Out of the mouths of babes...

My SIL bought the girls' a DIARY today. This is the conversation I had with Katie tonight.

Me: "Katie, are you writing in your diary?"
Katie: " No Mommy. I need you to unlock my Diarrhea."

Me: "Umm, Katie, I think you mean DIARY."
Katie: NO Mommy, it's called a DIARRHEA!"

The girl is adamant that it's called a Diarrhea.

Great Week!

David & I celebrated our 7th anniversary on Monday thanks to our niece Ashley. She so kindly (and bravely :-) volunteered to watch the girls for us so we could have a date. We are so boring, neither one of us could think of anything "out of the ordinary" to do. How sad is that! LOL!

We ended up just walking around the Galleria for several hours. We had the BEST time! We laughed, walked hand in hand, talked and just really enjoyed being together. It was the best anniversary yet. We are at the Cheesecake Factory, YUM!!! If you get a chance to go, make sure to try their pineapple upside-down cake cheesecake...it is divine!

After that, we headed to the movies. I've been wanting to see Harry Potter, and my wonderful hubby suffered through the 2 1/2 hour movie just for me. What a hubby!

He also surprised me with a new computer for my craft room.

I am soooo fortunate to have such a thoughtful, loving, funny man as my husband. How did I get so lucky?

My neice decided since she was going to have to come back on Wednesday to pick up her mom, she just stayed with us for several days. It was so nice having her around. The house is going to be kind of quiet without her here! Love you NeNe!!

Responsibility & The Little Messes

Well...a new era is beginning in our household. The girls have always had little chores they had to do, but we are finally going to a full blown chore chart. I sat down tonight to design what I think will work for us. I've come up with 7 chores that the girls will be responsible for each week.

They are: Make your bed (with help), set& clear the table, help with dinner (M only), collect trash (bring down their trash cans 2X week), pick up toys & books, help fold towels and help dust.

I've printed out the chores on cardstock, orange for Maddie and yellow for Katie. I also printed some of them multiple times. For example, because I want them to make their bed every day, I printed 7 tags for each girl. The "help dust" tag was only printed once for each girl since we will do this once a week. Make sense?

I ran them through a laminator (for durability) and then through my Xyron machine using the magnetic adhesive to turn them into little magnets. The girls will get to put their color magnet on the chart each day when they complete their chore. Our week will begin on Monday, and on Sunday, if they have completed their chores, they will be able to choose a special treat coupon. I found the coupons here and printed the ones I wanted to use.

My goal is to begin introducing an allowance after a couple of months. These first few months, I really want to push the idea that the girls are necessary and valuable members of our household and they help keep things running. We all do things to help one another whether we like the chore or not. (ie...I HATE to put away the folded clothes!)

Any ideas? I hope I can make this work!

Wish me luck...

The Three Musketeers

Had to share this picture from Mackie's visit with us. The girls had a blast playing in the water all weekend!

Cousins

David's cousin Nicole and her family recently moved to Houston from Louisiana, or as David calls it "The Mother Land." We are so happy to have them close by and in our lives now. It's amazing how much our two families have in common. We look forward to many hours spent with them!

Maddie & Katie are sooo happy to have met their new cousin! They finally have someone their own age to play with in the family. Katie & Mackie's birthdays are only a couple of weeks apart.

I've got some pictures of their visit with us this past weekend and will get them posted sometime this week. (as soon as I can get on David's comuputer!)

Julie

Cajun Cousin

I have been invaded by cajuns! David's Aunt Clarisse is coming to stay the weekend wth us. She is bringing her oldest granddaughter Mackie with her. Mackie is a couple of months younger than Katie. The girls are looking forward to having her spend the night!

I will post pictures of the weekend's events later!

Have a great weekend.
Julie

Julie's Craft Cave

I've created a new blog just for my crafty enterprises. Go by and visit and see what I'm up to!

Julie's Craft Cave

My First Card Creations

As most of you know, I love to scrapbook. Recently, I've gotten interested in making my own cards as well. (Thanks Rachel & Tony!) I'm finally ready to unveil my first 2 creations!

I am finally venturing out of my comfort zone and using some stamps and I just bought a Cuttlebug for my birthday. I love using the different texture plate. You can see on the Popsicle card I used the "Swiss Dot" embossing plate for the bottom part of the card.

I'm liking making cards to send to friends and family! I may have found a new hobby. (just don't tell David I'll need more supplies!)

Have a great week,

Julie