Debany, Debany, what do you see?

This morning, I woke up with a thought to a new approach of cleaning. I will ask what they see that needs to be cleaned.

So, naturally, I spent most of the day working on photos and sorting to get into our family book on blurb.com. (I'm so one-track minded, it's pathetic.)

Around 2pm, I was starting to think about needing a babysitter tonight so that I can go to work -- when my babysitter called and heard that I needed a babysitter ------ and she could do it!

Knowing that the babysitter was going to be coming, I took the opportunity to get the house clean and test out this theory. (Or 'retry' if we have done this before; I'm not sure. It's all so blurry.)

I asked them what rooms might the babysitter use: living room, kitchen, bathroom, and playroom.

So we got to work: "Debany, what do you see?"

She started noticing things and picked them up and put them away (where they belong - bless this child)! I stood there, waiting for her to ask me to do something. "Do you want to help?!" She asked suprised! "Yep!" So, then she noticed something and asked me to put it away (which I did) and then she noticed something for her to put away herself. We even talked about a couple of ways of how to notice things that need picked up/cleaned. It was quite beneficial -- she was in the spot I normally am in! A nice change.

When Myanna woke up, she reluctantly joined the throng. Of course, I gave her a turn to notice things and delegate. She didn't like doing anything herself, personally. But I think she caught on that it wasn't as fair as it went on.

Porter -- well, he still has a hard time putting anything away. But he'll catch on. Right now, he LOVES to vacuum. We even got him to do it with both hands today -- but that's a different blog!

On to the other rooms... we cleaned the living room, bathrooom, office, hallway, and entryway. Now it's off to the kitchen and the kids' bedroom.

I just wanted to blog before I forgot. And I can return to this and for sure say that we have done this before -- and it wasn't so bad!

"Can we make necklaces??"

The girls are a little rough with necklaces... and bracelets, and pretty much any kind of jewelry. So, when necklaces get broken - I, being the person that doesn't like to throw much away, save them and put them in our craft drawer in case we ever want to make a new necklace out of old parts.

The girls know this. And have been asking if they can make some necklaces... and of course, I'm just too busy or frantic to get everything else done. "Not now, but maybe another day."

*click, ding* --- a light bulb if you will...

I'm recalling a lot of nagging on my part to get things done lately. And stickers have lost their fascination temporarily. So, I took the girls to Michael's and we picked out a big bag of beads!

"For every chore you do, you get a bead (or two) -- and at the end of the day, when they want to play but the playroom is clean (and forbidden to mess up until tomorrow) they can string their beads to make their necklace or bracelet.

I see lots of necklaces and bracelets in the future -- so, I plan on teaching the girls about selling their jewelry for the semi-annual Entrepreneurship Day. Then the money that they get for selling their 'wares' can go toward something that they want (more fancy beads, toys, whatever).

That is, if they don't give them all away to their friends first -- which is fine, too. Hey, economics at its best (Law of Diminishing Returns -- Cost-Benefit Analysis)!

Primary terms:

I suspect our discussion will go something like this:

'You have to pick what you want to do. You can't do both with the same necklace. What you give away, you can't sell. But you don't have to sell any. It's what you want.'

Autumn Time

It seems that overnight the leaves have changed colors and have begun to fall off the trees!

So before we go out and rake all of the leaves up (for more halloween decor)...

...we naturally had to go out and enjoy them!

A Friend's Birthday

The kids were invited to a birthday party.

Debany got a piece of paper and a pen and began writing a card to go with the cookies we made for him (dinosaurs - his favorite).

Way to go, Debany! You're getting so big!

Writing for the day -- Check!

Homemade Butter

Blender style!

Debany at 'The Pointe'

So, here is the place where Debany is getting her voice lessons!

(Also the birthplace of Odyssey Dance Theater.)

Her teacher, Mary, has been working with Debany and her two classmates on the following songs:

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah

Castle on a Cloud - (Les Miserables)

Hard Knock Life - (Annie)

Tomorrow - (Annie)

Maybe - (Annie)

The Girl I Mean to Be - (The Secret Garden)

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead - (Wizard of Oz)

We're expecting a performance mid-November!

Debany has been working on her own personal number from Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella

'In My Own Little Corner'

Check back soon for some videos of these special musical numbers!

See post on Musical Theater!

Friends

On the phone with a friend -- Carmen!

Sittin on the stairs with a friend -- Ed!

Such a lucky kid!