Other random tidbits...and I have caught up.

Well on top of everything we have going on, I thought it would be a great idea to start a house project. I have been reorganizing things upstairs and trying to get furniture emptied that will go into Addison's big girl room. We decided to put cabinets above our wet bar for more storage. I bought three unfinished cabinets and painted them: primer, white, and then stained it. I finished the stain last night. We are going to hang them tomorrow.

Ella Kate decided to give Karate a try and she got her first belt, white. I asked her if she would like to continue and she said yes...so we have signed up for a year of Karate. She has earned two stripes so far...I think she has about two months and she will have a belt test, which would be yellow. She does have an advantage over the other kids, she listens very well. I noticed that in the first class, she may not be doing things right, but she does listen. So hopefully she will pick up on it and do well. I think it is awesome because it teaches them respect, discipline, and safety.

In honor of school starting we took a trip to build a bear. I actually was in the mall looking for shirts for my mom to monogram for the girls..and just happened to look in the window and saw this and this and I knew I had to bring the girls to make one! Oh the excitement and happiness on their faces. Ella Kate is a huge My Little Pony fan and Addison is getting there. Ella Kate got Twilight Sparkle and Addison picked Rainbow Dash. They have gone everywhere with us. I need to make a picture of them with their ponies...here they are "warming up the hearts."

Sometimes at Target I let the girls cruise through the toy aisles. Ella Kate has seen a Furby on tv and in the stores. Particularly this one. She asked if I would buy it for her and I told her no, but that she can start doing her chores and we would give her a $1.00 a day. She has the possibility of earning $7.00 a week. She has always had chores, but I would have to remind her to do them. So I dug in the attic and found an old frame. I stole some pictures off the internet and printed them. I use a dry erase marker to mark them off. These are all the things she is responsible for. I am helping her remember what she is suppose to do this week and next week she is on her own to earn her dollar. No she doesn't empty the entire dishwasher, but she does the silverware. No she doesn't do laundry, but she is responsible for putting her dirty clothes up, taking old washcloths to the laundry room, and putting away her clean laundry. If she has all x's by the end of the day she gets her dollar.

She can also earn extra money by doing extra things that I don't ask her to do, we call them warm fuzzies. I took a mason jar and any time I catch her doing something nice and considerate I put a fuzzball in the jar. At the end of the week I could them and decide how much extra money she gets. So far she has offered to take recycling to the garage and really help out with Addison.  She likes doing them and gets excited when I cross off things from her chart! She really likes the warm fuzzy jar and is always trying to find ways to be nice. I mean she is always nice, but you know.

So that's it...our entire summer, and our first two weeks of school. I am developing routines for myself and I am hoping to have part of a day once a week to update on here. If you have instagram on your phones you can follow us at ckspoole... Michael is on it too mtpoole. I use it a ton more than facebook!