5 year olds

Don't you just love 5 year olds?  They say the darndest things...

Yesterday while driving home he saw clean white smoke off in the distance and exclaimed at the of his lungs, "We have a new pope!"

Please don't mention this to him.  He was a little embarrassed after I explained it to him (though I don't think he has anything to be embarrassed about. :)

The Laundry Routine

I followed some advice from Pinewood Castle and made a laundry chart.  I don't know why I never made one before.  I make charts and lists all the time.  Needless to say, it helped.  It helped a lot! 

It's nothing fancy.  Basically something like the following:

 

• Monday:  Wash darks (Mom, Dad, and 1 yr old's) - save jeans for T
• Tuesday:  Wash the 5 & 7 year old's - add their whites to ours, wash the jeans, save dress clothes
• Wednesday:   Wash our whites
• Thursday:  Boys laundry day (ages 10, 12, 15) - save dress clothes
• Friday:  Girls laundry day (14, 18), wash dress clothes
• Saturday:  Wash towels and sheets

 

Other items are washed as needed. The kids all fold and put away their own clothes (OK - we are working on it with the 5 yr old). 

 

The older kids do their own laundry.  However, very frequently either I or my 14 yr old assistant, will wash the boys clothes.  If they are out working in the yard, as they often do, they bring their hampers to the laundry room and we cycle through for them.

 

This may not appear so funny to anyone else but I took this picture one Friday morning because I found it comical.   The boys' laundry had not gotten finished the day before, and instead of waiting, Terese bumped the older girls' hamper to the front and started washing their clothes.

 

I have to say....I have been getting a lot of help with the laundry lately.  Once I posted the chart I noticed Terese often grabs the laundry for the day and washes it all.

 

I've talked to the kids a lot about helping out around the house and we have assigned chores.  However, some kids have sort of found their niche - a  big chore and that's fine by me.  For example, our oldest son doesn't have much assigned to him inside the house since he takes care of most of the lawn maintenance.   I think I'll reassign Terese's other chores.  If she continues to help this much with the laundry (and cooking!) I think she found her niche.



 

 

 

We are renaming our oldest daughter

OK - nothing quite so dramatic.  But those of you who know our family in person know that I have created pseudonames on my blog for our kids.  Anna simply no longer works...is that a give away or what?!

Anyway, our oldest will no longer be called Anna....she will be called Analia.

Hoping that helps my sister and few friends :)  It will certainly help me.  It's weird to say "Anna is in college now"