32 and Counting...

After Nick's very disappointing 30th birthday, (Which was in no way my fault--we were traveling that day.) I figured I had better start planning a little more action on his special days to keep him happy. While I love to go all out for my kids, adult parties strike me as a bit over the top. So, instead of a party, I got a few of our good friends together and we all went to dinner. Here are a few pictures of us enjoying our juicy Newt's burgers--all except for Nick that is. Somehow they forgot the birthday boy's order the first time around. Luckily, however, Blake loaned him a pickle for the shot!





After dinner they all made fun of Nick for calculating a very exact tip on his phone! In fact, Kaicie snapped this telling shot. (I hate to break it to you guys, but this was not a one time stunt for some birthday humor. I have to live through this humiliation every time we eat out!)



Then we went back to our house for some strawberry shortcake and games. To top the night off, Pete announced he had a very special gift for Nick. Then he went to his car and brought in--this empty box!! (It was wrapped.)



Nick was ecstatic! And I mean that. We bought a Jumperoo at about the same time that the Anderson's did (some 5 years ago), and for some unknown reason, threw away the box. In case you didn't know, we never throw away boxes to anything. Truly, we have original boxes for everything we own. Everything, except our Jumperoo. Nick has cursed himself on every move. But to our great fortune, the Anderson's got rid of their Jumperoo and saved their box for us. Happy birthday honey! You will never live this crazy reputation down!

Lanesboro Weekend

With summer drawing to a close, we figured we had better squeeze in one last trip to the little town of Lanesboro, Minnesota. We've been down to Lanesboro on a number of occasions, sometimes for biking, sometimes for plays at the Common Wheel Theater. We figured, however, since this is our last summer here, that we had better go down and take advantage of the camping and tubing before our chance slipped away. Nick took a few days off work, and we talked the Gillettes into coming down and joining us. What followed was a wonderful weekend....

We arrived first and set up camp right off of this little pond, which the kids loved! (And Mason fell into more than once!)






While Nick and I set up our tent, the girls found a little marmot in the water and spent a good twenty minutes watching him chew a piece of bark.





Then we decided to take a little bike ride while we waited for the Gillettes to arrive. We tried a new direction on the trail this time and the woods were simply beautiful.



Later that evening the Gillettes arrived and we enjoyed foil dinners, s'mores, cobbler, and lots of fireside chatting together. The kids also loved running in and out of the tents and striking all sorts of sassy poses for the camera. (That's the Gillette children rubbing off on our kids. Ha!)

















(I just love this one of my baby Mase--my little smiley man! And such a blondie!)



In the morning the boys cooked a breakfast for kings, and then we took off on another bike ride, this time in the usual direction--toward the famous pie shop a few miles away.













We paused for a picnic lunch, and of course, a slice of world famous pie and ice cream. (Have you ever noticed how every pie shop in Minnesota says "World Famous" on it?) Afterwards, we biked back to the camp site and bid the Gillettes farewell. Then we pulled on our swimming gear and headed over to the Lanesboro River to do a little tubing. It was our first tubing experience there, and the kids loved it. The water was a little slow for my taste--taking us hours to get down stream--but it was the perfect speed for little kids who wanted to dip in all along the way.







All in all, it was a great weekend. One I know I will miss in the future. Farewell Lanesboro!

Hoskins Work Reimbursement Program

For quite some time Nick and I have been debating how we wanted to handle chores and allowance at our home. In the past, our children have earned macaroni noodles or cardboard coins that they could then trade in for the merchandise of their choice. This has mostly been a model employed at holiday time when they needed to earn "money" for our family gift exchange. With Maddi recently completing her math unit on money; however, I figured it was time to make the sacrifice and actually let her earn real money. (And being the equal opportunity parent that I am, I'm letting Spencer and Emma earn right along with her. I'll have to count their money for them though.)

The question then arose of how to go about assigning chores and divvying out the goods. For ages I have resisted the idea of assigning my kids chores. They have certain things they are expected to do--make their beds, keep a clean room, put away their clothes on laundry day, etc. but I wouldn't have classified any of these as chores. These are just things you do for yourself, whether you want to do them or not! Chores, to me, are extra things you do, that perhaps you are lucky enough to get allowance for. The problem is, I knew that if I assigned my kids chores, i.e. made them a chore chart or whatever, that chores would just become one more thing that I had to make sure the kids were doing, nag them about, be upset about when they didn't do, etc. etc. I don't need even one more thing, and I feared that if I assigned chores I would never follow through on them. (I know, I sound like a lazy parent, but my life is busy and complicated enough as it is.) Hence my problem. I knew my kids needed more responsibility. I knew Maddi needed to practice her money skills. And my kids have all been begging to earn money. But I just didn't want to do it.

