Holy Crap! Someone else cooked dinner!

Tonight Alex & Maryssa worked together to cook our family dinner.

Did you get that? Read it again.

WOOOOOO!

Here is what they set out to create:

And here is what dinner looked like:

It was really good, and I didn't even have to do the dishes (thanks, Pete!)

Let's hope this is a new trend!

Em

Birthday Party #13

Having birthday parties for kids is a parental responsibility that we all have a love/hate relationship with.

On the one hand, you're happy to see your child grow, get older, smarter and progress through the next phase. You feel proud of them (and yourself) for making it to these milestones and you are happy to celebrate with them.

On the other hand, they are growing older, and they'll never be 2, 6 or 10 years old again. It's sad to see those days pass. Pride in your child is often overshadowed by the knowledge that things are changing and will continue to change regardless of your desire to keep them just like this for just a little bit longer.

Also, throwing birthday parties is hard work. And doing it for a set of twin girls throws another layer on top of that.

This year, the girls turned 13 and requested (with much begging and pleading) a sleep over. Thinking that this would get me off the hook for other activities, I agreed. Not knowing that what they meant was a sleep over PLUS all the other normal birthday activities.

I'm pleased to say that this past weekend we survived an invasion of eight 13-year-old girls for an overnight party that included an Amazing Race-themed scavenger hunt, make-your-own pizza dinner, cake and singing, movies and assorted girl-style activities.

I'm still recovering, and the girls will probably never catch up on their sleep. But we made it through and now all I have to do is wait an worry until they are 14 and goodness only knows what will be required of me then.

Em

A for Effort?

The girls are home for the Summer. Remember Summer break? How awesome it was to be home doing nothing? I remember not having to do homework, sleeping late and watching movies all day.

Well, my girls get a lot of that, but I also make them do a few chores every day. Nothing difficult or strenuous, mind you, just things like empty the dishwasher, or fold some clothes. And mostly they do a really good job.

Except yesterday.

Yesterday, they folded an entire basket of DIRTY clothes and dutifully delivered them to my room (they were all mine and Pete's clothes.)

I can understand the mistake - their chore was to "fold clean laundry" and I wasn't very specific about exactly where said clean laundry was. However, there was clean laundry IN THE DRYER that they did not touch.

I'm not sure if I can give them an "A" for effort or not. I'm thinking more of a C+.

Em

Technology marches on

Last night there was a Bourne movie on. So guess what we did? We watched it (you can't not watch a Bourne movie.) Then there was another one on after it! So we watched that one to.

You know how at the end of The Bourne Ultimatum, Jason Bourne gives all those classified documents to the lady CIA agent, and she goes inside and sends it in so that she can expose the bad guys? Well, do you remember how she does that? She FAXES it in.

So as she is sending the document, Alex who is sitting right next to me says, "What's that?" and I said "It's a fax machine." 

And then she said, "What does that do?"

So there you have it folks. Fax machines are officially OUT. The next generation has never even heard of them. 

Related: I'm feeling a little old today.

Em

Next steps...

Oops - my last post was four months ago. I'm shocked at how much has happened since then:

First off - the girls have turned from "tweens" to actual "teens" - they're 13 years old! 8th grade!

Pete had knee surgery. But you already knew that from FB, twitter and my loud screaming.

Lacrosse - the girls play, I cheer, and their team wins tournaments - three out of four of them this summer! It was awesome and I can't wait to do it again in the fall.

Summer - its here and its hot. It makes everything harder - running, doing my hair, and finding things for the girls to do. On the other hand, its more relaxed, everyone seems happy and my next river vaca is right around the corner.

So where will we go from here? Who knows. I told someone recently that having older kids doesn't make it easier, just different. I'm sure 8th grade will bring all new trials and tribulations. But first we have to get through this week, so that's what we'll focus on!

Em

Dirty Little Secrets – Getting the Kids to do Chores

Often I find myself in a conversation with another mom who laments that she just cannot get her kids to do anything to help around the house. And I’ll admit, there was a time when I felt the same way.

However, I instituted a few changes at our house, mostly related to allowance and privileges. See if any of these can work around your house. And if you have any dirty little secrets you’d like to share with me or other moms about getting kids to do chores, please add them to the comments – we all want to know!

1 – Allowance. Money is the best bribe. I started out at the beginning with a $1 allowance. Hey, it was way more than they had, and they didn’t really need anything. Now they’re in 7^th grade and we’re up to $5 per week (which I hear is low in this age bracket.)

2 – Set the expectations clearly at the beginning. When you institute the allowance, make it clear that it’s in exchange for helping around the house. Don’t be specific about the chores – i.e. do this every day and get a gold star. Instead, have them do one or two things every day that YOU NEED DONE. Some days, its laundry, other days, sweep the floor. This helps them see that keeping the house is all kinds of things. And keep the chores short and easy. No one (not even you) wants to spend all afternoon doing chores. But if they can match the socks and then they’re done, then the commitment is low enough that they’ll do it.

