Warning: I am a moody female, my mood right now is to talk and I don’t have pictures to go along with my chatter, so if you’re not in a listening mood, this is your exit! 
Today was a good day. The first 16 or 17 weeks of this pregnancy I was not sleeping well, so the house work was the first to go. School and meals were the priority and I was getting tired of seeing the messes but not having the time to get everything back in order. I was very much looking forward to today and tomorrow being BIG cleaning days! I even told the children the only thing I expected of them was to tidy their rooms and fold and put away their laundry. Basically, I didn’t want to follow up or be responsible for giving consequences if they weren’t doing what they were told. PLUS, it IS a holiday and Daddy IS home. Usually, when Daddy is home the children are his, they work with him or just enjoy being around wherever he is working on a project. They love their Daddy time!
I had a quiet house for about an hour. Jonas was the first to come in. As we were chatting, I asked him if he would carry part of the sweeper upstairs for me. He asked if he could sweep so I said yes, I would get Johanna’s room (small) in order and he could sweep her room. He asked for a piece of candy for a reward. He did a great job and so how could I say no to such a sweet little boy who was volunteering his help!
After that we got the My Bible Friends books and CD’s out and he looked at the books on my bed while I folded laundry beside him. About that time Jolene came in and saw Jonas with his candy and after finding out how he earned it asked what she could do to earn some candy. She tidied the parlor and swept it. (Two rooms down!)
She took her candy outside and gave it just enough of a flash to gain some curiosity out of a brother. She told him she did a job without being asked.
Awhile later Jared came to me and said “Mom, I want someone to clean the entry.” I said “go ahead.” He said something like “what do I get?” I said, if you want a reward, start upstairs because that is today’s focus. Well, here he had already tidied the entry and wanted to surprise me. I showed him a couple more things to pick up and he got his candy too.
Before the day was through all but one child did at least one job for me and several did two jobs. That’s a testimony to how much our children like sugar and when they don’t get it often they are mostly willing to work for it, well, all but one child, he said it wasn’t worth it! Also a good strategy for future times when I need to get a lot done! Give a little one a job with a reward of candy and make it a big enough piece that others will notice before it’s gone and ask how they can get some!
My room is completely done! I was in the mood to deep clean, so I swept as much of the room as I could and then had Chad and the boys move our bed, so now the room has also been rearranged, there are no dust webs under the bed and it has a fresh look! I like that! The rest of the upstairs has been tidied and swept except for the boys room, it did not get completed but will tomorrow.
Laundry is mostly done, tomorrow I will hopefully get the downstairs all in order and at least swept, I also need to do a couple weeks of lesson plans; usually I do one week at a time in case they struggled with something and need more time but we have a busy weekend coming and I need to plan ahead.
We look forward to Chad’s brother Kyle’s wedding on Sunday December 4th to Heather Funk from Morton.
We’ve definitely hit our busy season: Christmas activities, Kyle’s wedding, and my sister Cori gets married December 30th in Ohio. It will be 2012 before we know it!
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