Pinata

As part of the battle against the winter doldrums, the kids decided to make their own pinata. 

Ever since Christmas (i.e., literally the day after) Zade has been asking how many days until his birthday. Then he begins going on and on about what he wants for his birthday, who he's going to invite, and how we should throw him a surprise party.  Right now he wants a minion themed party (from Despicable Me), so we have already purchased a giant yellow minion pinata that he brought to his preschool for show and tell.

First Word
Ryzen has officially said his first word this past week: "Momma".  He's been mumbling this for a few weeks now, but we've finally established that it's not accidental.  He's definitely a momma's boy, so it's no big surprise.  Here's a nice (unrelated) little video of him laughing as his siblings entertain him.

Pay for Performance
Over the past couple months the kids have been using an awards system to earn money each day.  We have a chart with 4 colored sheets of paper.  The kids get to take their clothesline clip and "clip up" to a different color every time they do something during that day that they're supposed to do.  The four things that they can "clip up" for each day include: 1) cleaning up personal things (toys, shoes, papers) 2) helping with dinner and setting the table 3) completing a learning assignment (like reading or doing math) and 4) doing a household chore (folding the laundry, mopping the floor, etc.). Each color that they "clip up" earns them 25 cents. So far the system has been fairly successful.  I like it because it encourages the kids do things we want them to do, but doesn't involve us having to nag at them.  Yesterday we took the kids to Target and they got to purchase their first reward with their money (after we calculated and put aside money for Tithing).  Aria bought a my little pony equestria doll.  Zade looked and looked for a suitable transformer and then decided that we would have to purchase one online because Target didn't have the one he wanted.  I think the kids also value their things more when they have to purchase them on their own.  I'm trying not to buy things for them now, (except maybe a small thing for birthday) and encouraging them to buy everything they want with their own money.