Behavior Charts That Work! (so far anyway) =)

The "Blessings Chart" (positive behavior)


The "If-Then Chart" (negative behavior)

So, I found this great idea by help of a friend from church. There's a website called Doorposts.com and it's really helped Avonlea and her choice-making lately. We've just started implementing it and I can honestly say that I'm so glad my friend suggested it to me. There are many things to explore on the website, but mainly, I was looking into creating a chart (we already have other charts for chores, etc.) for behavior and I had certain things I wanted it to include:

1. I wanted it to be Biblically based
2. I wanted Bible verses to back up the positive or negative behavior
3. I wanted rewards and punishments for the certain behaviors
4. I wanted it in chart form
5. I wanted pictures so that my three-year-old could understand it and "read" it.
6. I wanted it to be laminated so we could reuse it again and again.

Needless to say, these charts met all the requirements and I was so glad that I splurged (they are $6.00 each)! I was in the process of making my own, but liked these better so I purchased them from the website. We use an Expo marker to draw happy faces for the good choices and sad faces for the negative choices. There are rewards and punishments for each and I love how consistent the rewards and punishments are for each. For example, on the "If-Then Chart" the punishments are as follows:

1. Arguing, complaining, whining = additional work or loss of priviledge
2. Teasing, picking fights, causing trouble = loss of priviledge
3. Hitting, biting, kicking, throwing = 3 swats (yes, spankings) and asking forgiveness
The list goes on, but you get the general idea.

As for the "Blessings Chart", the rewards are really creative and not in the form of money, candy, etc. :
1. Peacemaking = no chores for a day, child wins a "peacemaking award" and can wear it all day
2. Truthfulness = grant special priviledge or favor, gets to wear a "prince/princess for the day" crown (see Bible verse that goes along with truthfulness...Proverbs 16:13)
3. Wise Speech = Give honeycomb to eat as special treat
* Many of these may not make sense, but the rewards on the "Blessings Chart" tie into the Bible verse that portrays it (honeycomb, kings/queen crown, etc.).

I also had a friend who didn't order the charts, but made her own (she has three kids) and it was based around the Fruits of the Spirit which was originally what I was going for, but the Doorpost Charts have most of those on it, plus some.

One thing I did as well to help (the charts are double-sided with the chart on the front and the suggestions for punishments and rewards are on the backside) was to copy the backs and post those up seperately so we could read the backs and not have to take the charts off the cabinet (we keep them in our kitchen).

Anyway, just thought I'd share the cool idea. Again, you don't have to order the charts and spend the money. You could make your own. =) Have fun and happy parenting!!!

Organizational Binders = Lifesavers!!!

Okay, so another one of my friends, Kelli (also a fellow blogger and spells her name just like I do), posted something that gave me an idea for a blog post. BINDERS!!! Do you ever get tired of flipping through magazines (I LOOOOOVE Family Fun), marking the pages you like and then trying to find storage for them? Then, when you know you saw something useful or interesting in "one of those magazines" on your dusty shelf, you can't find it? That was me a few years ago until I thought of something...what if I ripped out all the pages I liked or found I would definately use (not just cute ideas I knew I'd never come around to doing) and placed them in a binder for future use. I did just that and here's what I came up with...


This is my "Summertime" Binder where I keep tearouts of fun, summer activities (mostly wet!) from magazines and from online. When summer hits, I just yank out the binder and let Avonlea (and/or other kids at our house) flip through and find ideas of fun things they want to do. I don't hear too many "Mommy, I'm bored" phrases, and if I do, I get out the binder. =)

This is what the biner looks like inside. I use plastic sheet protectors in all my binders (the cheap ones from Walmart) and although it's a little extra cost and effort, it keeps the pages fresh, especially when wet/sticky fingers are handling them.




Gardening and Landscaping Binder where I keep tear-outs from Home and Garden Magazine, seed order catalogs, notes from each season's garden we've planted, etc.


Here's our Christmas Binder full of Christmas traditions, recipes, craft ideas for the kiddos. The pages mostly consist of magazine tear-outs, but I also keep handouts from other things inside.





Here's our Thanksgiving and Halloween Binder where again, I keep recipes, costume ideas, crafts, traditions, etc. I keep these two holiday together because they're both fall holidays and come close together.


This is the "Party" Binder where I keep all kinds of party info. from cake/cupcake recipes and ideas, to decorating ideas, birthday traditions, a list of supplies needed, list of "to buys", a list of birthday themes for different ages, etc. I also keep a blank notebook in here for brainstorming ideas on each kids' birthday party.


"Games and Activities" Binder where I keep lots of magazine tear-outs of homemade games kids can play of all ages. This comes in handy in the summer or camping.


