I am forever and for always coming up with creative ways to make cleaning fun for my kids and at the same time make it something that needs a little less mom and a lot more kids. Well we sat down and decided each night before bed each child would draw a room out of the hat and clean it. They would earn a "mamma buck" for each room they cleaned. Anything of theirs left out would be put in a bin and they would have to pay me a mamma buck to get it out or it would be thrown away. So we are anxiously engaged in cleaning when I inform Gloria that I have just put her shoes in the bin. Hey she says, I was just cleaning my living area and then I was going to do a sweep and clean up all my stuff. Okay I said, Just this once I will let you get them out without a "buck" but next time you should really do the sweep through first. On her way past Naomi, who is having a hard time, Gloria stops to comfort her and puts her shoes down in the babies swing. When she is done and gets up to go out I say to Naomi, put her shoes in the bin. Naomi jumps to do. Gloria realizing what she has done and goes to get a mamma buck out so she can get them back, mean while Sam is up to clean his area and puts a bottle of candy that's
Glorias in the bin she walks up to get her shoes and another HEY comes from her:) So this now has happened several times this night And the most of it has been done by Sam so in a fit to get even with Samuel she goes on a hunt for his things. Walking into the table she grabs a school book that has been left out where Samuel kept his books for a while, she quickly puts it in the bin and with a great bit" HA" calls Samuel to the bin so she can gloat over him having to pay to get something out. Sameul takes the book out opens up the front cover and reads Gloria James. She had put her own book in the bin. We laughed so hard all the kids came running to see what was making their mom almost pee her pants. This may be one of those things you just had to be there on. Anyway, I thought it was so funny.
For the past couple of years as a family we have taken a vote. Do we want to do homemade Christmas or not? Homemade Christmas is that everyone makes their Gifts for each other homemade. Then Santa will bring something store bought. It has been a tremendous success every year. To my delight, I thought that maybe my kids might be getting to old to want to do this again, But when the question was posed Homemade or not homemade?, The answer was unanimous HOMEMADE! yeah:) But now the thought of what to help them make. Suggestions here would be great. I love doing fun things from the kids. Things that they would like to play with or actually be able to use. Last year, as shown in the picture above, I made John an afghan, It is one of his favorite kinds of blanket. And done with a really soft yarn it was a wonderful success.
John made the kids shelves for their rooms. The kids loved them. And of course Gloria and Jesicas wedding dress pictures. The first year, Sam made stuffed snakes for everyone, that was a big hit. The funnest thing for me to see was when it was christmas morning, because the kids had worked so hard to make their gifts, they were by far more excited about giving their gifts than receiving anything and the last thing on any of their minds was SANTA. It was fun to see that that was possible. Anyway, my four year old made bouncy balls for everyone using a kit. He thought that was way cool. Gloria made Samuel a homemade chess set, he loved that as well. I won't go into detail about everyones gifts from everyone but they all had fun making them. Well so....This is my asking for ideas on homemade gifts that are EASY for me to help them do. Hopefully we will be able to count this year a success too, wish me luck.
