Is your child up for a little bribery?

Caroline has been asking for a new DS game the past few weeks. Since she lost one that she got for Christmas within the first week, I told her that I was not going to buy her another one. She would have to earn it. Well, she took that challenge and has been begging for chores to do for the past week! She has helped me in the yard, around the house and kept her room clean.

She now is our trash picker-upper on Trash Days. She empties all of the bathroom and bedroom trash cans on Wednesday nights. She also cheerfully cleaned the toilets, too! I told her that Daddy owes her a big thank you since those are his duties. :)

I also came up with another chore - Getting ready for school! School mornings are bad. I am rushing around getting myself ready. Scott is trying to get Cooper ready and Caroline can waste 20 minutes brushing her hair if you let her. We made a checklist together of all of the things that she is responsible for in the morning. If she is downstairs and ready to go at 7:30, I will sign her sheet and will give her a quarter. She has been doing great for the past three mornings. I sure hope she keeps it up! DS games aren't cheap! Now, if we can just find a way to bribe Cooper.....

Goodbye Kindergarten, Hello First Grade!

Caroline started First Grade last week and is loving it! Her teacher sent me an email after the first week and said that Caroline "comes into school happy each morning and is self-motivated". I about fell on the floor. Grumpy Gus "happy" in the morning? AND self-motivated? Really?

Not any less important, Cooper moved up to her 4 year old Pre-K class, too! He is now a Dolphin and is very excited to be in Mrs. Tammy's room. He is getting to be such a big boy!

A Week in Review

So, I am a little bit behind in posting....again! Caroline had her open house at school the other week. She got a new teacher to Shady Grove, Mrs. Chapple. She moved from another elementary school in our area. For some reason, there were no girls from her kindergarten class and only one other boy that she knew. I was worried for her socially, but she didn't seem to mind at all.

Cooper hugging on Sis at Open House

This picture cracks me up. Caroline was playing dress-up and Cooper wanted to play, too. If you can't tell by the disguise, that is Cooper in Caroline's Jasmine costume. He even had her play shoes on. Scott was not amused!

Also, Caroline lost two teeth last weekend! The first (bottom right) was lost at our friend's house while the kids were playing. Caroline came in the kitchen with her mouth bleeding and said that she was accidentally kicked. We never found the tooth and aren't sure if she really got kicked or just noticed that it was gone. She was coming in and out of the kitchen eating her dinner so I am thinking that she accidentally ate it? We scoured the playroom and never found the tooth or a stitch of blood.

The very next day, her second lost tooth of the weekend (the big right front) was assisted by Cooper's train track "accidentally" colliding with Caroline's face. We heard a scream from downstairs and can only imagine how it happened. It was loose already, but not that loose. She didn't actually lose it until about 2:00 am that next morning. I awoke to Caroline in my face telling me that she lost her tooth. I told her the tooth fairy had already made her rounds that night and she would have to catch her the next night. (Sorry, Mama needs her sleep!)