"Other Holidays" Binder where I put ideas, recipes and traditions in for New Year's Day/Eve, Super Bowl party stuff, Valentine's Day, Grandparent's Day, Groundhog Day, St. Patrick's Day, Easter and 4th of July.


Camping Binder where I keep packing lists, lists of good cooking meal ideas, games to play and activities, etc. The Bates family is about to undergo their first camping trip coming up so we'll let you know how that goes! =)


This is my Home Management Binder (see previous post on just this - got the idea from Candy's blog). I put the following information in it: Bible verses, house rules, schedules, "to do lists", car info., phone numbers, a list of birthdays, book annotations from books I've read, travel tips, safety and health articles I rip out of magazines, a discipline and rewards section, lists for packing and vacations, cleaning recipes and tips and take out menus. It's a real lifesaver!

"L" is for Ladybug

Next week, we start talking about letter "L". I found some books about "L"eaves , "L"adybugs and "L"aundry (Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash) at the library. I go once a month and get books for the four letters for the month ahead. I do take the kids to the library with me, about once a week, but I can't get research done or concentrate on checking out the books on my list that I need with two little ones to watch, so I go on a Saturday while Rob is home and they're napping. Plus I just LOVE being at the library by myself and sometimes, I'll get to check out a book for my own enjoyment. =)

Anyway, I checked out Watch It Grow Ladybug by Barrie Watts and Ladybugs by Mia Posada. These two books tell all about the life cycle of the ladybug and are quite interesting. I keep all the books for the weeks to come in a different box out of sight so it creates a new and interesting bunch of books for the week, but she found "the stash" and I wasn't about to stop her from reading books she was interested in, even if they were planned for the next week. So, she began reading the books with me and was super interested in learning about ladybugs. She knows my style now because anytime we catch an interest in a book we read, we go out and "do" or "discover" the topic of the book. She said, "Mommy, we should go out and catch some ladybugs and watch them grow!" I couldn't refuse so (knowing that there aren't many ladybugs in our backyard) I called a local nursery and they had some ladybugs in stock. I use these for pest control in my garden as well, it's a great organic alternative to bug sprays. We also needed some food for them, so we got a small bag of that as well and the ladybugs have been living with us in a large pretzel jar for the past few days doing quite well. We even put some aphids (little, yellow bugs that harm our garden and live on milkweed) in the jar and they ate them with a few hours! They love to eat aphids. It's been fun to watch them and we'll see how long they last or if they reproduce.

* Some other fun things we'll be doing next week for letter "L" include:
lacing cards, ladybug potato painting, collecting leaves and matching them (math), leaf rubbings, making leaf dancers, writing letters, licorice math, using lids off recyclable materials for sorting, counting, patters and measurement, we might try a light experiment and making lemonade, latkes (pancakes) and lasagne for dinner. I also plan on setting up a laundry station (we have a play washer and dryer) and reading Mrs. McNosh Hangs Up Her Wash and letting her use real water, soap and rags for washing clothes, hanging them up on a little drying line.

Happy Birthday to a Swell Nephew!

Happy Birthday Sam Dryden! Our Brittish nephew whom we love, miss and adore. Hope you had an incredible day. =)

Love,
Uncle Rob, Aunt Kelli, Avonlea and Lincoln


(*Scroll down for two more new blog entries*)

Homemade Laundry Detergent (again)

Homemade laundry detergent is a GREAT way to cut down on your grocery bill. It's safe, works AMAZINGLY well (just as good if not better than leading brands), is CHEAP ($2.00-$3.00 that lasts us 6 months!) and you can add your own scents (lavendar, jasmine, etc.). I know I've posted this once before, but thought I'd post again for those who didn't see it. I just made a HUGE batch not only for our family, but for some free samples for a mom's group I help lead. Come to our next meeting and you'll get some. =) I make mine in a much larger quantity so I don't have to make it as often, but this recipe I got online is for a smaller quantity. I have misplaced my recipe for the big batch, so here's the smaller recipe. Enjoy!

4 cups hot tap water
1 bar of soap
1 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup Borax
(local grocery stores carry Washing Soda and Borax in the detergent aisle...especially Publix)


Step #1: Choose your soap (I used Ivory this time). I use 2 1/2 bars to make a 56 Quart storage bin, but you may not want to do this much.


Step #2: Chop up your soap and put it in the water over medium heat. Some people like to grate it, but this makes more work. Just use a sharp knife. If it's hard soap, let your hubby chop it up.


Step #3: Stir it continually (don't take breaks from stirring or it'll get chunky and won't have a good syrup-like consistency...believe me, I messed up my second batch of this last time by doing this!) until it is completely dissolved.


