Ask Me Anything

I am opening my blog up to questions from my readers. Have you ever wondered how hubby and I met? How our two oldest kids are only 6 months apart? Why we moved to Maryland in the first place? How I balance three kids and being a nanny to one year old twins? Anything, the floor is yours. Just ask your questions in the comments and on Friday I'll come back and answer your questions.

DIY Projects: Chore Chart

My children are 10, 9, and 7, and I constantly struggle with ways to make them more responsible in a fun and rewarding way. We have gone back and forth in our house in regard to chores and allowance. Hubby and my first thoughts were that allowance was not necessary, but as members of our household, as the children got older they would have increasing responsibility for themselves and for basic household upkeep. My kids are good kids and help out but I got tired of the daily struggle of toys, clothes, and wet towels spread all throughout our house. Hubby got tired of the daily struggle of getting the kids out the door every morning. This is where the chore chart (or responsibility chart as we like to call it) came into play.

We had been using a responsibility chart for the past 6-9 months. Our first chart was an Excel spreadsheet which I made and printed out weekly. The kids were each assigned a daily chore and paid 50 cents per day that they complete it. Everything else on their list is simply responsibilities they have to get themselves ready in the morning, after school, and before bed.

I wanted a more permanent solution that did not involve me printing charts weekly so I began to search online and through Etsy for chore charts. I found some great ones but none that worked exactly as I envisioned for our family of 5. Hubby suggested I make my own to save money and viola, the chore chart was born.

I bought a framed dry erase board from Target ($15) and measured out three equal section and wrote each child's name at the top.

For the chores I found these craft, wood stars at JoAnn and used a hot glue gun, roll of adhesive magnets and colored sharpie markers ($12).

The basket was in the school supply section of Target ($3) and it holds all the magnets when chores are completed.

Each day the child completes their chores, they receive a 50 cents star and are paid weekly on Sunday for the money they've earned each week.

Once all their chores (responsibilities) are complete the board looks like this.

They put the completed chores into the basket to be reused for the next time and I put up a 50 cents star at the end of the day.

Total I spent $30 and 45 minutes of my time. The chart helps motivate my kids and is an easy way for me to keep track of who is done with their responsibilities that day and how much allowance they have earned each week. My kids save their allowance for toys they want, trips they want to take, and even day-to-day treats like an ice cream or candy bar. It really is teaching them the value of money and that you have to save to get what you want instead of instant gratification.

Any questions, let me know!

I'm participating in It's A Blog Party, Show Me How blog carnival. Hop on over and check out other DIY projects and crafts.

Human Nature

As I get older I begin to wonder more and more why people are the way they are? I was raised to be kind to others and my mother especially went out of her way to do kind things for others. I am not perfect by any means, I of course can not be nice sometimes too. But I live my life under the assumption that people are good, people are nice, and more often than not people have good intentions.

This of course is not always the case. Humans are very selfish by nature and some people are worse than others. Many people put on a happy face when in front of you but then are not so nice behind your back. They are always looking out for how what they are doing benefits them.

The business world sees the worst of this, with some people willing to sacrifice anything to get to the top. More and more I am realizing blogging is no different. I have meet some great people through blogging. Here in Maryland, we have an active group of bloggers who get together several times a year, many of them I'd consider my friends, and truly enjoy the time I spend with them. Maybe it's different for me because blogging is not my career. I don't write my blog because I want to become rich and famous but I write my blog because I love to write and I love the connections I have made both online and offline through blogging.

Call me naive, but I have to live my life this way, assuming everyone is good until proven otherwise. To live life any other way would just be a miserable, grumpy way to live, and I am happy being me. So what do you choose? Do you give people the benefit of the doubt or have you been burned so much you assume everyone has ulterior motives?

Family, Friends, and Fun

That sums up our 2 week trip to Colorado last month. We had a great time visiting with family and friends and just having fun. We can't wait to go back!

B, Wyn, and FiFi, with great-grandma JoAnn

My sister and her husband were nice enough to let us stay at their house most of the trip.

Hubby's mom's side of the family

Me and my BFF, Michelle

Friends: FiFi, Wyn, B, and Maddy

More Friends: JJ, Wyn, Mak, B, and FiFi

Class Reunion Time!

Fun: New Belgium Brewery Tour

Fun: American Girl Store, Denver

Wyn's doll took a trip to the doll hair salon

Homemade Sloppy Joes

What took me so long to try to make homemade sloppy joes? I have no idea, but after trying this Rachel Ray recipe from Rachel Ray 30-Minute Meals 2 cookbook I will never go back.

Ingredients

1 TBSP olive oil

1 1/4 lb ground beef

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp steak seasoning (McCormick Montreal Seasoning)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 medium bell pepper chopped, any color

1 TBSP red wine vinegar

1 TBSP Worcestershire sauce

1 - 15oz can tomato sauce

2 TBSP tomato paste

Hamburger buns or rolls (enough for your family)

1. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add oil to pan, about enough for once around the pan.

