School

Last night we had entrance conferences with the kids. It so surreal that school is starting in a week. I feel like I was just picking the kids up form their last day of school. This mommy is getting kind of weepy knowing the summer is ending. The fights drove me CRAZY. The begging to get my kids out of bed to get to activities was a pain in the butt. BUT...I have completely enjoyed this summer with my kids. We had a lot of time together. We enjoyed the pool and the lake immensely this summer! It was great to meet their teachers. It is going to be a fabulous year with great teachers. Braeden wishes that he could go in a time machine to be able to start school faster. I am so glad that my kids enjoy school. I HOPE they will always enjoy getting up to go to school. Emma's teacher is in Patsy's old classroom. That just means there are good bones in there and she will excel this year!! Braeden got a fabulous teacher that taught Uncle Zak when he was little. Braeden of course brought it up to her immediately. I get one more year of my Charlie home with only preschool. I don't think we talk about Kindergarten for him until the day of. He gets to meet his preschool teacher on Wednesday. Ahhh...we are going to enjoy this weekend with time at the pool with cousins and days at the lake to water ski and go on boat rides.

Chore Chart

This week I finally made chore charts for my kids. It has been a long process of finding the right one and what would work for my kids. I searched the web and put together a few ideas into one amazing chore chart.

First I started with a cookie sheet and glass gems from the dollar store, magnets from Wal-Mart, 1 inch punch, mod podge, foam brush, glue stick, E6000 glue and fun paper

I then printed jobs to punch out and glue on the back of the gems. Here is the website I used here. I cut them out with the 1 inch punch and glued them face up to the back of the gems with the glue stick. I then spread mod podge on the back. I laid them out to dry for an hour.

 

After they dried I glued the magnets on the back with the E6000 glue. I let them dry overnight. While they dried I made up how to distinguish if the jobs need to be done, were done or are jobs that can earn money. I came up with this:

Then instead of gluing the sheet to the cookie sheet I decided to just tape it. I like change and know that I will want to change out the paper based on the time of year or just when I find cute paper I want to use. By gluing it, it makes it harder to change.

I put it all together and then remembered I had to drill holes in the cookie sheet to run ribbon through it.

Then I ran ribbon through it to hang it up on the wall.

 

Here are all the chore charts completed. They turned out better than I thought. The kids enjoy being able to move their jobs around. It has worked well to tell them they have to get them done before they can do other things for the day. The money jobs are great too because they can earn a little bit during the week during jobs that are over and above their normal day to day jobs. We didn't want to pay them for making their bed, brushing their teeth, cleaning their room or the normal jobs they have to do. They get paid to empty the dishwasher, clean the sink, dust, vacuum, etc. It is working great so far but it has only been a week!

Eventful Week

We have had the most fun week of the summer. Monday Braeden learned how to water ski! Hard to believe at 9 he can get up on skis. He looks so little skiing behind the pontoon boat. He doesn't need the speed boat to pull him out of the water because he is only maybe 60lbs soaking wet. My little boy is growing up. He went back to the lake Thursday night and got up without a problem! My kids are such water kids!

Emma had dance tryouts on Thursday. I am proud to say we have now entered a new stage in dance. She made rec team and hip hop team. I am so proud of her!! Her best friend tried out with her and they both made the same hip hop team. Emma is a year younger than her so they are on different rec teams. The girls were pretty bummed because they have danced together for the last 3 years. Her friends mom and I are bummed as well but excited that they can at least dance hip hop together. We will do play dates and it will be perfect!

Charlie has started putting his face under the water! This is HUGE! He has been so hesitant because he hates getting water in his ear. Friday my neighbor, Jen, and I took our kids to the pool to play. Charlie hangs out in the kiddie pool and the other kids get free rain of the pool and diving boards. Maddie, Jen's daughter, was swimming around in the kiddie pool and Charlie started copying her. He even held his breath and swam towards Jen and I kicking his legs! What an accomplishment. I couldn't be more proud.

My kids have had the best week!! Tonight they are staying at the lake for the night and I get a much needed alone night. Nick is in Madison on a golf trip with his brother. I am catching up on uploading pictures, updating my website and all other work related things that can never get done!

