Creationary!

Abby and I had had our eyes on this family game for a while. We're glad we decided to finally pick it up! Creationary! It's like Pictionary, except instead of drawing your word, your build your picture- out of Legos! We had a fun time playing for the first time! Chloe's first clue to build was a turtle, Abby built a screw driver, and I got stumped while trying to build the Eifel Tower... Later Abby figured a clever way to make a peacock, and Chloe did a solid job on building a chair. We think we'll keep this one around for a while. Maybe next time we'll take some pictures of our creations- its quite a challenge and had us laughing a lot.

Not a healthy store

Chloe and Grandma Vicki unexpectedly needed to find something to eat for dinner. So they stopped by a corner store because it was the only place available. As they walked in the door, Chloe looked around at all the packaged, processes food and said "Grandma...this is NOT a healthy store."
It makes me smile. She ended up picking something, but it's so good that she can recognize when she's sacrificing health for convenience.

Out to lunch

We walked on the trail to have some lunch at Jalepenos in Barkley village. At first Chloe wasn't too sure about our restaurant choice, but before we were done with lunch she said it was her favorite place. It might have been the Shirley Temple and all those yummy cherries, or the food she gobbled up. Either way, she was happy with herself for trying he mild salsa and for giving the restaurant a chance. She ended up really liking both of them.

Chores and attitude

So, we have a few big projects we are working on in the yard this summer, extending the deck, building a fence and shed. Needless to say we are working hard to make progress on the construction as well as keeping up in the house chores.
What Chloe is beginning to learn is: when the work load gets greater on the parents, the work load gets greater on the kid, too. In a good, wholesome, character building sort of way, of course.
We'd woken up, made breakfast started laundry and I asked Chloe to please FOLD her laundry, and put it away. She wasn't too happy about me adding the folding part onto her chore load, and she let me know abut it.
"But THATS not part of my normal chores!!!" She yelled at me in the kind of whining cry that I think comes in the manual for young children.
I admit, I was a bit offended at her attitude. I mean, I do so much for her. And now, she complains when I ask her to do her OWN laundry!? So I pause and say
"I know. And they are your clothes, you know how to do it, and today, we are all doing more, so I'm asking you to do more."
Normally, this would have been enough to change her perspective. But this time, she continued to resist, complain and yes, cry at the absurdity of having more chores to do.
So, I did what any good parent would do. I firmly enforced the boundary she was testing. I turned up the heat. I raised my voice and told her that we all live in this house together. I let her see and hear the frustration in me over her not responding to my calm and fair requests, her unwillingness to pull her own weight and step up to a change in routine. I scolded her when she interrupted me disrespectfully, and explained my intensity. I told her what I was going to do, and what I expected her to do, first second and third. She sat, wide eyed, in front of me and listened. I turned around and left her there to decide what to do next.
I went to work. About a half an hour later she came and found me. She said:
"I folded my clothes and put them away like you asked. Then I also cleaned my toilet, washed my sink and counter, cleaned off the stairs, and brought down my dirty laundry- and is there anything else I can do or help you with, Mom?"
...I smiled.
I knelt down and put her on my knee. I thanked her and told her I was proud of her for changing her attitude. I gave her a big squeeze and I could tell she felt good about it too.
And I definitely found something she could help me with.
We hauled bricks and wood. Together.

Way more than dislike you

Three of us were walking on the trail by our house and having fun chatting, playing and munching on the thimble berries. We started talking about the words like, love, dislike, hate...etc. we were deciding which words correlates with different levels of liking and disliking. Love is more than like, and way more than dislike, and way WAY more than hate... We all got a good laugh when we decided it would be funny if, instead of saying "Goodbye, I Love You!" we said "Goodbye, I way-more-than-dislike You!!!"

Working together

So, after Chloe finished her inside chores, she came outside where Abby and I were working in the back yard. She asked if there was anything she could help me with. So, we moved a brick pile and a wood pile to the other side of the house together. She was trying very hard and I told her I noticed what a hard worker she was. She would challenge herself to see how much she could carry at once. I was also proud about how she piled everything she carried into neat piles, instead of doing a sloppy job. She is very good at making sure to do things neatly.
We talked about working hard and what our goals were for all our hard work. We though about how much fun it's going to be when we have the new deck done. As we were carrying the bricks we were talking about parties and BBQs we can have and how it feels good to be all working hard together. Even though the work isn't the most fun thing to do, it's going to be worth it. She was getting very excited about it all.
We also needed to move a bunch of dirty grass clumps. At first Chloe didn't want to get dirty, so we took a break from moving the grass and rubbed as much dirt on our arms and legs as we could. Then while we were working, it didn't matter how dirty we got. It worked like a charm. Though she did ask to take a bath the minute we were done moving the pile. I had her wait until the afternoon outside was done.
Abby and I had talked ahead of time about making sure to include Chloe in the work we've been doing. The hope was, of course, that she'd begin to feel the value of working hard and exerting herself, and also feel some ownership in our projects and family unit.
So naturally, I smiled and encouraged her when she said, "This is a different kind of family time together, but I really like it." and a bit later when she said "This makes me think it would feel good to put my laundry away more often."

My Surprise Birthday!

Ever since Chloe missed my birthday, they'd been planning to surprise me. That's just what they did last night. Abby called to tell me she was going to pick Chloe up from camp, so I met them at home. When they got home- Chloe asked me if we could do some reading together- something we do often, so I went right with it. We went upstairs to her room to choose some books and Abby was going to unload the truck. After a few minutes Abby called up to me and asked for some help with something.
As I came down into the living room, I noticed a huge rice crispy treat cake with burning candles and a big gift from both of them.
They said "Happy Birthday"!!! With huge, proud grins on their faces.
I was so so surprised! I got huge hugs and kisses and blew out my candles.
My gift was WAY better than the tube of paint I'd asked for... It's a beautiful, wooden, portable easel with a hidden drawer for supplies!!
I'm so excited to have something to bring my art with me!! I can go to the park, or camping, or out in the yard. They are so thoughtful and generous.

Then we took some fun pictures in the dining room mirror, and we each gobbled up some of the yummy treat-cake.