Until.....that is, I came up with one of my more ingenues ideas! (I know, I'm pretty humble!) One day, as I sat thinking about this problem, I decided to take a backward approach to chores and allowance. I sat down with the kids and we brainstormed a few things. First we brainstormed a list of non-negotiable jobs that they each were responsible for doing as a member of our household. These jobs receive no monetary compensation. After completing this list, we then made a list of all of my jobs that we could think of that they could do. Then we went through and assigned a monetary value to each of these jobs. After assigning a monetary value to my jobs that they could do, I then made a list their jobs that I sometimes had to do. We similarly assigned these jobs a monetary value. I then explained to the kids my plan for their financial gain: I would post this list on the fridge and they could ask me to do any of the jobs when they wanted to earn money. This list would also specify the amount of money they would have to pay me if they refused to do one of their non-negotiable jobs and I had to do it. Just for history's sake, here is a list of the jobs hanging on my fridge:

Hoskins Chore Chart

Regular No-Pay Chores

make own bed

clean up toys

dust room

vacuum room

put laundry away

1¢ errands--any request

5¢ help make another's bed

5¢ clear table (after everyone brings own dishes over)

10¢ set table

10¢ unload utensils from dishwasher

10¢ unload "plastics" from dishwasher

15¢ sweep kitchen floor

15¢ dust other room

15¢ gather garbages

15¢ clean bathroom sink

15¢ clean bathroom mirror

15¢ scrub toilet

15¢ wipe bathroom counters

15¢ pick garden

15¢ carry in groceries

25¢ wipe out fridge; 15¢ each if you work together

25¢ wash windows; 15¢ each if you work together

50¢ vacuuming alone; 25¢ each if you work together

50¢ mopping alone; 25¢ each if you work together

50¢ wash car

Mom/Dad Fees

10¢ make your bed

10¢ a minute to clean up your toys

(I know, we're pretty high rollers at our house!!! Someday the kids are going to figure this out and we're going to have to up our compensation!)

From the minute this list hit the fridge, it was an instant success! All of the kids were ecstatic about helping around the house. Soon they were all begging me to do chores, sometimes even fighting over who would get to do them. It was awesome. And to make it even more awesome, I made a new addition to our chart a few days in. The addition read: Penny errands. Earn a penny for any little errand mommy or daddy sends you on. I think the kids get richer off of penny errands than anything else! Additionally, when it comes to their non-negotiable jobs, like cleaning up, they are suddenly in no hurry to ask for help from mom and dad. No way are they going to pay us out of their money to do their jobs! They might however, as Spencer demonstrated today, decide to pay each other though. In what was one of the most funny stories I have heard from my kids in a while, Maddi explained just this scenario. She came up to me and told me that I needed to put 5 cents of Spencer's money into her little bank.

"Why?" I asked.

"Because I did Spencer's work for him today." she replied.

'What is that supposed to mean?" I questioned her.

"Well," she explained. "Today when you told us we could watch a movie if we cleaned up, Spencer offered to pay me 5 cents if I would clean up his part."

"No I didn't!" Spencer broke in. "Maddi told me she would do the job if I paid her 5 cents."

"Oh I see," I said. "Maddi talked you into paying her for doing your work."

"No mom." Spencer stated seriously. "Let me tell you the story. While we were cleaning up I got to the tools in my tool chest. I don't know how to get them back in the tool chest the right way so that they all fit. I told Maddi that I was going to have to pay you or daddy 10 cents to put them away since I didn't know how. Then Maddi told me that she had a deal for me. She said that instead of paying you or daddy ten cents to do my job, I could pay her only 5 cents and she would do it for me. So I agreed"

"Okay." I said, pretty impressed with Maddi's astute negotiating skills. Then I paid Maddi the 5 cents out of Spencer's money jar.

Aside from comic relief, our new chore chart/ reimbursement policy has been quite the wonderful addition to our family. And next week for family home evening we will be giving them their first lesson on Hoskins Family Finances. During this lesson Dad will explain that twice a month the kids will get the money they have earned "deposited" into their money boxes. This money will go into one of three slots. First, ten percent will go to tithing. Then, at least ten percent will go into savings, maybe more if there is something they are working to save up for. And finally, the rest can go into their spending slot to be taken and spent at their leisure. It should be interesting to see how the lesson goes, as well as to see who chooses to do what with their money. We all know what would make their daddy proud! But lets be honest, spending is part of life too people!! It's not too hard to figure out where most of Nick or I's money would end up!

Little Boys

Who knew having construction on our street could make two little someones so happy? Mason and baby Brit were simply in heaven! And so cute as they ran back and forth pointing and chattering with each other about all of the fun.





Too bad a half an hour later they were trying to kill each other over a chance to sit on Nick's riding lawn mower--but hey--we'll take the good moments when they come!

