Show me the Money!!

Nate has been very interested in money lately. Or rather, how much money it takes to buy all the new toys he wants/sees on TV :) So, I decided to make this (one of) my summer projects.....to help Nate understand the value of money (good luck, right!?) by starting to do some chores & earn a small allowance.

As the first step on this journey, we emptied out his piggy bank so he could start with a clean slate, and know how much money he's really "earned." And thanks to his grandparents and a few generous aunts & uncles, he had $79.50 in there! We used the old-school coin wrappers and rolled every bit of those coins, so I could teach him the difference between a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny. (Glad I spent 2 hours rolling those coins, just to hear him tell Greg at dinner that a nickel was worth 2 cents!) And when we took all the coins to the bank, the teller said "You know we have coin counting machines now, right??? Yes, smart a$$, just trying to teach my son about money, thank you. So we put that money in his savings account and then came home to an empty piggy bank.

So, if you follow me on Pinterest, you have seen that I've been "pinning" chore charts for a few weeks. There are not a lot of great ones out there for "non-readers" (aka: ones with pictures)....but I finally found one I liked. Click here to see it on Pinterest. I had Nate come up with 5 daily chores (since he's almost 5 years old) and we added one "bonus" chore up at the top. 

He chose:

-making his bed

-cleaning (one) window

-vacuuming (with the dustbuster)

-setting the table

-cleaning up toys before bed

BONUS:

-help Daddy with the trash (1x/wk)

I laminated his fancy shmancy chore chart and he chose a spot to hang it in the kitchen, that's easy for him to reach & mark off. If he does all of his chores every day for a week, he will get an allowance of $1.50 each Sunday. If you're wondering how we came up with this amount....I wanted to give him $5/mo since all the "research" I did said to give him a dollar for every year old he is. But I really wanted to give him 3 pieces of money - 2 quarters and 1 dollar bill - (even if it equaled $6), so we could hammer home the 3 places his money will go:

1. Donate (church)

2. Save (piggy bank)

3. Spend (wallet)

I assume most weeks he will put a dollar in his wallet and a quarter in each of the other 2 spots. But regardless, we told him it's his choice. I don't think it's too young to ask him to start being responsible with his money. (And just for the record, HE brought up giving some of his $$ to church even before I could. I love my sweet boy!)

Check out how well he made his bed the first day! He was SO excited to get started! :)

This is just the first step in helping N learn the value of money....I know it's a hard concept to fully process for a 4.5 yr old, but I hope making him "earn" money will help him to understand that money doesn't grow on trees!! (And I have a feeling I will have the shiniest windows in town this summer!!)

Last Day

Today was Nate's last day at pre-school. He is not sad right now - just excited to be able to "sleep in" during the week - but I know he's going to miss seeing his friends everyday. We will have playdates & pooldates with a few of them this summer, but I know he will miss his girlfriend, Lily. And Kendi. And Sadie.....yes, my little sweet boy is quite the ladies man!

With that being said, I have many many emotions running through my head today.... I am excited for the summer ahead b/c I have a lot of fun stuff planned for me & the kids. I am a bit nervous b/c I have to entertain 2 toddlers for 3 months. And, of course, I am sad. Sad that my sweet baby boy has finished yet another year of school. He is growing up too fast!

As a few of you know, we made the tough decision to hold him back next year.... meaning, we're not sending him to kindergarten just yet. Because of his late-August birthday, he is one week shy of the age deadline. And since he's so small/shy/sweet, I just thought he'd get run over in kindergarten. All of his friends going are already 5, about to turn 6, and he's still 4. We thought long and hard about this (and heard MANY opinions - some welcome, some not-so-much), but feel this is the right thing to do for him. He's smart as a whip, but socially, he has a ways to go and I really feel like holding him back will help his confidence so much.

Because, c'mon....look at how fast he's growing. Who wouldn't want to keep this boy back an extra year with them!?

(This one is from his first day of school back in August.)

(And here he is today. Notice how much taller he is now; I think his head is 2-3 inches higher than the line/molding on the wall!)

