House of Order

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."

Lately, my house has not been a house of order. I don't know why, but it's been difficult for me to keep up with all of the household chores (especially laundry!). My kids have been whining about their chores too and so I thought it was time for an FHE on the topic. We sat down and talked about why it was important to have a clean, organized home. We talked about what they could do to help and then we had them come up with a list of all the chores they could do. Now we've had chore charts in the past and they've really enjoyed them. I usually print them off the computer, they do them for a few weeks and earn some sort of reward, and then we're not so good about continuing the process. So it was time for a new type of chore chart. My hair stylist gave me the idea to use pockets. We made the chart so that each child has a pocket and each chore is listed on a strip of paper. (Kate's chore is to Be Cute.) There are certain color coded chores or tasks that HAVE to be done in the morning before school -- things like brush teeth, unload dishwasher, make bed . . . I'm hoping this eliminates the need for me to have to TELL them (sometimes several times) to go and do those things. There are other chores that they'll have for the week and then trade them with their siblings the next week. Once they finish a chore, they can then put it in the bottom pocket. Once all of their chores are done for the day, they can play.

Hayley is a little like me and LOVES to have a list of things to do and be able to check them off (or in this case, move them to the DONE pocket.) She woke up early this morning and had all of her chores done in record time. Blake was a little slower to jump on board, but at least I didn't have to remind him of what needed to be done. We'll see how it goes this afternoon . . . Oh yes, and last night when I was tucking in Hayley for bed she said, "If Blake & I are doing all of these chores, then what are you and dad going to do?"

And for treats . . .

We made donuts! My kids had never done this before and LOVED it. Super easy and no prep on my part! We just used the refrigerator biscuits, dropped them in the fryer, and then they could choose to put them in a glaze, a cinnamon/sugar mixture, or straight powdered sugar. De-lish!