Weekend Wrap-Up: Dancing

Last Friday night, the girls' school held their annual Father-Daughter Dance. Unfortunately, Hannah had strep throat and had to stay home with Catherine and I. :(

But, Travis and Emma went and had a ball. The theme was "Wild, Wild West", so they dressed up in their western attire and headed to the dance.

According to Travis, they were the best two-steppers there. And, if you ask Emma, Travis is awesome at limbo! (I cannot even picture him doing that!)

Catherine, Hannah and I stayed home. Hannah read books to Catherine. Then, they both put on a show for me with their slinky.

Saturday night, Miss Ashley came to keep the girls while Travis and I went to watch the Turnpike Troubadours at Georges. First, we met up with our friends for dinner at Grubs and then headed over to Georges. As usual, it was a fun night!

Sunday, we were lazy most of the day, but ended our weekend with a little jump rope action in the living room. :)

Morning Craziness

I am sure looking from the outside in of our family people think, "Wow! They have got it together." I mean, I manage to make it to work at an acceptable time and looking presentable. I travel for work, so Travis manages the girls school and dance schedules like a champ. We are all happy, healthy and productive members of society.

Then again, if you have read this blog for any length of time, you have probably seen the piles of clean laundry that never get folded on my couch. Real Life.

Well, I am hear to dash that illusion with one simple sentence. Mornings in our house are mass chaos.

Yes, you heard it people. Mornings are ridiculous. I love to say and even pretend that we have a routine. If the routine includes your three year old running through the house with her pajama pants on her head, then yeah, we've got that.

Let me describe a morning with the Williamson's for you...just a taste of what it's like so you don't think I am making this stuff up:

Alarm goes off at 5:30am. I hit snooze. It goes off again and I hit snooze. This continues until I accidentally turn it off intending to get up. Then, I jump out of bed a 6 am. I race to the shower. After I shower, I tell Travis to get up and I turn on the bedroom light. I go let the dog out and turn on the coffee maker. As I am going back down the hall, I turn on Emma's light and wake her up. Then, Hannah and Catherine. (This is the calm portion of the morning).

After telling Travis FOUR HUNDRED times to get up, he finally does. I make the bed and he goes to the kitchen to get the girls some breakfast. At this point, it rapidly falls apart. Emma spends most of her morning standing around waiting for someone to remind her what to do next. ("Have you brushed your teeth?" "Oh yeah...I forgot." "Do you have on shoes?" "Oops...forgot that too"). Hannah is super OCD, so she is always ready first, which is great. Until she decides to boss Catherine around, who is usually running through the house in her panties yelling at us to get her dressed or feeding the dog cereal off her spoon.

It continues like that all morning. The whole time I am yelling at the girls to "GET DRESSED!" "WE HAVE TO LEAVE IN 5 MINUTES" "YOU ARE GONNA BE LATE AND I WILL NOT TAKE YOU IN TO GET A TARDY SLIP!"

Chaos I tell you....and it is STRESSFUL! This morning was much the same. The thing is, this morning, it hit me. I hate spending our mornings yelling at the girls (and sometimes Travis). It's just not a good start to the day. While I know these days won't last and they will become more independent, I can't help but wonder what a nice smooth morning in our house would be like.

(And don't leave me comments about picking out clothes at night or packing lunches at night...trust me...we have tried it all!)

All three of the girls are interested in money, spending it more than earning it, but money, nonetheless. Catherine even goes so far as to steal money from Hannah's piggy bank when hers feels a little empty. (And trust me, Hannah knows every missing penny and a fight breaks out...usually in the morning!) We have never really had a good system on how they earn their money. Usually they scavenge change out of our cars or off the dryer.

And so, starting next week, each of the girls have chore charts.

(yes...it will wait until next week because I am traveling the rest of this week and Lord knows Travis doesn't have an organized bone in his body to implement this new system!)

Each chore is worth money and they have to do it WITHOUT being asked. Some are daily chores and some are weekly. Each one has a chart and will get my or Travis's initials at the end of the day for each chore they did. Then, at the end of the week, they will get the allowance based on that. Some of their allowance they will take to church for offering. The rest they can save or spend how they like.

Here are pictures of the girls' chore charts. Each chore and chart is tailored to each of the girls. Emma has more chores, but more earning potential. Hannah has fewer chores and less earning potential. Catherine's chores have pictures because she can't read.

So...that's my solution. Maybe it will help. I mean, God does work miracles!

Weekend Wrap Up: Where have we been?

Whoops. Time has flown by and I haven't posted. Sorry! :) We are still here. We have really enjoyed some low key weekends at home.

Last week, I was out of town for work. BOO! But, Travis does a great job getting the girls to school, helping with homework and getting them to dance. He did send me a picture Thursday morning before their Valentine's parties. They looked so cute in their shirts...but no hair bows...OH MY! ;)

Friday, Emma and Hannah were out of school. So, I "worked from home" with them, but Catherine went to school When they are out, I try to spend some big girl time with them to make those days fun.

So, we went to one of our favorite boutiques on the square, Savoir Faire. (If you haven't been there, go! If you don't live there, click on the link above and shop online! You can thank me later.) When we go to the square, the girls love to take their picture with one of the painted pigs. They chose the flower pig this time. While we were at Savoir Faire, sweet Tess, the owner, gave the girls these "love" necklaces. I don't think they have taken them off since!

 

After shopping, we went for manicures. Then, we headed to Mojito's for lunch. While we were sitting there chatting, the girls ended up both taking a bite out of a lemon. I caught the reactions on camera. (They are going to hate me for this one day).

We picked up Catherine early from school and went to get ice cream. Then, we went home and played.

Saturday, Travis had to work and it was pretty dreary outside. So, we cleaned house and headed to the movies. Our favorite thing is to go to the noon showing and have popcorn for lunch. So, that's what we did!

Sunday, we went to church. After church, it came to light that Emma had not done one iota of her homework for the week. (they get it on Monday and it's due the following Monday). So, she spent her sunny Sunday afternoon in her room doing homework. (Yes...we are mean. But, yes...she learned her lesson!). Travis, Hannah, Catherine, Gus and I spent the afternoon outside playing basketball, softball and jumping on the trampoline.

We had a good weekend and it was great to rest up from being gone all week!

My girls

Wow...so back in October, we had pictures made and I didn't share them because I didn't want to ruin the surprise for the Christmas cards. Well, it's February and I still haven't shared them. So...thanks for your patience! :)

Here are the Fabulous Fall Fotos by Faith!