I’ve seen many different list of age appropriate chores for children pinned on pinterest. Most all of them say that kids as young as 5 years old can help with loading the dishwasher and putting clean dishes away. I had personally let my oldest (5trs) put the clean silverware away but had never gone as far as putting the rest of the dishes away, let alone loading the dishwasher. Today I decided to give it a try.

First I had Abby (4yrs) scrap all the lunch dishes. This was something they were use to doing so no big deal.

Then I had Anabel scoop the lunch food into a tuber ware and put it in the frig. They love to help with chores in general that adding another task was very exciting to them. Usually I don’t have them do to much in the kitchen in less it is a designated time where they help me make cookies or something.

Then I had Anabel get up on a chair and had Abby bring her the clean dishes in the dishwasher for her to put away. Abby was like ‘We are doing team work!’

Then Abby took her turn on the chair at the sink. I showed her how to rinse the dishes and hand them to her sister which in turn Anabel would put them in the dishwasher. I took time to show and explain to them how we fill the dishwasher to get the most dishes in at a time ect. They adored this! Anabel even learned how to load the soap and turn on the dishwasher.

It did take a little long then if I was to do it by myself but I felt it was so worth it and I was very glad I gave it a go. I’m not saying I’ll always have them help me do the dishes but I think it was a good chore for them. I also think that Anabel is so detailed oriented that she will learn the correct way to load the dishwasher fairly quickly.

Overall very successful!

For the last few days i have been working on Matthew/Anabel’s birthday parties that are in April. Me and Bob heard a talk show on the Christian Radio last night talking about addictions (mainly they seemed to be talking about video games) but they that anything that makes you think about it even when you aren’t doing it is an addiction. Well i guess i have been addicted to party planning here lately because I've been thinking about it constantly! LOL

The house has been being forgotten, in between homeschooling, taking care of an infant, cooking dinner, party planning ect. I've had little time for house work except for the bare minimum.

The last days of planning I've gotten almost all the party thought up but this morning i worked on getting the details worked out and it put into a party ‘outline’. I also made a list of the DIY projects i plan to do, figured out what supplies i have on hand and what i needed to get. Then i used my OneNote and by using tables worked out my shopping list per store, and about how much it should cost me. Some things are variables that i won’t know the price until i get to the store like on food and candy but the other stuff i worked out. There is a ton of DIY!

Since it’s Matthew’s first birthday we are combining it with Anabel’s since they are only 6 days apart. Later when they are older we will probably do them separately. Our theme is ‘Never Neverland’ so there is a good girl theme and also boy theme. I’m pretty excited about it. Now lets just hope i can get all my DIY projects done in time!

So far all my birthdays up until now i drop the ball on. Like last birthday was Abby’s and i planned a craft and games and when we actually got to the party i totally forgot about the games and crafts. I felt like such a failure!

This time i made myself a party outline, outlining all the activities and which ones should go first. Hopefully this will help me keep everything on track! I’m still learning!

Then i decided to switch gears and work on the house. The girls helped me with this a lot by picking up the clutter.

After lunch Matthew woke up from his nap him and the girls went into the girls room for quiet time while i cleaned more. I:

• Did the dishes
• Cleaned the bathroom counter, sink and toilet
• Swept bathroom, hall and dinning room
• Mopped living room, bathroom, hall and dinning room
• Vacuumed living room and dinning room
• and started laundry

i feel good about what ive done so far but my brain is still going on what i should do next!

Such a relief!!! Only thing i done had done are the holiday magnets because Bobby didn’t cut me enough tiles but that is no biggie. Now it’s done and 100% usable.

I haven’t figured a permanent home for these yet but it will be something like this. I will have the magnets sorted in jars for easy finding and putting them up. I’m hoping to do something to get the ticket rolls hung on the wall but i’m not sure. The girls were so excited today to get a few tickets from things they have done the last few days. The tickets were here yet then so i told them as soon as they come that they would be able to put their earned tickets into their jars.

Also one of the caddy’s came today (Anabel’s). Abby’s should come tomorrow i think. This is just a few of the things i have for each caddy. I need to get a couple more items.

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Chore Chart (1)