Step #4: Fill a 5 gallon bucket 1/2 full of hot tap water. Add melted soap, Washing soda and Borax. Stir well until all powder is dissolved. Stir and let is sit overnight.


Step #5: After the mixture has set overnight, fill up an empty detergent container 1/2 way, add water to fill it up the rest of the way and shake well before using.

*Optional* You can add 10-15 drops of essential oil per 2 gallons once soap has cooled.

Top Load Washer: Use 5/8 cup per load (180 loads)
Front Load Washer: Use 1/4 cup per load (640 loads)

Let me know if you give this a try. I'd like to know how it turns out!

My Valentines...xoxoxoxo

Breakfast


Lincoln enjoying his breakfast


Avonlea enjoying her breakfast


This year was an incredible Valentine's Day. I know some people don't "celebrate", but we sure do. =) Gotta love an extra day to show those you love how much you really do love and appreciate them!! Our day went a little something like this...

Woke up (early as usual) to kids jumping on our bed. (Avy normally stays in bed until 7:30, when her "7s match" if you've read earlier posts about our new getting up in the a.m. rule, but we let her get up early.) I scurried out to the baby's room where I stashed my little "goodies" (a plastic pail stuffed with little dollar items and trinkety gifts, plus a Valentine card for the kids and Rob). I then set the table with fun, decorative Valentine plates, napkins and candles and got to cooking our breakfast which consisted of: French toast, sausage, strawberries and OJ. The kids had a blast opening their little pails and reading their cards and Rob and I exchanged our homemade (it's our house rule...always homemade cards) cards. I just LOVE the cards Rob thinks up. For a guy, it's impressive (no pun intended). =) He did a great job, but unfortunately my card was somewhat short-lived. Somehow, the card he made for me was accidentally lit on fire from the candles on the table and Rob was able to catch it just in time where there was still some of the card saved. I was so sad, but we just sat there and laughed at what had just happened...another fun memory. (smile)

After breakfast, we wound up going on a little outing, grabbed lunch and then back home for naps. I went and picked up our babysitter and then it was off for a romantic couples' massage. After that, we headed over to the mall, walked around a bit, I got a pedicure (special treat!), then to rent a movie for the night and back home to see our kiddos. What a fun day! I am soooo blessed to have such an awesome husband and two great kids. Thank you Lord!

Happy Birthday Jo!

Happy (belated...I'm a horrible friend) Birthday to one of my best buds Jo!!! She turned a whopping 29 two days ago and I'm admitting that I forgot to call her. =( She's one of the sweetest, beautiful, most genuine, honest, God-fearing women I know and she and I spent two glorious college years together in IL and still laugh about all the good times.
Love you girl and hope your day was a special one.

The Jungle, Ocean Life and Puppies

Avonlea and our diagram of the jungle (we studied letter "J" last week in homeschool). She learned about the four parts and we printed and glued pictures on it, cooresponding the correct animals for each layer of the jungle (or rain forest). Lincoln enjoyed getting in on the action of coloring our trees and gluing on animals. He still goes up to them everyday and points to the animals and makes their sound. This week however, we've had so many doctor's appointments that letter "K" has taken a back seat. We have some things to catch up on for this week's school lessons over the weekend. The neat part about catching up over the weekend is that Avy is only 3 and doesn't know what a "school day" or "weekend" (we call them 'Daddy Days') is and she's always excited to learn.
***The doctor's appointments have also consisted of a trip to the ER for Avonlea and me Monday evening due to her asthma. The pollen counts here are insane right now and both kids are having a hard time breathing. It happends every year, so no surprises here. Poor kiddos.


Ms. Sue teaching us about ocean animals. We took a trip to a local science center today to learn about ocean life. They had a 45 minute preschool program going and it was donations only, so we took advantage of the great deal and had fun.


Avonlea and her friends exploring the touch tank today.


Meet "Country Boy", the Golden Retriever AKA... Riley's boyfriend. He's staying with us for 4 days, so that in time, we may have some Golden Retriever puppies (63 days from now). The two are inseperable and it's only been 1 day of having him around, but he's going to be hard to say goodbye to. The kids are in love with him. I even saw Avonlea curled up on the floor reading the two of them "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" earlier today. What's funny is that it appeared that they were listening! He's a sweet dog and VERY well tempermented. He's lighter than Riley, so that should give us a great color for the puppies. Why are we doing this you may ask? Well, Riley is 5 years old this month and we've always wanted to carry on her line. She's such an amazingly good dog and won't be around forever, so we'd like to keep one of her puppies. The experience for Avonlea and Lincoln will be really cool and we don't have to do any work for the puppies (Riley does it ALL!) until the last two weeks where they can crawl out of the kiddie pool (which is what we keep them in from the moment they're born). Yes, we've done this once before and she had 3 pups. It was neat. Our only concern is that she's due to have the puppies (assuming this works!) in April and that puts us right before our own baby is born to get rid of all of them (but one)!!! So, it may be a little nutty around here, but the good news is that they're not children and can fend for themselves all day in the backyard. Should be a fun experience. We'll keep you posted.