3 – No negotiations. If you’re willing to negotiate, the kids can see weakness at the very beginning. Your rule is law and they have no say.

4 – Pull the allowance when they slack off. When we first started our allowance-for-chores practice, things were rosy for about two weeks. Then they started to slack off. I mentioned it, but didn’t really get a response. So on payday – BAM! NO ALLOWANCE! Not a cent. “But Mom, I did the dishes the other day.” Sorry kid, these are my rules, I hold the money, and you agreed to these terms. Suck it up and do a better job, or no cash.

5 – Stop paying for things they want. That’s right. The allowance is a way for them to not only earn a pocket full of cash, but to use it to get the things they want. Sometimes I even agree to pay for half. Most things cost more than a weeks worth of allowance, so even by paying half, it costs them a substantial amount of their savings to get that thing.

6 – Give bonuses. Yep, for good behavior.

7 – If the money isn’t enough of a bribe, then turn to privileges. The computer, the game console, the music. Whatever they value. The message isn’t that you’re depriving them, it’s that the house has to be taken care of before they can enjoy these extra things. Hell, you don’t get to go to bed or play games until you finish your chores, why should they? If they help around the house, they can enjoy the fruits of that labor. Again, you’re not asking them to spend hours doing chores. If they can just sort the laundry, they’ll be done and you won’t have to ask them again.

Depending on the age of your kids, these tactics can work pretty well. I started with Alex & Maryssa when they were around 8 and have progressively built on both the allowance and the difficulty of the chores. I typically will leave a post-it on the counter with one or two things I need done by the time I’m home from work. Usually, its done and I don’t ask any questions. On they days they forget, a gentle reminder can often kick them into gear and its complete by dinner time.

One day I’ll Write a Book

Here are the names of the chapters in the book I’m going to write one day. I know all the moms out there will buy it, because this is the story of their lives, too. I’ll just change the names of the characters, you know, to protect the “innocent.”

My Life in Loads of Laundry

Everything is ok, there’s just a lot of blood

Where are my shoes?

Mom! There’s a bug!

What do you want for dinner?

Do I have to eat this?

Can someone feed the dog, please?

Watch where you step…

I’ll ask Santa for it, that way you won’t have to buy it

Will you just stop?!

If you’re a publisher, please feel free to contact me about the rights to my story, I’m totally willing to negotiate.

Our best new recipe so far...

The girls and I are throwing ourselves wholeheartedly into this "trying new recipes" thing for 2013. So the answer is yes, at the January 15th mark, I'm still sticking to my goals!

To date we've tried five new recipes - more than one per week. And the results have been mixed. Two of them had below-average reviews, and we won't be making those again. But three of them were pretty good and will remain in the rotation.

But the best one so far was a real winner, and I'll probably have to make it again next week! I posted a pic on FB, and by popular demand, am providing the recipe below. These are truly delicious. They're not too sweet and are pretty dense, which makes them great for Brinner (one of our favorite dinners around here.) And the recipe makes lots, so there are some left over for the next morning.

I'm really looking forward to eating more of these. I hope you enjoy them too!

Monkey Muffins
(From the January 2011 edition of Taste of Home)

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed ripe bananas
2/3 cup peanut butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the bananas, peanut butter, milk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; add to creamed mixture until moistened. Fold in chips.

Fill greased or paper-lined miniature muffin cups three-fourths full. Bake at 350 for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes.
Yield: 6 dozen.

Emily’s Goals for 2013

Yep. Jumping on the bandwagon here and setting some goals. Hopefully I’ll be able to accomplish a lot towards these, if not totally crush them.

Teach my dogs how to walk on a leash. Seriously, this is a must. Jack will be a challenge, because he’s so chase-oriented. See a rabbit? He’s likely to pull my arm off. But maybe if we start slow and with short distances, it will work. I’d love for him to be able to run with me one day. I think Daisy will be a challenge, too, but only because she’s so hyper.

Try one new recipe every week. This should be simple, since I get about 10 cooking magazines each month.

Make one new delicious dessert every month. Why not reward myself with something yummy? And with that new Kitchen Aid mixer, it should be a piece of cake!

Run two half-marathons this year. I’ve already chosen my first one – the New River Half Marathon on May 5^th. It’ll be on the river roads up in Todd, NC, very near where I did some training last year at Cami’s river house. Can’t wait!

Run 750 miles in 2013. Combining this with my previous goal should make it happen, as long as I can stay healthy and keep my klutz factor low.

Teach Alex & Maryssa to cook, with a goal of having them cook dinner once a week or so by the time they’re in 8^th grade. What? Did I just make a goal for someone else? Well, sometimes the other people in our lives need a little push, or they won’t accomplish anything. So there.

Keep blogging. I mean, we’ll have TEENAGERS this year, so it should be quite interesting. Stay tuned!

Tell me what you’re doing this year – maybe I left something out that needs to be added!