all day. It was much needed for all of us. This for sure has been the hardest move for us. We have more kids, more stuff, more responsibilities than ever before and we LOVED living in AZ {I think I've mentioned that a time or two}. I don't know how many more of these moves we have in us.

Leaving AZ was so difficult. Things really did not go as we had planned so it allowed me to live in denial about the move for a little bit longer. On Saturday morning we finished up some last minute things at the house. We had planned to come back for one last walk through/farewell on Sunday. But as soon as we locked up the house we realized we had left both sets of keys inside. We were locked out of our own house. Ah well. That was easy. I did cry quite a bit as I was cleaning and packing up. We put a lot of work into the house to make it our own and I ended up really loving it.

We had also planned to go to church one last time on Sunday morning. It was a crazy, chaotic morning and in the end we realized we would be pulling in to Albuquerque at 1:00 a.m. if we attended church. The movers were coming Monday at 6:00 a.m. to start unloading our truck and we just knew it would be a miserable day if we left so late. So in the end we skipped church and skipped saying goodbye to most of our friends. Sad. But in a way it did make it easier to leave. We did have a fun going away party with friends the previous week and I went to lunch with a bunch of my girlfriends on Friday, so we had said our goodbyes.

{See, cutest friends ever at lunch}

This week we've joined the gym, the pool and the Children's museum. Al and I joke that since we have no friends we can at least be tan and fit. LOL. The weather here has been so nice too. We've been downright chilly sitting on the patio every night enjoying dinner. It cools off so nicely here that we're able to open our windows. Heaven. And it smells really good after it rains {and it has been raining a lot}.

Anyway, I have lots of pics and video to upload from Makenna's dance recital and other things last week but I wanted to do a quick update. We've been getting lots of texts, emails and calls to check up on us. Thank you! It's nice to feel loved when we're so lonely. Be back soon.

It's been awhile....

{for sure I will have that song stuck in my head all day now!!}

Whew. It's the middle of June? What a whirlwind of month it has been. And frankly, I don't really have time to blog but if I don't do it now, who knows if it will happen.

So what have we been up to?

First, a little trip to Albuquerque for me and Al. We did some important house stuff: signed the lease, negotiated a few things in the contract, figured out preschools and utilities and the like. But we also had lots-o-fun. Eating at YUMMY restaurants,

{gorging ourselves at the Melting Pot}, attending the temple, sleeping in, working out together, taking hikes, taking naps {shhhh...}, shopping, watching movies... you know, all the things you swear you would do if you had no kidlets around. It was such a nice couple of days together. I will say that I did NOT love Albuquerque and have been quite emotional about the move since we got home. The house is totally fine {though I don't love the floor plan} and the area we will be living in is brand new and very nice. I'm just so sad to be leaving here and starting over once again. If I did not KNOW without a doubt that this is where we are supposed to be, I'm not sure I could handle this move.

While we were gone, our kids were having a marvelous time being taken care of by my friend Terri. She is a veritable miracle worker as she got Addie to WALK as her primary source of transportation {remember, she's been able to walk since MARCH but is just now doing it on her own all the time} AND she got her to eat fresh fruits and veggies! Thanks Terri! Our kids had a grand time with her kids. It is so nice knowing they were in capable, safe hands.

Last week, my friend Kayla brought her three girls for a quick visit. We have known each other since our CT days and have remained good friends via many phone calls, emails, blogging and an occassional visist. After 48 hours together I'm still amazed that we NEVER run out of things to talk about {it is nearly impossible for us to spend less than 1 or 2 hours on the phone together}. The weather was so nice last week so it actually allowed us to play outside!

My kids had a great time with her girls! And a big thanks to Kayla for making the trip and for her patience with all the surprise things I was dealing with last week!

On Monday before she arrived, I was making breakfast and heard what sounded like a huge rock or ball crashing into my back patio glass door. And then I heard the glass shatter! Scared the heck out of me. For some unknown reason, the glass in my back door shattered into about a zillion pieces. So I had to deal with that getting fixed. Plus, I somehow contracted a virus on my computer and I had to have that fixed too - all while she was here - hours of people in and out of my house fixing things. When it rains it pours, right?

{my shattered door}

The rest of the week has been busy with play dates, swim lessons, craft camp, lots of time at the pool, Makenna's dance dress rehearsal, a primary party, preparing and teaching church lessons, 3 trips to D.I. thrift store to drop off bags and piles of our things and finishing up about a million little things in preparation for the move.

{last day of swim lessons}
{Addison during a trip to the pool with a handful of Otter Pops - she LOVES these - can you tell?}

On Friday night, some of our friends hosted a wonderful going away party for us and another family who is moving next month. It was so generous of them and fun to see people from both of the wards we have lived in since we moved here. I will have pictures of the party soon but it was a blast!

Today I can officially say we made it through 8 weeks of Allen traveling back and forth to New Mexico for work. It was a little rough but we adjusted and it ended up being ok, although it is definitely not something I'd ever want to repeat. On Wednesday the packers arrive and we move into a hotel, they load our truck on Friday, Kenna has her recital on Saturday and on Sunday we will attend our ward for the last time and drive to Albuquerque. It is almost impossible for me to believe that a week from today our belongings will arrive from AZ and we will begin the process of moving into our new home and life. Sigh.

So THAT is what we've been up to. I'll be back later today to load some video of Addie walking for my mom and then I probably won't be back to blogging until we are in NM!

Delicious Ambiguity

1500ish

The number of viruses my computer guy took off my computer yesterday. Along with 300ish trojans. Sheesh. Many hundreds of dollars and 8 days later I am up and running again.

Be back soon. Lots to update.

Project 365: Week 16 & 17

Finally getting around to posting these. Life is insanely busy getting ready for our move. Three weeks from yesterday we will be driving out of town. I cannot believe it. I'm meeting Allen in Albuquerque for a few days this week to tie up some loose ends. We have already found a house and it seems to be a pretty great situation - about the same size as our home here but for half the cost of our mortgage payment. Love that! It is only a couple years old, has a good sized yard and we are upgrading to a three car garage - happy day. The only downside is that it is very WHITE. White walls, light carpet and tile. Ugh. So not me. We will have to see what we can finagle with the owner. So this week will be more like a mini vacation for us as the kids will be staying here with friends, but we still have a few things we have to get done there! Otherwise things for the move are going smoothly and I'm having a grand time dejunking and getting rid of stuff (today I opened a box that hadn't been opened since we moved here to AZ. Yikes.)

Anyway, enjoy, and as usual, the layouts are clickable.