Soccer Camp!

Ever since Nick lost his moonlighting privileges a few months ago, (this is a story in and of itself, but we won't go there today!) we've been forced to get quite creative in order to get by. We've cleaned out old books and clothes to be sold online, bartered with our garden produce, and cut back as much as possible--including refusing to run our AC all summer. Even with all of these adjustments; however, we still weren't making all of the ends meet up. And since there is no such thing as consumer credit in our world, we've been forced to stoop to some all time lows. For instance, just a few nights ago, we "investigated" the Life Lutheran Church in our neighborhood. (Aka--went to their church activity for a free dinner.) Actually, we're becoming pros in the free meal department--frequently eating out at the hospital on Nick's meal card and taking advantage of the free lunch at Sams Club every Friday. (Aka their sample fest.) It's pretty pathetic really. At this point, I'm surprised we haven't stopped in at the neighborhood soup kitchen!!

Aside from honing out all the free food around, we've also taken advantage of other "free" offers in our area. You know you're in bad shape when you find "free" things on the side of the road and take them home to sell on Craig's List. (No lie!!) It's kind of ridiculous, actually, considering Nick has been a doctor for what--three and a half years now, and he still has to pass out flyers to aerate the neighbors lawns for an extra buck!

Anyway, enough moaning, this post is supposed to be about something else. So, getting to that...

In the midst of all of our financial woes, I got one of my better money-saving ideas of late. Since, regardless of our financial situation, we stubbornly refuse to sacrifice the kids' activities, I decided that in order to get by we might need to start sponsoring some of these activities. Consequently, I talked one of my athletic friends (we all know I haven't got an athletic bone in my body!) into going in on little project with me. She played soccer growing up, and since everyone puts their kids in soccer these days, I thought I would recruit her to come be the coach of our very own soccer team. Actually, we didn't really intend to start a soccer team, but more of a soccer camp. I told her if she would coach, I would be the organizer and we could use my backyard for the practices. After much persuasion, she consented.

Between the two of us, we had five kids in the 3-6 year age range that would qualify for our soccer camp. We felt like we needed a few more to make it worth our while though--and to help share in the cost of goals and soccer cones. So, not realizing what a steal eight weeks of soccer camp for $5.00 a child would be, I posted an "advertisement" on the Rochester Mamas yahoo group message board. Within 48 hours, we had over 30 kids sign up!! We were shocked, to say the least. And though bailing was a feasible option for a few days, eventually we decided to round up another coach and try to make a go of it.

As our first day drew closer, I admit, I got a little freaked out. 30+ kids was a lot, and even if we each took ten, (yes, I got roped into coaching too!) it was still going to be a mad house in my backyard. A lot of people gave us raised eyebrows, but the start date came and things went wonderful. In fact, after the first day, soccer camp was such a success that we had ten additional kids ask to add. And of course, we couldn't say no!

Today, we finished out our third week, and since Nick was off work we finally got some pictures and video of our impressive little crew. (Plus we stole a few from past weeks off of a friends' blog.)

So, here we are warming up...



running the relays,









dribbling and kicking drills,









and a few during the games.











Here's a few of the parents in the fan club too.



The moms take turns bringing treats for the kids, and the kids love having coaches they know as well as playing with friends! Plus, who can beat paying $15.oo for 3 kids to play eight weeks of soccer instead of the $240.00 the local place charges for the same eight weeks. And I didn't even have to pay for gas to drive there. Way to be cheap crew. Way to be cheap!

Room Change

When we got home from Utah, where Mason was lucky to get to sleep in my bed every night, going back to bed in his crib didn't go over so well. In fact, he pitched a major fit about having to go back into his crib, jumping on the mattress, kicking and pulling on the bars, and flinging himself over the edge. After a few days, I just couldn't take it. And in truth, I was afraid my precious crib, which I intended to keep for my grand babies, wasn't going to make it either. So, we decided it was time for a little room change.

Daddy and the boys got to work dissembling the crib, while mommy and the girls switched out the linens. It was a wonderful night, and not nearly as emotional as the night we finally took down the cradle for the last time.



Pretty soon the room changed from looking like this:



To looking like this:



And when it was all done, Mason was in heaven! He climbed right up onto the bed, his favorite bedtime story Goodnight Moon in hand, and laying on his tummy began to flip through the pages. That night, when I went to rock him to sleep in the rocking chair, he informed me he wanted to lay in his bed. It was a coming of age moment, and though it was hard, I kissed him on the cheek and laid him in his new bed. "By me" he commanded. And I was happy to comply. Then, much to my surprise, he closed his eyes and went to sleep! Incredible. After six and a half years, we're out of cribs and cradles. And after six and a half years, we're done rocking babies to sleep.