Chore Chart

With Alex getting older {a whopping 2 years and 4 months!} he's starting to understand more simple commands and actually want to help with simple tasks around the house. He's certainly able to have a rudimentary understanding of taking on some responsibility for himself, caring for his personal belongings, as well as just generally contributing to the way we run this house. I decided that a chore chart would be a fun way to start having some consistency in his tasks as well as provide a certain level of motivation. There are many things that he does, and will continue to do, around the house to contribute simply because he is a member of this family. However, I do not think that rewarding him for accomplishing certain tasks is going to provide a false motivation. He is two. And really, if you think about it, that's the way life works. When you get older, you get a job. If you do your job well and satisfactory {although, I'm really not sure that those are mandatory criterion anymore} then you get paid for it. Except in the case of a two year old, he gets stickers and pennies.

I had a list of chores I wanted ours to include, but also took some ideas from here. Ultimately, I decided that the only way to get exactly the chart I had in mind was to create my own. So I did, using a MS Word table. I also made two versions. One for his upstairs chores that hangs on his bedroom door and one for downstairs chores that I placed on the flat side of our island.

Please keep in mind, he is not expected to complete every single chore every day. Things like feeding the kitties and brushing his teeth are things that he already does each day. Other chores like helping unload the dishwasher and carrying groceries are things he does periodically when I ask him to help. And still there are other tasks like picking up his toys before each nap/bed time or making his bed are things that I'd like to be more consistent in training him to do.

Each time he completes a chore, he can put a sticker in the respective block. At the end of each week, we will tally up his stickers and he will receive a penny for each completed chore. He will definitely have a saving & spending jar and I'm up in the air about a "giving" jar. Eventually, that is a must-have; however, I'm not sure at two he'll really comprehend the concept. I might wait until he's a little older and can better understand that principle.

downstairs chores

upstairs chores

his first star!

What about you? Do you have chore charts and/or reward systems in your home?

A Birthday Party ~ What Not to Do

Yesterday Alex turned two {*sniffles*} and we had such a fun day. However, in hindsight there might have been several things I would have done a little differently. As such, the day may have been more appropriately named "Alex's Redneck Birthday".

For example.

#1) Don't forget to buy birthday wrapping paper. Otherwise, everything will get wrapped in tissue paper.

{You're probably dying to know how I made that #2 out of a streamer. Maybe I should add it to my Pinterest board.}

#2) Apparently TWO is kind of a big deal and deserves birthday candles. Who knew. In a pinch, you can always use "Homemade Walnut Candles" and a blowtorch.

Maybe I'll post a DIY tutorial for the "walnut candles" and add that to Pinterest too. Or I can just do it now.

Step 1: Stare at your wife in disbelief for a few minutes and repeatedly ask "really!? You don't have birthday candles?!"
Step 2: Ask for toothpicks
Step 3: Repeat Step 1
Step 4: In true problem-solver fashion, go to the garage and find a piece of leftover walnut
Step 5: Break off 2 splinters {aka: "candles"}
Step 6: Grab the blowtorch on the way back into the house

#3) Giving your child copious amounts of sugar in a 6 hour time frame will not result in a nap until 4pm.

Like Birthday Cake donuts from Starbucks...

"treeeeeat!"

and Twizzlers. {no photo op for this one}

...and chocolate milk

...and ketchup

...and ice cream sundaes.

And to top it all off, make sure you give him some Mega Blocks that you bought from a consignment sale for $3.50 on half price day. And don't you dare sanitize them.

 Happy Birthday, Alex! Because of you, Levi is going to have the best.birthday.ever.

Elmo Cupcakes

For Alex's "almost 2 playdate", I made him Elmo cupcakes. I think every kid born post-1999 has probably been obsessed with Elmo, so I figured they would be a hit. Sugar and Elmo...in kid-world, I don't think it gets much better than that.

