Organization Update

So it's been almost two weeks since we organized the kids rooms. And, I'm very happy to say that it has been maintained! The soccer bucket is fabulous! Here's an example: On Tuesday, Zoe was supposed to have soccer practice at 5:30 pm followed by all three soccer players having pictures made at 7:00 pm. By around 3:00, Zoe's coach had called and cancelled practice and the boys coach had called and cancelled pictures. So, since it had rained all day and it looked like we were going to be inside for the night, the kids were playing dress up and whatever. At 5:20, Adam calls me and tells me that Zoe's pictures were actually at 5:30, not 7:00 and they were still taking them! He also says that no pictures have been cancelled, so the boys should probably be dressed too since we wanted a picture of all three of them. Okay, so I pulled out the soccer bucket and was able to produce 3 soccer jerseys, 3 pairs of shorts, 3 pairs of soccer socks, 3 pairs of shin guards and 3 pairs of soccer cleats in about 45 seconds. We ran around like crazy people getting dressed (since Zoe is really the only one who can get all of that stuff on by herself) and got out the door. We got the soccer field at 5:38! I'm not kidding! Now, I was sweating and driving as fast as the speed limit would allow me (now I have people in the car who look at my spedometer and get on to me when I am speeding), but we were there.

On another note, this weekend I decided I was going to organize some other things. I realize that I have a small army that can and needs to help with running our household. I also feel like I need to say that I am not naturally an organize person. I don't think in lists, so I usually just assign tasks to the kids as needed. This doesn't always work. So, Sunday night, I sat down and made a list of all of the household chores. I divided the list into things that needed to be done daily, things that needed to be done twice and week and the things that only need to be done once a week. Then I assigned children to each of the tasks. I assigned dusting, sweeping, vacuuming, laundry (collecting the clothes, washing, drying and taking them out - I will fold them - each child puts their own stuff away) bathrooms, feeding the dog and keeping the kitchen table wiped down. I made a colorful chart with clip art for each chore with the days of the week that they need to be done and the name of the child responsible for the chore. The kids loved it! I put it on the refrigerator and they have checked it each day and done their chores! We told them that if they do their chores for a month, then they will receive a reward. We haven't really decided what the reward would be, but they have been doing the chores without a promise of anything. I kept anything having to do with the kitchen for me, but the rest of it has been going really well. I am finally using my little army!