More highlights to the end of August

Olivia has started up chores again. Tom and I had talked about having her do chores again but we hadn't taken the time to figure it all out. Well Olivia came to us and said "you know when I worked to earn toys can we do that again?" I said that Mom and Dad had talked about creating chores and an allowance for Olivia and then she could use her money to buy toys. She was excited and so we sat down and made a deal. She makes her bed every morning for a nickel a day. She vacuums the living room and hallway once a week for a quarter. She cleans the kids toilet bowl, wipes the toilet and sink, and picks up the floor for forty cents. For the week it totals a dollar if she does it all. The first week she wanted to get a bath toy that she had seen and I told her well it's just a dollar at Walmart. Then Olivia realizes that Dylan would be sad if she got a toy and he didn't. Olivia remembered she had some tooth fairy money so she counted it. When she realized she had two dollars in tooth fairy money combined with the dollar she was going to earn doing chores she had a plan. She was going to get a toy for brother and sister too. She wanted to get Dylan a yellow one since it's his favorite color and then she wanted a purple one for Ashley and a pink one for herself. Luckily the store had one more yellow one and then she got to take her pick of pink and purple ones. Here the kids are with their new bath toys. I was so proud of Olivia for thinking of her brother and sister.

Olivia thinks working for her chores are hard work. She is learning a lot of lessons already and I'm proud of her that after two weeks I've already seen growth in her work. Next she is trying to save up four dollars to get some dry erase board crayons. Oh and we are starting a money journal to keep track of everything but it's really more to start at the very beginnings of showing her how money adds up and subtracts and how to keep a balance running.

Ashlyn started folding her arms for prayer and she is so patient about it. She knows when we pray and so she folds her arms and she waits. She doesn't usually last through the whole prayer but she is usually the first one ready for it to be said. She is so cute!!

Dylan was STAR student at Preschool. Mom and Dylan made up this poster telling his class all about him. He also got to take a show and tell item and he took his train Diesel 10 on a wooden track.

Dylan's sheet asks him some questions about himself.
Here are his answers:
I am good at playing Mario Kart Wii Wahoo.
My favorite sport is baseball and soccer.
My favorite color is yellow.
My favorite song is Five Little Monkeys Sittin' in a Tree.
My favorite book is The Little Red Caboose and Buzz Said the Bee.
My favorite ice cream is vanilla.
My favorite pizza topping is pepperoni.
My favorite food is mac and cheese with hotdogs and vanilla pudding.
My favorite toy is Diesel 10 engine.
My favorite game is Mario Kart Wii.
My favorite place to go is the zoo.

Ashlyn took her first step on August 23rd. I was reading a book to Dylan with his friend Emily and Ashlyn wanted the book very much. She just stood up and took a step forward towards me and tried to get the book. It was so surprising and exciting. But I didn't let her have the book.
Tom was away on a business trip but Ashlyn didn't take another step while he was gone. Then when Tom got back we practiced having her walk between us. This video was taken this weekend when my parents were up here. We had to show off what Ashlyn could do. Sorry the video isn't very good. It's hard to video and try to encourage and catch Ashlyn has she takes her steps. She usually takes two confidently and starts to fall during her third and fourth steps.