I didn't really have a clue on I was going to make them and I knew that I wasn't going to buy all sorts of fancy-schmancy equipment. Enter the fabulous world of Pinterest. If you're not Pinteresting, you have absolutely no idea what you're missing. It's like sugar & Elmo for grown-ups. :) Anyway, I searched Pinterest for "Elmo Cupcakes" and found this DIY post as my inspiration...and then promptly decided not to do it anything like that. Okay, not really. But I basically saw how she did it and then made up my own version.

I ended up making 16 cupcakes and used the leftover batter to make a mini cake for Aaron. I haven't been keeping much dessert in the house lately, so I start to feel bad for him after a while. I made the Delicious Chocolate Cake {yes, that's really what it's called!} from one of the best cookbooks ever, the Mennonite Country Style Recipes cookbook and a powdered sugar frosting from the same cookbook. With a few modifications, of course. {like using coconut oil and dark cocoa}

I should have thought to do what all the professionals do and take a picture of all the ingredients used, but alas, I am no professional. However, this is what you need:

cupcakes {any type you choose}
frosting
oreo cookies
unholy amounts of red dye
large marshmallows
chocolate chips
orange jelly beans

While your cupcakes are cooling, this is a good time to prepare the eyes & mouth. Cut your marshmallows in half, each Elmo will need a total of one marshmallow. Next, I separated the oreos, then used a knife to try to cut them in half. The ones that came out fairly well got used, the broken pieces got eaten. :) There's got to be an easier way to do it than that, but it worked.

Once the cupcakes cool, spread a thin layer of frosting over the cakes. Not a lot, just enough so things will "stick". It doesn't even have to be red at this point. Next, take 2 halves of a marshmallow and place cut-side down on the frosting to create the eyes.  Then add an orange jelly bean for the nose, then pick a piece of cookie that looks good size-wise and add it for the mouth.

Once I attached the facial parts, I needed to dye the rest of the frosting. My mom said you can purchasee a red dye paste that works well, because with red liquid dye, things often come out more pinkish. Well, these came out pretty red...so you can imagine the amount of red dye I added. And with every guilt-ridden drop {or squeeze!!} I tried not to think about this. At this point, you could have gotten all fancy schmancy and bought a bag & tip to make the "fur", but if you're cheap like me, a sandwich bag will work just fine. I loaded in the frosting and snipped off a tiny piece of one corner. Then start squeezing & dabbing the frosting all around the cupcakes and the pre-attached eyes, nose, & mouth. You can make it look fur-ish without having a special tip.

Once all the cupcakes had fur, then I needed to put on the eyes. I melted some chocolate chips with a little bit of milk, then loaded into a sandwich bag the same way I did with the frosting. I placed a dab of chocolate on each marshmallow then added a regular chocolate chip. The dab of melted chocolate was just to make the chocolate chip eyeball stick.

Voila! Elmo cupcakes! It had been warm here, so I stored them in the fridge overnight on cooling racks. It worked perfect to do it that way since I was leaving the house fairly early to run an errand go to a consignment sale before heading to the park. Since I'd put them in the fridge, and packaged them in some Tupperware in a cooler, they didn't melt all over the place before we got to eat them.

It was so much fun to do a "mommy thing" for Alex. He's finally at that point where I think he will start to appreciate these kinds of things. And it was extremely rewarding that when I showed him the cupcakes, he said, "ELMO!" :) {instead of, "huh?!"}

Alex {almost} turns two!

The weather has been so mild and nice the past couple of months, that often you'll find a group of us mom's & kiddo's from church at the park on Friday mornings. We pack a picnic lunch, meet at around 11am and let the kids do their thing. Alex will turn 2 at the end of the month {yikes!} and Katie was 3 this month, so we decided to do a "birthday playdate" last Friday for both of them. It really was no different than any other playdate, except that there was cupcakes and they wore birthday hats.

I decided to make Elmo cupcakes since all of a sudden Alex loves Elmo. Apparently it's some sort of "right of passage" for two year olds. Since we were going to have an Elmo cupcake playdate, we decided to wear red. {Although "we" have no idea why we're wearing red, much less what "red" is.}

Even Levi got in on the action. Unfortunately for him, his shirt says "Hug Me". :)

"ELMOOOOO!"

