~Bursting my Crafty Bubble~ Did you Know that Mother Theresa lives Here?~

I was surprised with how many of you asked about what our countdown to Lent was all about. It has been a tad busy here lately and I am finally getting around to posting what we did. I was floating high on all of your comments about how crafty I am, because quite honestly...I'm NOT! I have help from the children, I let them be the creative ones and I just guide them along, in other words, I fold the paper and clean up the mess~ See I just bursted my Crafty Bubble! So here it is~ Lent is for Love. Everday they color in a heart. Molly thought Valentine's Day was on the 9th, so she colored hearts all over it, only to find out nope it's the 14th, so draw a BIG arrow to the 14th and draw more hearts~ I call it personalization! OH and obviously we are behind...
This is Lolo's white cross that she made. After coloring in a Heart on the countdown, they each take out a purple paper (Lent color) and write down something they are either thankful for or something that they would like to pray for. Then they stick it on their cross. Lolo is my child that LOVES to pray and pray about everything, I swear she is the next Mother Theresa~ I'll get into more detail below...
This is Molly's chart... she does what she has to, but isn't the on the knees praying child, her list is short and sweet and then she's done. Obviously she hasn't been keeping up and I need to send a gentle reminder her way... This is the whole set up. The black envelopes (another Lent color) is what they made to hold their purple papers, then they decorated them all pirty and butiful with sparkly glitter paint~ Aren't they gorgeous! I should have taken a close up picture of them, because I know you all want one of these amazing works of Art for your house~ I can just tell you are envious! :)
And on a separate note, I had questions about my job charts. This is our Florida Goals Job Chart. It contains Extra things around here that the kids can do to earn a bit of spending money while on our trip. It does NOT include their expected job chart that they do everyday. I stopped printing that one simply because they know what is on it and what they have to do. We've been doing it long enough that they don't need the visual chart in front of them. I just ask them if they have done it and away they go. The expected job chart consists of... get dressed, make bed, brush teeth, brush hair and eat breakfast. Why is eat breakfast on the list? They were so slow at breakfast that I was constantly nagging them to eat, as soon as I put it on the chart they wanted to have the check in the box and if they didn't eat nicely they didn't get it. Simply put~ it was an easy check and a huge Bummer if they missed out. I also put brush hair on the list simply because there was so much whining when I go to do their hair for the day. Now if there are tangles and whining it isn't my fault and they can't complain to me. Next time they better try harder to get the knots, then it won't hurt. Don't think I'm a big meany, I use the spray conditioner and I am gentle, I just have one child who overexaggerates the amount of PAIN I put her through and the tears fall instantly. I can get the brush out and she will whine and complain. It was so bad that Annie would pick up the hair brush and instead of calling it a brush, she called it Owie Owie! C'mon, that's pathetic!

So on this Extra job chart, I have listed... Books, Bedroom, Table, Laundry, Toyroom, Toy pickup, Jakey, Coat Hooks. Oh and I forgot to put Saturday and Sunday on the chart, so they are just written underneath. We hang this chart on the fridge with the red pen so it is always there. Now let me explain this list, I am not breaking child labor laws here, they aren't in charge of doing the laundry or anything. This is a list of things that they can do if they would like to in order to earn money, but I will not nag to get these things done, it all has to be on their terms, without being asked. Reading books on their own or to each other, picking up their bedroom without being asked, setting or clearing the table without being asked, putting away their own laundry without being asked, picking up the toyroom, picking up toys around the house, feeding the cat without being asked, cleaning up the hats, coats, mittens, boots...without being asked. Notice that Lolo got 5 in a row on Sunday, this brings me to my Mother Theresa story...

So we went to Chuck E. Cheese's on Friday for her Bday, had lots of leftover tokens, but had to leave in order to make it back home for cake and ice cream with the family. Hubby promised we would go back after church, so we did. While we were at Chuck E. Cheese's, the kids had a blast. They really enjoyed collecting all the tickets and watching their stash grow. I was feeding the baby, so Hubby went and cashed in the tickets for some loot. The kids all ran back to the table to show off their treasures. As we are putting coats on to go, Lolo realizes she still has a few tickets in her pocket. She tells her dad, who tells her that is isn't enough to get a prize, maybe she should give them to that little girl over there who is eating with her family, then she could add them to her tickets and get a prize..."wouldn't that make her happy?"

Lolo: "No dad, I don't think she needs them. I know who I want to give them to. A boy, I think he would be really happy if he could have a prize."

Searching all over for the boy... she finds him and runs over to give him the tickets. Much to my surprise, she ran right up to a man... he turned around and I knew. I knew what she was thinking. I knew that she has the sweetest, most caring heart. This man was a dad. This man was standing next to a game. This dad was standing next to his son on the game and waiting. He was waiting for the game to end. As it ended, he bent over to show his son the tickets, who smiled a gigantic smile. The dad said thank you to my Lolo, who skipped happily back to us~ very Proud. The dad then bent over and scooped up his son to help him stand. He then wiped the drool off his son's face, stood behind him holding him up~ supporting him in all the ways a father can support a son. He was there for him, supporting him. The son was just as tall as the dad. I had watched them together while the kids were out playing. This dad walked all through the games supporting his son, helping him in and out of seats. Enjoying the excitement on his face when he saw a game with a noise. I cannot explain their relationship, only to say that he supported him...

And my little girl saw that, out of everyone in the building she chose him, she brought another joyous smile to his face and to the face of the dad supporting him.

I hugged her and cried.

She got lots of extra marks on her chart...