Chore Charts - MacDougall Style

I have gone back and forth on chore charts - I"ve tried so many things.  In the end, it seems that I always just end up doing things myself and try to avoid the fight.  This year, though, I knew with the arrival of the upcoming baby, I was going to need the kiddos help.  I figured it was better to start this now and have it well established by baby time.

I started with this:

 spent 

Source: blogs.babble.com via Laurel on Pinterest

This is a Modern Toddler Chore Chart and it was perfect for my 4 year old.  I have to write in lines so that she knows exactly where to put her stickers.  This is perfect for her - she is expected to make her bed, get dressed, clear her dishes from the table, brush her hair, and clean up her toys.

I looked and looked for something for my older kiddos and ended up having to make my own. I am not a graphic designer and there are such cuter ones that could be made, I'm sure.  I did it up all cute in color and sent it off to my printer (AKA - Tom's office) and he couldn't read the fonts.  So, I print it off on our black and white printer each Sunday.  This is what works for us.  

 I customized a different chore for each day.  These include putting clean clothes away, emptying the dishwasher, vacuuming the family room or the bedroom, etc.  On top of their daily chore, they are also responsible to make their bed, practice the piano, do their home work, and all toys must be picked up before the end of the day.

At the end of the week - every square must be filled up to pick out a treasure from my treasure box.  If they missed one day of making their bed, they don't get one.  It is tough, but I've stuck to my guns.  G. was making his bed about 10 minutes before bedtime last night so he wouldn't miss a day.

The treasure box is just filled with treats - right now there is a lot of Valentines Day candy in there.  My oldest loves squinkies and my son loves food.  It is pretty random and really nothing special or expensive.

On the weekends, we have more thorough chores.  And it works best if we just ask them to help us out by doing this or that.  Our kiddos are still young enough that I have a lot of control of their schedule.  We just say after breakfast it is time to do our chores and work together to get the bigger stuff done.

We've done this for 2 months now and I'm surprised how motivated they are to fill in a sticker.  I have had to remind G. to check his charts and there have been times when he has told me that he would rather not do his chores and doesn't care about any incentive.  It is then that I pull the "well, I don't feel like doing my responsibilities either today, so are you good to make dinner?" card.  I know the way to G's heart.

I'm not sure how long this new system will work, but for now - it's awesome.

Link parties I participate in: A bowl full of lemons, Be Different Act Normal,  Blue Cricket Design, Craft-O-Maniac, I Heart Naptime,  Lolly Jane Boutique, Ninth Street Notions, Serenity Now, Sew Chatty, Skip to my Lou, Someday Crafts, Tatertots and Jello, The Real Housewives of Riverton, Thrifty Decor Chick, Today's Creative Blog

Weekly Pinterest

G. turned 7 last week and I could not have done this party without pinterest!


Decorating the table was inspired from Delia Creates.

Lego sugar cookies was inspired from Cake Central.

The Lego mini figure was from zakka life - we played I Spy the Lego guy!

The game Lego Collaboration also came from Delia Creates!  She was a huge inspiration for this party - including all the links that she includes in her post.

Hope Pinterest is inspiring you too!  To see all of my pins - follow me!

Weekly Pinterest

I noticed that Cheryl at a pretty cool life has done some posts on how Pinterest has effected her week!  I think it is a brilliant idea for a post and have done the same thing!  I love pinning away, but I try to only pin ideas that I will actually use and not just dream about.  Well, there is actually a lot of dreaming but I like to think of it as practical  dreaming :).

Thanks to Pinterest, I've done the following this week:

• Added a pin button to the bottom of my posts thanks to Julie Ann Art.
• Cleaned my Dyson - thanks to Ask Anna

• Organized my Christmas wrapping paper using toilet paper rolls, thanks to this pin:

Source: Uploaded by user via Laurel on Pinterest

• Made Orange Pull-Apart Coffee Cake - thanks to the Whimsical Cupcake.  I stayed up until 10pm (practically the middle of the night at our home) to finish this and my pregnant body could not thank me enough!

If you'd like to see what else I'm pinning - please follow me here!  Happy Friday!

Halloween Inspiration via Pinterest

First of all - does anyone know why my followers are not showing up?  I've been working on it for the past week and am about ready to throw up my hands and admit defeat.  Blogger is so not easy to work with at times!  HELP!

Second - have you entered my Giveaway yet? You don't have to get a print - you can always choose your favorite photograph and have it put on canvas.  There are only 6 entered yet - so your odds are REALLY good!

Third - I LOVE pinterest!  I know, so does everyone else.  These are my favorite Halloween ideas!  I'm not sure why the links are at the bottom (blogger and I are not getting along this week).

Source: google.com via Laurel on Pinterest

Source: keikolynn.com via Laurel on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Laurel on Pinterest

Source: marthastewart.com via Laurel on Pinterest

Source: carinagardner.com via Laurel on Pinterest

My kiddos are on Fall Break - hopefully I can have time to stop preserving all the food from our garden and follow through on some crafts!
Do you pin?

Some Inspiration for this Wednesday

HGTV Design Star Emily Hendersen's office

India Hicks office

I'm not sure where this came from (looks kind of like a BHG), but I love the mix of patterns on the pillows (and I love any banquette)



I WILL make that pillow someday

After my blanket blooper, I'm needing a quick little something that will give big results and help me get my mojo back!  Suggestions?

Out of a Funk

I've been in a creative funk lately - nothing is inspiring.  It's spring in Colorado - not my favorite.  I've been working really hard on saving money for other things.  My creative juices haven't been running and I've been feeling it.  So, M. and I took a spin through Joanns, just to see.

The navy blue and green combo got me going.  Suddenly, I'm inspired.  Now, I have a stack of washed fabric ready to get going.  And I'm excited.  Yeah!

I'm seeing skirts for my girls, or maybe bags.  What do you see?

"The List" 1/7/11

I have a friend who tells me that I have a talent.  This talent is sifting through blogs and finding the good stuff out of all the not so good stuff out there.  I do spend hours browsing blogs and I find them so inspiring.  I'm going to have a little series and show you things I've put on my "list."  These are things that work for me, in my home, that I like and can probably do.  They are things that catch my eye.  I'm not promising I'll get to all of them, wouldn't that be a dream.

So . . . here's the first installment:

I'm on a scarf kick.  I went from never wearing one, to thinking I need to wear one every day!  I'm loving this one from Make It and Love It:

I'd love to get a new kitchen table and chairs.  The ones we are using was a hand me down and has only 4 chairs (remember there are 5 people in my family)!  I pull up a chair for me every meal, then push it back to the desk.  I LOVE these chairs, as seen in Stephmodo's Home.  I've even got a savings plan to make these mine (it will take about a year).  Tom's not convinced yet that these will work in our home (that will take about a year, too).  I'm in love.

Just a couple things today - it's a busy day (it always is!)
Have a good weekend.

Are You In?

homemade by jill's squares

homemade by jill is hosting a sew-along.  We're making an advent calendar, together.



inchmark's finished advent calendar


Just the inspiration I needed!

Things I love about fall

Pumpkin Granola

Layers

Park Days

Candles

Apples

Cable Knit Blankets

Browns, oranges, reds, and yellows

and so much more.  In fact, the only thing that I don't like about fall is when it starts acting like winter in the middle of it!  What do you love about fall?

Sabrina Soto from HGTV

Sabrina Soto, from HGTV's Get It Sold and Real Estate Intervention, sat down today to do a couple of blogger interviews!  I was beyond thrilled to be asked to participate and talk to her a little bit about trends.  Here's a little clip:



Short and sweet. Thank you for the opportunity!


if the clip doesn't work - try this link.