We have loved loved loved his teachers at Holy Spirit, and have been so pleased with the school in general. I am so proud of all he's learned, and how far he's come. In Nate's words: "I'm smart, and I'm the only one that's 4 in my class!" :)

I have a "school days" scrapbook for each of the kids - Abby's has yet to be started, of course - but I've decided to add a little something starting this year, an end-of-the-year questionnaire about his Favorite Things. Some of these answers are hilarious, others are predictable:

TV Show - Power Rangers

Movie - Spongebob

Song – “Firecracker” by  Josh Turner

Color – Red

Subject - Science

Toys - Red Sword & Red Power Ranger

Activity - Legos

Game - Candyland

Food – Quesadilla

Outfit - Undershirts

Treat - Scribblers (popcicles)

Book - Magic School Bus

Best Friend – Noah

I am good at….Math

I am not very good at….Crafts

My favorite thing about school is….Centers

My least favorite thing is…Sitting down

Three words that describe me…..Silly, Nice, Smart

And thanks to Pinterest, Nate and I made these super cute pencil vases for his teachers, along with a handwritten note from Nate, and a Barnes & Noble gift card. Hopefully his teachers know how much we appreciate them & all their hard work!

As a special treat, I took the kids to Summer Snow when I picked N up at 12. And the biggest surprise of all....Daddy joined us! We tried some more new flavors...Tiger Blood and Fuzzy Navel. As usual, it was delish! And Nate was so confused....on the way home he kept saying "why did we go to Summer Snow when it's not after dinnertime?!" 

Between the pool, all our visits to Summer Snow, and the 90 degree weather, I think we are officially ready for summer!!!

Pool Time!

We had our first pool outing of the season yesterday afternoon! After naps, I took the kids to the Rec Center pool to meet some friends and have a little fun in the sun. The kids were E.X.C.I.T.E.D to go, can you tell!?

The Rec Center pool is amazing.....has a ton of seating everywhere, and a really big "baby pool" as well. We started out in the baby pool, playing with buckets, watering cans, dive rings, etc.

Then Nate was ready to move onto the "big pool." I was a little nervous about this, since I'd be clinging to two toddlers at one time. But, these little things here are lifesavers (literally)! Not sure why I've never heard of them until now. They're called "puddlejumpers" and the kids loved them. They came on & off easily with a buckle, and the kids were able to float/swim around in the big pool, no problem.

(Now, there is a lazy river that goes around the outer edge of the big pool, and it has a pretty strong current, so a few times they'd start floating away from me and just laugh!)

We brought a few of the lazy river tubes back with us to the baby pool, and finished out our afternoon there. Nate had to get out and take a break - somehow he was cold though it was 90 degrees, but Abby never stopped playing for a second. She is definitely going to be the fish of the family!

We had a great time with our friends, Sadie & Xavier, and I see MANY more lazy afternoons at the pool in our near future. Hooray for summer!

A Little Piece of Home...

We had some special visitors on Friday & Saturday....my best friend from TN and her son, Grant!!

 
Thanks to Hallie's lead foot(!), they arrived earlier than expected and were able to meet us out for lunch on Friday. (This was the same morning as Nate's school program, and since he did SUCH a good job, I had promised him lunch out at the restaurant of his choice. So of course we headed to the golden arches.) And ever since Nate got an "ID" made (it's a pool pass for the Rec Center), he has been asking for a wallet. I finally got him one and it went everywhere with us this weekend! But no, he didn't offer to pay at McDonald's....

My kids love love love Grant, and they picked up right where they left off with him...talking about toys, spy gear, school, spiderman, etc. It warms my heart to see our kiddos playing together once again. Just like old times!

Well, actually, one thing has changed.....Grant & Abby are now acting like love-struck teenagers! They were giggling, hugging, and kissing at every opportunity they had. It was hilarious. Abby would actually grab his face and pull him to her. I would have some awesome in-laws, so I am ok with this arranged marriage.

After Abby's nap, we all headed outside for some bubbles & playtime & bouncy house fun.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere...

PLEASE look at this amazing picture Hallie took of my beautiful girl!! Since when did she get so grown-up!? I love that you can finally see her eyelashes....they are so long & beautiful but hard to see since they're so blonde. Love my little beauty.

We had a sweet treat after dinner - yummy sno-cones at Summer Snow - and Nate and I tried a new flavor....root beer. So delish!

We topped off the night with a naked dance party, our tradition. Is this a picture of kids having fun or what!?

 And wow, check out Abby's white girl overbite. She reminds me of my college days, dancing at Player's!!

We moved the video monitor into Nate's room, so we could watch the boys after putting them to bed. Grant was on the air mattress, and Nate was in his bed. Well, at least he was for a little bit. He quickly moved onto the floor - right in between his bed and G's air mattress - and laid there for awhile. (When I asked him the next morning why he did that, he replied "I wanted to be closer to Grant" :)

While the boys were enjoying their sleepover, Hallie and I enjoyed some girls time at a local Irish Pub. Hot mommas on the loose!! We sat outside on the patio and chatted the night away, while enjoying some tasty beverages. A perfect night with a perfect friend! (See our "cheerleader" pose below, ha!)