And the Baby Is.....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, for all of you who were waiting to find out what the gender of our third baby would be, it's a.....














URGH! The ultrasound technician couldn't tell. =(
I thought I would be okay not knowing, but the excitement of the day and the thought that I'd be able to put an identity to my baby caught up to me and to be honest, I was bummed. Not to mention the fact that a "simple" trip to the doctor isn't so simple with two young children. Rob came along (of coarse) and we brought the kids. They were fine for the first 10-15 minutes, but let's just say Avonlea was getting bored and Lincoln wanted to get into everything (oh my...boys are so much more work than girls!). So, Rob took them out and walked around while we tried to see between this little one's legs, but no luck. I moved around, did some bending and stretching, but nothin'. She finally said that her day was pretty clear and for us to leave and come back in 30 minutes to see if our little one had moved positions. We came back and still no luck. We had all odds against us with

1. the legs were crossed
2. the ambiblical (spelling?) cord was in the way
3. the baby was breech and I guess it's harder to tell when they're breach

Poor Rob had to entertain the kids in the back of his truck while I sat (or rather layed down) in desperation of wanting to know who our baby was. Although I'm bummed, I'm trying to stay positive that this ultrasound went well and we're having a healthy baby. We already have one of each child and have clothing for either gender, so I guess I'll just have to have two seperate piles of clothing ready come June. =) Also, our nursery is for either gender (pictures to come). We'll just have to perk up during delivery to hear what he/she is. In the meantime, the waiting game continues as my bun cooks in the oven. =)

What Will It Be...Boy or Girl?

Stay tuned for tomorrow's update on what our new baby will be. If you've been reading along in our updates of the "baby news", you'll know that I'm pretty convinced that this baby is a girl, but we shall see. The Bates family will be at the doctor's office tomorrow finding out the gender of our baby.

What do you think it will be? Poll anyone? =)

Cravings and the Dentist

Once we dropped Lincoln off at a friend's house this morning, Avonlea and I headed out to the dentist. I haven't been in years, sad I know. Truth is, I've been having babies for the past 3 years and haven't put in the time to get my own teeth cleaned and taken care of. Avonlea also needed to go for her first visit, so we killed two birds with one stone. Needless to say, Avonlea chickened out big time. I sent her back by herself to see if she'd take to the sweet hygenists, but that was a no. Then I went back with her and tried my luck, but didn't help. She was content helping the hygenist clean my teeth and was a little assistant for her handing her tools and things. The girls all said that this is quite common and the next time we bring her in, she might do better and actually let them do a cleaning. I enjoyed having mine cleaned, although the news of needing one root canal and two crowns wasn't wonderful. I knew I'd need work done, but geesh!

Also, lately I've been having cravings for these awesome strawberry and banana milkshakes Rob makes. I've now learned how to make them myself and they are yummo! It's a few scoops of vanilla icecream, a dash of milk and whatever fruit you want to use.


My Food Network blender



"THE" milkshake!


Avy in the dentist chair...totally just sitting there for a picture.

Cinnamon Bun Success...Yes!!!

I just want it to be on the record that I DID in fact have a batch of homemade cinnamon buns turn out this week. It's been a tradition in Rob's family (his mom makes AMAZING homemade cinnamon buns) where she has made these decadent delights every Christmas morning for breakfast. Well, I decided to give it a try myself one year and had success, but for the past two years (lost my original recipe!) they have completely flopped. Urgh. Anyway, I found his mom's recipe the other day and decided to give it a try and low and behold, freshly baked (pretty much perfect) cinnamon buns. I also found a recipe for this awesome cream cheese frosting on line and used it...YUMMO is all I can say!

