Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning this year was more geared towards our family than our house.  Jared and I are working very hard right now to change some things, or better stated, habits, that our famiy has fallen into.  We have been doing a great job keeping our family close and running smoothly on many accounts with me working a good amount during the week.  Though I think I do a decent job keeping my work hours during time periods when kids are asleep, at school, or with Jared, I think we have fallen into some habits or forgotten some routines that just need to be recooped.  So our Spring Cleaning started with some family changes. Here's my favorite one:

I had Jared affix this whiteboard in our family room and we are now keeping job lists for the kids on it.  We had a family meeting about how it would work, etc.  I let the kids know I would not give them more than 5 jobs, and cleaning rooms has to be done before school, so that will never be a job on the list.  No rewards for these-these are just their responsibilities that must be done before any movie/play time.  So far, it is working well, and providing a lot more structure.

We shifted around when we do scripture/prayer so it is at one consistent time in the evening, right before the first round of bedtimes.

We nixed certain foods because they were being abused.  Sounds silly.  But when I find myself picking up goghurt, fruit snack, and cereal crumbs off the floor all day, I call that abuse.  So we are taking a break from cereal and certain snack/food items that have become issues.  We now rely on fruits, string cheese, applesauce, and otter pops for snacks and that's around it.  Breakfast is officially bagels, toast or eggs.

We have other routines we will be incorporating in the next few weeks, but I didn't want to overwhelm with too many changes at once, so we are giving our family some acclimation time before adding anything else.  But I'll tell you now, the next thing to happen is a set-in-stone nighttime routine to help the dinner-bathtime-bedtime activities flow smoother, while guaranteeing family time every night.

I feel like an officer in the army.  left left left right left...