Preschoolers Chore Chart

I friend of mine mentioned something that was kind of like this and then I found this idea on a really cool website-simplemom.net

I think we're going to give it a shot!

The chores we’ve started with are:
~help make my bed
~empty silverware from the dishwasher
~take my dishes to the kitchen (after breakfast, lunch, and dinner), and
~pick up my toys (before her quiet time and before her bed time)
When she accomplishes a task, she gets a sticker in the alloted square for that day. At the end of the week, we count up her stickers. For every sticker, she gets a nickel (well, this country’s equivalent of a nickel).
She has three jars to put her money – one for giving, one for saving, and one for spending. 10 percent goes into each of the first two, and the remaining 80 percent goes into her spending jar. If she does every single chore for every single day (which she has yet to do), she’d earn $2.45 a week. That’s $127.45 for the year. 80 percent of that is $101.96. Not bad spending money for a three-year-old, I’d say. (More about the “why” behind our reward system tomorrow.)
So far, this system is working beautifully. She’s excited to do her chores because she likes getting to pick out which sticker she puts on her chart, and at the end of the week, we count out each nickel one by one. For the concrete, visual processors that preschoolers are, the pile of coins is thrilling.

Keagan's first dentist appointment

I am so glad to have this behind me. I have been worrying myself sick over whether Keagan would have a cavity or not. I'm not quite sure why its such a catastrophe to me but it is. And he did okay as a patient. At first he was very leery of some strange lady sticking a mirror in his mouth. And then the tickle machine to wash the "sugar bug poop" off his teeth wasn't a favorite either. Finally he did come around though. And I even think he eventually started enjoying it when the water sucker came into play.
Needless to say, I'm glad its over with and we're done for another 6 months!

This afternoon Keagan rushed off to the bathroom. When I walked by he was going, "Aaaaahhhh."
I asked him, "Baby, do you feel better now?"
He answers, "Mommy, my peni feels so much better!"
lol, I love him so much!

Proverbs 10:19

Too much talk leads to sin. Be sensible and keep your mouth shut.

Did you know the word, gossip, is used 34 times in the new testament as the name for Satan??

ICE BOUND: A Doctor's Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole

I am reading a great book right now! It's a true story of a Dr. that volunteers to go to the South Pole for a year. During her stay there she discovers a lump in her breast. She tells her story of the discovery, the diagnoses, and the treatment she gives herself since she is the only Dr. there.
Dr. Jerri Nielsen is an incredible woman. She did eventually lose her battle with cancer on June 23, 2009.

OK, I've been avoiding posting because I haven't posted in a while and the longer you wait, the harder it is! So much has happened..well, not really, but it seems that way when you sit down to blog!

First off, I'm exhausted from this pregnancy...I wake up most mornings sick. That alone is enough to wear you out. I work all day and then come home to an active and wild 3 year old and a husband that of course wants and needs attention too. It's no wonder everyone says that the second pregnancy is nothing like the first. I can think of so many things that I need and want to do but there just aren't enough hours (or energy) in the day.

As far as this second baby goes, all the dr. appts. continue to go well. We have the ultrasound set up for Aug. 3rd (which I am so excited for!) and we're still fighting over names. :)

As far as Keagan goes-he is growing and learning more everyday. He is a little person now and can carry on a conversation as if you're speaking to an adult...Okay maybe not an adult conversation but you get my drift. He gets very proud of himself and came home the other day and told me that he got to be the door holder. He was so proud and so was I until the very next sentence he said he got put into time out for throwing sand. :( I told his teacher the next day that he told me about his time out and she laughed and said he takes it very seriously because he rarely gets put into it...When he does it really makes an impression.

And Aaron and I....Well we're doing well! We've also been busy. Today we finally finished a project that I've wanted done the entire year and a half we've been here. The backyard area right at our house...What a mess. There were bushes that were half dead from the previous owner...Ugly, ugly...And because we didn't know what we were going to do there-well we just did nothing there. It became a home for loads of weeds, grass, and Keagans dirt hole to play with his trucks in. What an eye sore! Finally today I had had it and went out there and thought I would at least start weeding. I had no clue we would get it all done today! It looks great. We found bushes on clearance at Lowe's-bought 5 of them along with some pinestraw and it looks like a whole new yard! I'm just feel so accomplished!
Anyways, I'm going to try and get back in the habit of posting again. We'll see how that goes.
G'night.