Homeschooling Update

Thought I'd update on how things are going in the "school" department. Rob and I were going to put Avonlea in preschool just a few half days a week starting in January and the main reason for it was the socialization issue. Avonlea THRIVES on being social and with schooling her at home for the past 6 or so months, it's something I have to work extra hard at providing for her. We definately don't want an unsocialized child! Anywhoo, I thought we were lacking in that department seeing that I stopped our little in-home daycare (I think some of you were aware that we were doing that awhile back, until the pregnancy + extra kids = too much for me). Avonlea wakes up all the time asking who is coming over to play today. So, I started evaluating how much time she was actually getting with other friends. After I sat down and thought about it, she's getting PLENTY of time. She's involved in a consistent classroom setting 3 times a week (Sunday school, AWANA and a mom's group I lead). She also goes to a music class once a week as well. So, four days out of the week, she's away from me and socializing with other children. That doesn't even count the "field trip" days we take with other preschool friends/families visiting the farm, going to the park, zoo, aquarium, etc. She's not lacking was my conclusion, and for me to pay almost $200.00 (that's only two half-days a week!) a month for her to get the same socialization somewhere else just didn't make any sense. After gettinng all the paperwork filled out for the school we chose, going on tours and meeting teachers, we decided to keep Avonlea homeschooled for awhile, as long as I can be home to do it. I LOVE getting play groups together, setting up gatherings for projects, experiments, cooking/baking, nature walks, exploring and just learning in general and the kids love it too!

I'm currently working on (and praying about) getting a local preschool group together to go on outings once a week and/or gather at our house for neat and interesting projects, etc. My goal is to keep it free of charge or at a VERY low cost (for supplies only), educational (not just a social time for mommys) and at a preschool/early childhood level. I'd love to have the moms on board with focusing on a letter a week with her child(ren) and staying in-sync with the topics we are learning, so that we may create field trips accordingly on the subject/topic we're talking about. Anyway, teaching children is my passion (for those of you who don't know, I used to be a teacher). I have TONS of manipulatives, books, lesson plans, etc. collecting dust in my garage until I started going through some of the bins/boxes months ago when I thought of persuing homeschooling with Avy.

Having school at home isn't always a walk in the park, but it's definately FUN when you plan accordingly. One problem I've found lately is that I do like my house neat and clean, but I also love to make messes when doing projects (cooking, science, crafts). Now the trick is to balance the two. I know my house won't always look perfect, but I'm learning to accept that because I know that enjoying learning with my kids is more important.

I received a gift card for Christmas and just purchased a world globe with two neat books on science experiments for preschoolers and a book called "Prop Box Play - 50 Themes to Inspire Dramatic Play". I can't wait to get them in the mail and start highlighting and marking pages of neat things to do. One thing is for sure, I have found that when I plan things out well and have supplies ready in the morning for school time, it makes our mornings fly by. We also do some fun things in the afternoon and in the past I'd be checking the clock thinking, "When is Rob coming home?", but now the time just flies (most days, mind you).

So, these are "Thoughts With Kelli" today. Hope you don't mind what I've shared. I like sharing and I do realize that not everyone chooses this route and that's okay. Every family is different...Tis a season. Here are some pictures on what we've been learning about.


Avonlea learned to measure in "I"nches last week when we were learning about letter "I". We had a blast using different types of measuring tools and measuring long and short objects.


Here's the "I"gloo we made last night. I had to show Avy pictures on the internet because what Floridian child knows what an igloo is anyway right? =)


Our igloo upclose. We used sugar cubes (1 small box) and icing to make it stick.


We use a workbook that I got from Sam's Club for $7.00 last year and that's all we need as far as "curriculum". Everything else we do is from using books from the library, exploring on our own, hands on activities and lesson plans I get off the internet. No need to spend oodles of money!!


Our "Letter of the Week Box" in which we go on a "J" hunt (or whatever the letter is for that week) every Monday and find things around the house that have that sound.


This week, we're learning about letter "J" and here are just a few of the "J" and jungle books we checked out this weekend. I always try to pick a theme that goes along with the letter of the week. Sometimes, there's more than one theme if it's small. This week it's the "j"ungle.

We'll also be making homemade "j"elly, using "j"ello and "j"ellybeans for math and science, making "j"ewelry out of noodles and yarn and "j"obs (community helpers...just an introduction to them since this topic can be VERY big and broad, making "j"uice, making a "j"ack-in-the-box for craft, creating our own "j"ungle and learning about the four layers of it.



Counting and sorting "j"ellybeans. We learned which colors/rows had more, fewer and which rows had the same. We also added and subtracted.


Avonlea's Alphabet Book
This is a book I made from construction paper and three rings. I take pictures from the internet (Microsoft Word online pics) and magazine pics and Avonlea practices cutting and gluing the pictures onto that letter's page. She loves reading it aloud to Lincoln (he doesn't have much patience for it though!), showing him the sounds and pictures of each letter.

Oh yeah! Happy Groundhog Day! No shadows here since it's rainy and cold outside. Oh well. More winter weather I guess. (Boo-hoo)