Chores and Easter Baskets

What a weekend it has been!  Full of... yes, you guessed it!  Baseball!!!  More than that, though, I had a nice dinner Friday night with the boys, Jen Penn and her boys.  Matt and Brooke enjoyed a father-daughter evening in.  I'll tell you - it's quite the different dining experience when there are no toddlers present :).  I say that lovingly, of course.  Jen and I actually got to have a nice conversation over a couple of beers and fantastic pizza at Blue Moon Pizza on Glenridge! 

Saturday night I got to hang out with a bunch of my friends from Furman - it was an intimate reunion, I guess you could say.  We had so much fun.  It's funny because we were all saying, "Gosh, you look exactly the same as you did in college 15 years ago!"  We wonder if when another 10 years go by, we'll be able to say the same thing?  There is something very special that you share with your friends from yesteryear, isn't there?  We knew each other when we were still growing up - I mean, we're still growing up (I know I am!), but we knew each other when we were trying to find ourselves.  One of us said, "we're all the better versions of ourselves than we were in college..."  We had a ball!  Love my Furman girls!

I'm going to transition from college, when I'm not sure I ever did anything in the way of chores - to chores :).  When we lived with Mimi and Papa, I didn't implement much structure in the way of chores.  It was more me barking orders at them from time to time.  After we got settled into our new home, I decided to bring back the chore chart.  Ahh... the chore chart.  I love it!  I haven't had to say A WORD to them about doing this or that. They know when they check off the box for making their bed or putting their clothes away, they're on their way to a full allowance!  We sit down on Sundays or Mondays with the kids and review the week - we take into account their attitudes, which are starting to be less than desirable at times, and if we feel that they have put forth a pretty good attitude, then they aren't penalized - if the opposite is true, we deduct a few bucks from their "pay". 

For "extra chores", they receive extra compensation - or if they don't do all of their other chores, extra chores can help them earn a full week's allowance.  How much do we give them?  We give them a dollar for every year of their age.  So, Matthew gets $11.00 and Champ gets $8.00, though they've yet to earn a full week's worth...

Here is what it looks like - I just print one sheet out and keep it on my kitchen counter.

CHAMP'S CHORES
CHORES	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Make bed
Brush teeth
Take dirty clothes to laundry room
Put clothes neatly away in drawers
Take trash/recycle to trashcan
Feed Sandy
Agenda signed
Read 15 minutes
Extra Chores:
MATTHEW'S CHORES
CHORES	Mon	Tues	Wed	Thurs	Fri	Sat	Sun
Make bed
Brush teeth
Take dirty clothes to laundry room
Put clothes neatly away in drawers
Take trash/recycle to trashcan
Feed Sandy
Agenda signed
Read 15 minutes
Extra Chores:

Easter Baskets.  My friend, Beverly, just texted me for some ideas.   I'll be honest, aside from seeing about a dozen things I know Brooke would have fun with, I haven't given the baskets much thought.  Typically for the boys, an outfit (golf shirt and shorts) always shows up in their baskets.  Dicks Sporting Goods sells great Under Armour golf shorts - and I've looked online and cannot find them, but we've bought them at the store several times.  They are sporty golf shorts that can be worn to church and for play - they're great for growing boys!  Even Matt has several pairs. 

Some candy - but not much - ends up in the basket.  Occasionally we've done a game for one of their gaming devices.  In addition to that, a bunch of little fun stuff - fun little games - think Learning Express - all the little stuff...

If anyone has any ideas, please comment!  As I start to look more over the next couple of weeks, I'll be sure to update you if I find something spectacular!

I've got a few easy recipes to share with you this week.