Lake Weekend

Our weekends are filled with fun family adventures and our nights during the week have finally are not filled full with sports. We can enjoy just relaxing during the evenings. We have been to Milwaukee to visit Nick's brother and his family. The girls are getting so big and we had such a great time visiting everyone! This weekend we spent time at the lake with Nick's cousins, aunts, uncle and grandma. I was super busy with orders for Saturday and Sunday so I didn't join the family until Sunday. The weekend was perfect. Today the kids and I went back out to spend the afternoon with everyone again before they all left. We soaked up the sun, swam in the lake and enjoyed some fun boat rides. Braeden has been trying to get up on water skis a few times this summer. Today he was determined to get up and he was up on his first try! Uncle Dick was in the water helping him and his papa was driving the boat. I can't tell you how exciting it was for everyone to watch. The boat was filled full with cousins, aunts, nana, papa and grandma cheering him on. What a site to see your 9 year old skiing! He can't be more than 60lbs soaking wet and looked so little skiing. He wasn't sure what to do once up so skied for a little while and then let go. He got up 2 more times and 1 time he got up without any help. We are so proud of him! What a great way to end a fabulous weekend. Didn't bring my camera out and left my phone in the house; which is probably a good thing because I probably would've tossed in the lake I was so excited!

Tim & Kenny

I have been a terrible blogger this summer. With the kids being home and a booked baking schedule I just don't find the time like I use too. I am trying to do better.

Sunday my sisters and I went to the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert. We had such a blast! It was quite the experience and frankly overwhelming. It started at 4:30 and went until 11pm. It was a long hot day but so worth every second. We had fabulous seats and sat next to some fun people as well. The security guys by us were very friendly and lets us get away with a lot more than we probably should have. I was able to get some really good pictures. I even ran closer to the front and snapped a few quickly. The pictures were harder to get when Kenny came on because of the lighting and my crappy old camera. I wish I would have brought my DSLR but what a lug that would've been to haul around. Molly, Ali and I stayed in a hotel for the night. It was the best decision we could've made. It was a great way to send Ali back to Michigan after some good sister time. We sure miss her when she isn't here! Here are some pictures from the concert that I took:

HHHEEELLLLOOOO OUT THERE

Geesh....it has been along time since I last posted. We have been adjusting to the non-school schedule. It hasn't left much free time. We still get up early and run around all day. The past few weeks have been eventful for all of us. I had 7 weddings, 7 graduation parties, birthdays, baby showers, bachlorette parties, retirement parties...etc! Oh and did I mention Senator Amy Klobuchar placed an order that was shipped to Washington DC?! Needless to say it has been a busy few weeks for me. Braeden has been busy as well. He is in golf and swimming and both take up a lot of his time. He had a swim meet Father's Day weekend and has another one coming up this weekend. There really isn't much down time to get on the computer and update things. I have pictures and videos to get up but haven't found the time to do it. Plus, 50 Shades of Grey Trilogy consumed my life for a good week! ;) This week is a little slower so I am going to TRY to get caught up on life. We shall see if that happens. I have had a lot of consults these last few weeks. Braeden has baseball on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Emma has softball at the same time. Nick and I have been switching who goes to which game. When we have some down time we have been heading to the pool and the lake. Only 13 more days until the Tim McGraw and Kenny Chesney concert but who's counting! I will try to get pictures up tonight when the kids are in bed. Today is a great day for the slip n slide so I am sure I will have some fun pictures of the kids trying it out.

Stomach Bug

The last day of school is tomorrow, Thursday, and we have had the stomach bug at our house since Friday. UGH....it started with Emma on Friday morning. She missed the school festival that night and was so sad. It is something the kids look forward to every year. She was also suppose to have a friend sleepover so we had to reschedule :(. It was only a 24 hour bug and she felt a lot better by that evening and back to herself by the next day. Monday evening the bug visited Braeden. Poor kid wakes us up in the night and said..'I got sick but I can still go to donuts with dad in the morning.' He tried to clean it up himself so that he could go to school :( Broke my heart! Tuesday was a hard day for him to miss. He had to miss donuts with dad, Kopischke Cash Auction and fast food lunch. He was so bummed out! He didn't want to eat or drink anything because he was nervous to get sick. He was too weak to go to school today so he had to stay home and miss his class picnic. He is SAD and bummed that he has missed everything. He is finally feeling better and seems back to himself this evening. Charlie, Emma and I were playing outside and the bug visited Charlie. Poor kid has had his head in bucket since 4:45pm. It is now 11:15 and he is still getting sick. He is so thirsty and we have been giving him 2 tsps of water at a time. He falls asleep and within 20 minutes is up again getting sick. We are in for the long haul tonight. I am just hopeful that this little bug will not visit Nick and I or Dean and Mary. They came over to watch Braeden and Charlie today so that I could bake. I am grateful for all their help and don't want them to get sick because of us. Say some prayers that Charlie can crash now and not get sick anymore.