3. Add ground beef and begin to brown.

4. Combine brown sugar and steak seasoning with ground beef in skillet.

5. Once meat has browned add onion and bell pepper. Reduce heat to medium and cook for 5 minutes.

6. Add vinegar, stirring briefly to reduce, then add Worcestershire, tomato sauce, and tomato paste, stirring to combine. Reduce heat to simmer and cook for 5 minutes longer.

7. To serve, scoop sloppy joe mixture onto buns or rolls. Enjoy!

Tips: I usually cook by feel and measure very little, a pinch of that, a handful of this, I just estimate. Be careful with doing that with this recipe until you are familiar with it. The first time I made it I put two big handfuls of brown sugar instead of measuring and the entire little can of tomato paste. The sloppy joes turned out yummy but distinctly sweet. The second time I measured everything and the flavor was less sweet and more on par with a traditional sloppy joe. This is one of my kids new favorite dishes.

The Bachelorette Becomes the Bride

I know it has taken me forever to post pictures from our Colorado trip but here is the first batch.

I was lucky enough to be able to be in Colorado for one of my best friend's bachelorette party and wedding. April and I have been friends since Freshman year in high school and Nate and her husband Chris are also friends.

We started out the festivities Friday night by celebrating (and embarrassing) April with a girls night out. Cafe Vino was the first stop and it did not disappoint. The atmosphere was great and the food and wine was even better.

April, the bride-to-be

My BFF Michelle and I

Becca and Jamie

The girls, Becca, Michelle, April, Me, and Catherine

These girls and I have been friends for 13 or more years and I love them to death. Miss you my Colorado girls!

Then Saturday was the big day, April and Chris's wedding, August 14, 2010.

What a beautiful ceremony

B told Maddy, "Sit still and hold onto my finger until the ceremony is over." They looked so adorable together!

Time for the rings

The blushing bride

And now they are husband and wife, posing with the officiant

The view from the ceremony site

The girls and the bride, Michelle, Catherine, April (the bride), Me, and Heather

So, so happy we could be there to celebrate your special day. Love you guys!

Assateague Island

Hurricane Earl wasn't going to stop our fun this labor day weekend! While we did have to delay our trip 1 night due to the hurricane by the time we arrived midday Saturday the weather was beautiful, windy with a bit of a rough surf but beautiful. Assateague island is a barrier island just south of Ocean City, Maryland, and prior to a bad storm in the 1930's it was part of the same peninsula that Ocean City is on. The island is owned by the state of Maryland on the northern ocean side and a state park sits on that part, the northern bay side is owned by the federal government and a national park sits on that part and southern part is owned by the state of Virginia.

Not only does Assateague state park offer camping at the beach, it is one of the few places in the United States where wild horses live. We had been planning this trip since the spring and were very excited to check out Assateague.

The bay side marshes as you drive onto the island

We spent two days at the beach, swimming, digging in the sand, relaxing in the shade, it was heavenly!

Amazingly my kids never tire of the beach and would stay there all day if we let them.

Hubby even joined in the fun, running and jumping into the waves.

Aren't they so cute?

I tried to take some pictures but we made it to the beach later than I would've liked and the lighting was all wrong. The sun was too intense and too high in the sky to make for good pictures.

Sunday night we were graced with a beautiful sunset. This was the view from our campsite.

The wild horses only came to our campsite two times but we were excited to see them the morning we left.

This was the view from our picnic bench.

We truly had a great time. We will definitely be back! We were warned about the horses eating your food at your campsite but we put everything in the car so we didn't have this problem. The bugs can be an issue but with 40% DEET it is manageable. We found the biting flies to be the worst right at the dunes. There is very little shade so next time we will bring a canopy to put over our picnic table but as soon as you cross over the dunes the ocean breeze keeps the beach side nice and comfortable. We walked up and down the beach several times just drinking in the beautiful scenery. So much fun!

We Took A Big Leap of Faith

and I hope our lives are never the same.


I'd like to introduce you to Ruth, our newly sponsored child through Compassion International. Sponsoring a child through Compassion has been on my heart for a long time but the timing never seemed right financially for us but after watching this on Kristen's blog a few weeks back I knew God was speaking to me and our time, Ruth's time was now. I hope over the years we get to know Ruth well and our sponsorship and support will truly be a blessing in her life. I know sponosoring her will bless my family in ways I cannot even imagine. I know my children will learn countless lessons of compassion, love, poverty, generosity, and thankfulness through this experience. Ruth shares a birthday with my middle daughter Wyn, which makes it even more special. Can't wait to share with you all how this has touched our lives.