Saturday morning, we went to the Farmer's Market - where Hallie bought everything in sight - and then took a quick walk on the Riverwalk.

Here's the "Batman boys" protecting their girl...

Next, we headed to a new playground (for us) at a nearby elementary school. It was HUGE and the kids didn't know what to try first. Hallie got some great shots of the kids, playing & running their little hearts out.

Hallie and I got in on a little zipline action. Why let the kids have all the fun!?

We met Greg for lunch at a local hotspot called Rama Jama's. It's a pretty famous/historic hole-in-the-wall restaurant in town, b/c it's filled with Alabama football memorabilia and sits in the shadow of Bryant-Denny stadium. And oh yeah, has some pretty amazing (greasy) food.

Walking back to the car after lunch, Grant just grabbed Abby's hand like it was the most natural thing. I told you they are in love! Her other boyfriend, David, better watch out!! :)

Hallie & Grant left around naptime and my kids cried themselves to sleep. Not kidding. (But on a positive note, the combination of crying + playing hard at the park made for 3 hour naps!)

It was nice to have a little piece of home here with us, even if it was just for 24 hours. Hallie, I love you and your sweet boy, and can't wait to see you again soon!

School Program

Though Nate still has one week of school left (!), he had his end-of-year program on Friday. He had been telling us for months about all of the EIGHT songs they were working on. I thought he was exaggerating, but oh no...they actually sang 9 songs!!! All the kids did a great job - it was both 4 year old classes - and we were so proud of our sweet boy for learning so many songs and performing so well.

Here is my favorite song they did, called "Who Let the Letters Out." The clip is a bit long - they go through the whole alphabet - but all the sounds they make are hilarious!

And click here for a really sweet song, "Jesus Loves Me." They learned the sign language as well. Love.

At the end of the program, all the kids got presented a certificate, and then were asked by their teacher what they wanted to be when they grew up. Most answers included teacher, doctor, cheerleader, etc....with an occassional "spy" or "farmer" thrown in. Nate's answer of "power ranger" got a laugh from the audience. (I apologize about this video; I can't figure out how to rotate it. Click here to view it, and just turn your head to the side to view it! :)

Then we moved into the Parish Hall for one last song (the TENTH song, and a silly one they couldn't sing in church), which Nate had told us about ahead of time. He said the "bottoms up" part made him shy and he didn't want to do it. And as you can see, it was a little confusing at the beginning of the song....Nate and some of the other kids on the end didn't know it had started. Ha! Click here to hear Nate sing "Tooty Tot."

We had yummy snacks, grabbed a few pictures with his amazing teacher, Miss Thompson, and his BFF Noah, and then headed to Abby's gymnastics class at 10. He thought it was such a treat to be able to leave school early and play "hooky!"

We are so grateful for Nate's wonderful teachers, and proud of our boy and all he has learned this year at Holy Spirit!

All About Abby

Oh, my sassy Abby Reece.....she keeps me laughing. We were playing outside the other day, near the end of the street, and she just decided to have her own private dance party (and didn't care who was watching, ha)! I heard her humming the "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" song, so I joined in. And so, here is my little girl, breaking it down....

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Miss Priss also had haircut #2 last week (haircut #1 was in December, in NC when I was home over Xmas.) I didn't bring my camera, b/c I figured she'd want to sit in my lap like last time. Wrong. She climbed up in the big girl chair, put the cape on, and just smiled away at herself in the mirror. Ha! I took her to the "salon" where I get my hair cut, and she enjoyed being pampered. Here she is, waiting her turn....

A new fashion statement, leopard cape & hair clips

 So obedient! I swear she kept her head down like this for 5 minutes straight! I had to physically pick her head up to make her look in the mirror again, ha!

 All done! My beautiful girl's little ducktail/mullet is gone!

 Back view

Oh how I love her new little bob!!

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Also, we have a pet for a week! (NO, it's not a dog and it won't be for a long time!!!) Abby's "boo" is on vacation this week, so we are fish-sitting. And - funny thing - the name of the fish is Boo! Abby is very concerned with Boo and constantly asks if I need to give him more food. She kisses the tank every morning, and it's the first thing she asks for after naptime.

Can you say MESMERIZED!?

This is a very low-maintenance fish; all we have to do is feed him 2x/day. Regardless, I'm super paranoid that one day we'll wake up and Boo will be....well, dead. Fingers crossed that doesn't happen b/c David & Anthony would be crushed!! I'm sure Abby won't anything happen to her boo's Boo! :)