When we got to the park, Katie's mommy gave Alex an awesome birthday hat!

...which he actually wore for quite a while performing various activities.

Like sliding...

and running...

 

and riding cars...

Hi Levi!

 ...and, or course, while eating cupcakes!

After a while, we decided to just hold our hat instead.

After cupcakes, we had fun playing with birthday noise makers!

 A couple of sweet friends even brought us gifts.

"Wooooow!!!"

We had such a fun morning playing and visiting with our friends! We stayed well past naptime, but it's not every day that you almost turn TWO. 

Goat Milk Soap ~ Dolce Latte Farm

I've been interested in purchasing some goat milk soap for quite some time now, but hadn't really done any research on where to buy any. I obviously knew that I'd prefer to purchase it directly from a goat farmer who uses their own livestock's raw milk, rather than some mass-market corporation. If even is such a corporation that sells goat milk soap...I can only assume that, like everything else, there is. What piqued my interest again most recently was when I started to make my own laundry detergent, I'd read that some people will substitute goat milk soap for the Fels Naptha.

You may have seen on Facebook recently where I posted how I'd traded with a goat farmer from Alabama some cloth diapers for some goat milk soap. And yes, truly, I did. :) I am part of an obsession forum {diaperswappers.com} where you can buy/sell/trade almost anything under the sun relating to baby, maternity, or cloth-diapering. I had four cotton-terry cloth diapers listed for sale and I received a message from Eva at Dolce Latte Farm asking if I would be willing to trade some bars of their goat milk soap for the diapers. The answer {stopping short of a screeching YEEEES!!!!} was a more appropriate "of course!". {or maybe I did screech just a little.}

Laugh if you will, but I haven't been this excited for a package in a while! And I was not disappointed when it arrived yesterday. Each bar of soap was individually wrapped with a label and placed in a colored tulle bag. Even sweeter was how the bag color coordinated with the scent description of the soap! She told me that I could pick out any 3 of their scents. It was actually rather difficult to choose only three, but in the end I picked: Ginger Lime, Orange Creamsicle, and Vanilla Oatmeal Swirl. And they all smell wonderful.

The Vanilla Oatmeal Swirl actually has oatmeal in it. I love that. Not to mention the rustic appearance it gives the bar. Because, as we know, I love good presentation. :)

 

So far, I have only tried the Orange Creamsicle, but I loved it! When I chose that particular scent she told me that it would not be very strong, and it was not, but it was still lovely. {It comes out more in the shower} I'm not sure exactly the word to describe it, but the soap really did feel rich, or thick, or extra-moisturizing! And, of course, I felt clean.

Anyway, they didn't give me anything to promote their product. Really. I am just excited that I've finally been able to try goat milk soap, that it's come from a local-ish {ok, Alabama!} organic farm, and that, not only is it pretty, but it works great, smells great, and is free from all sorts of unnatural junk. 

Their site is under construction, but you can still view the info page about their handcrafted goat milk soap. All the soap is made with the sweet milk of their organically-fed Nigerian Dwarf Dairy Goats, 100% pure essential oils and natural clays. The goats are fed a soy-free organic grain diet and all the oils are 100% organic, so it truly is a green, organic soap. Eva is super-sweet and she's hoping that selling the soap will allow her to stay home full-time. In my {humble} opinion, I think that, considering the product, it's a totally realistic expectation.

The soap sells for $7 a bar or 3 for $20, or 10 for $65 ~ plus shipping. Three {3} bars can fit into a small flat-rate box and she can fit up to 30 bars in a medium box. {so, for example, it would be around $25, including shipping, for 3 bars.} If you wanted to place an order, find out an actual shipping cost, or just need further info, you can email her at info@dolcelattefarm.com.

After Eva read this post, she did tell me that there are mass producers of  goat milk soap, as well as handmade soaps. However, she hasn't seen any that use 100% organic food grade oils and milk from organically raised & fed goats. So it truly is a unique and special product. I hope you can place an order at least once to give it a try and help this sweet Mama get her business off the ground!