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Simple Ways to Keep Household Chores Organized
I am not a clean freak. A clean bathroom is such a good feeling. Dumping the dirty water in the utility sink after washing the kitchen floors makes me smile. Crawling into bed at night with newly washed sheets is heavenly. But getting it all done. Such. A. Pain! Enter the power of Google Calendar (my preferred family-calendar). I use their simple Task interface to list the necessities. Then my must-dos are integrated with the family calendar as well as my weekly meal plan and it is all simple and easy to stay organized. Some things are done every 10 days, some things once a month and then some things even…
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Leif Landed First Day
I love today. The calendar has it marked as Columbus Day. Oh the memories of childhood elementary school drawings and the smell of crayons are still carried in my mind. There were the stories and songs of the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria sailing the ocean. Somehow these brave crews found the West Indies and are credited for laying claim on the Western Hemisphere. I always pictured a career group of sailors from Genoa working together, sharing food and chores: organized and cordial. And then I had humor thrown into the vision. In my Dad’s hometown in upstate New York live a cluster of Norwegian octogenarians. They love…
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Financial Education for your Children
There is no one, perfect way to start teaching your children about finances. However, there is a wrong way and that wrong way is to ignore it and assume that they are too young, don’t need to be ‘taught’ or just feel as a parent that you aren’t up to the challenge. Start your children out on the right foot and help them learn to navigate the world of finances. You never know you might learn something along the way! Be a Role ModelHow do you pay for things? Do you buy ‘wants’ and then fuss and fret about not being able to pay for the ‘needs’? It is important to…
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Help Your Child Feel Healthy!
The American Heart Association recommends that children and teenagers get at least 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day. My kindergartner’s teacher mentioned to me that *C* is the most in-tune and capable of learning right after some rigorous activity. She has witnessed first hand, in particular with him, how when he gets rid of pent up energy he is ready to sit down and stay on task. Occasionally, if all of the students are a bit hyper she has them do a few jumping jacks beside their desks. Then they sit back down and jump back into work. It goes to show how in-sync our bodies are. Even the brain craves motion, movement and…
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Big, Red, Bouncy Ball
*C*, 5 years old learned something today. The power of a saved-dollar. He doesn’t get an allowance yet. (We started his older brother on an allowance at 1st grade). We don’t pay for household chores. My thought is no-one pays me to make dinner, why should I pay them to put away their laundry and get the table set before dinner? Household chores are just part of being a family! So at this point in the game if he has money in his wallet it isn’t from Mom. Stepping up the plate is Grandma. You have to love Grandmas! Especially the ones my boys have. Twice a week my mother-in-law…
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A Minute Out of the Norm: Cooking with the kids
It is summer time! School is out and the kids are thinking AHHHH a break from learning. HA! Little do they know that there is learning-opportunities in the every day 🙂 One of the boys ‘Summer Jobs’ options each week is to help Mom make dinner. It is usually one of the first chores chosen but little do they know what I have up my sleeve. They read the recipe to me They measure the ingredients. Just to make it fun sometimes if a recipe calls for a cup of something we figure out how to get up to a cup (without using the actual 1-cup measurer) … 2 half cups,…
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Disney World!
Disney World! A piece of heaven on earth… at least for this military-family. We jetted out on July 24th. A family of five. A family that survived a year deployment. A family that needed the opportunity to just be with each other. To smile. To laugh. To be. We had saved all year for this vacation. We opened a CD with USAA and socked money into Savings when we could. We had a garage sale for some spending cash and the boys did extra chores around Grandma’s house for some souvenir money. Money was not going to be a stresser. Friday evening, July 24th, over a year after we started…
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Summer Jobs
Summer has arrived at the Kocsis Household. It may not be summer on the calendar but school is out! The kids are sleeping in (well the teenager is anyway), staying up late & enjoying every moment in between. I remember these days as a child. The monotony of school was broken with the excitement of summer. I have clear memories of swimming at the base pool, having to pass the test to dive off of the diving board; taking our bikes to the shoppette to buy candy; playing on our slip and slide in the backyard; or jumping off the deck (as a teenager) to land in a little kids…
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A Manly Weekend
I had a lot of fun this weekend! Despite a few sore muscles in response to my “chores and fun times”, I felt like the weekend was productive. It allowed me to get away from some of the routines that can wear you out. The weekend actually started out bad due to a broken down car (transmission failure–very expensive). We towed it to a helpful garage from a less than helpful one late Friday! The drive was long and the conditions not the best but we had the time to talk to a son and daughter in law we were helping! We took advantage of tough times and some major…