Good Day

• Woke up at the crack of dawn but was able to sneak a well needed nap on the couch while the boys watched fishing.
• Went fishing. Didn't catch anything but had several bites. Also managed to get some sun and good pictures.
• Cleaned most of the house
• Packed a good bit for the trip coming up this weekend.
• Made Nanna her wheat-free homemade cake. Let Keagan handpaint her a bday card and decorate the cake.
• Grocery shopped for the week.
• Checked and rechecked my garden. I love that thing!
• Did all the laundry
• Keagan is already bathed and in his pjs at 6:15!
• Good, good day!

End of the "tubes" Era

Keagan was born with ear infections. I was out of work at least once a month because of his ears the entire first year of his life. At last on May 29, 2007 we had tubes put into his ears. We were warned of the statistics of the tubes falling out too soon and having to have them redone and we were also warned of the statistics of the kids who still get ear infections but we were never told about the kids who beat most odds and their tubes never fall out! Well I must say, the tubes have been a miracle. In two years he has had two ear infections. (yes, he was one of the kids that fell out of the high rate of children who never get an ear infection again) And now two years later our Dr. and the ENT Dr. said it was time to take them out.... I've got mixed emotions on the whole thing. Of course I don't want to damage his eardrums but I just pray that once removed the ear infections won't start back up again.


Anyways, today was D-day. My first biggest fear was how to get him out of the house without any milk. That turned out to be easier than I thought. We hid the milk and then made him go look for himself when we told him the milk was all gone. I also had him pumped up to go to the Dr. He couldn't wait! He kept telling me that he had boo boos in his ears that the Dr. had to fix them with a bandaid. ;)


So we get there, fill out the paperwork and go back to pre-op. This seemed to take forever! I did however manage to take two little pictures of my sweet boy in his surgery gown waiting for his turn.

He wasn't the happiest little boy but he did enjoy watching veggie tales and dora the explorer. He was also a little charmer and shook the Dr's hand when he came up.

When it was time to go back to the Operating room, Keagan took it like a big boy. He went in the arms of the Dr. while I went the opposite way to the waiting room.

It was really quick. By the time I sat down, pulled my book out and really got into it, I was being called back. My first view kind of took me off guard. I expected him to already be waking up and not to have oxygen and machines hooked up to him. I did feel blessed though to be able to sit there with him and to let him know mommy was there when he did finally wake up.

The waking up process wasn't fun and neither was the car ride home. He got sick all over himself on the way home but I was prepared! Something told me to bring an extra change of clothes.

By the time I was pulling in the drive way he was sleeping peacefully and is still sleeping nicely in his cozy bed.

And finally here is a picture of the culprits of the day. I like to call them the $1,000 blue tubes. After paying for them being inserted, removed, and all the medicine I think a $1,000 is being conservative. I can only think about how much pain, money, and agony they have probably saved us the past two years though!

To watch a 3 year old learn is amazing. I learn something new that he has learned everyday. This afternoon he kept asking me what his name was. I would answer back, "Keagan." He asked me 3 times and I answered the same everytime. Finally he looked at me and said, "Mommy, my name is Keagan Schrock!"
Oh! Sure did surprise me!
Then Aaron asked Keagan what my name was. He looked at me and said, "Pretty Girl Schrock." Aw, thats right! What a sweetie!

I love how my baby has turned into a little boy.
I love how I can ask him what movie he wants to watch and it's like watching the gears in a clock spin while he thinks of which movie to pick.
I love how I can sneak back to his room and watch him reciting the words to parts of the movie that he has already memorized.

Now it's time for me to go lie down and enjoy some TV while Aaron is playing softball. I'm looking forward to this alone time. About the only thing that would make it better is a good book to be reading but for tonight TV will have to suffice.

Speaking of good books, a good summer read that I would recommend is: Barefoot by Elin Hilderbrand
A beach house, two sisters, a friend, pregnancy, infidelity, cancer, sex, and a rollercoaster ride for these three girls as they live out a summer in Nantucket.

Okay so I can officially say that I'm jealous. Not in a bad I hate you kind of way....Just in a way that makes me wish I had followed my dreams and finished school to become what I have wanted to be for as long as I can remember....A teacher! I used to dream of the days when I would be grading papers, decorating my room, teaching kids subjects that I always found so intriguing, working great hours, having time off on every holiday and summer to be with my family...It just sounds like the perfect job! And I have too many friends who are teachers to count and I'm watching them live out my dream. Don't get me wrong. I know its not all roses! No job is perfect. Dealing with the kids that you can't drill anything into their heads or even worse, dealing with their parents, having to take the work home with you because there simply isn't enough time in the day, dealing with the drama and politics that I'm sure there is working in a building full of women...
I think I'd enjoy it though...I just don't think there is time left to pursue that dream. I'll be 28 this year, working full time, taking care of two kids....4 years of college and starting school all over-I just don't know when I'd find the time or energy....Hmmm.