I Can't Wait for Spring Break!!

Above is a picture of the concert that Joshua played the recorder in earlier this month.  I just snagged it off of Keith's phone today. 

Megan received an exciting package in the mail this week.  It is Emily, her American Girl doll's BFF.  She was one happy little girl. 

As if the doll wasn't exciting enough, it came with one of the American Girl books that she's been really wanting to read. 

The weather has been very windy, so Keith took Joshua down to the park to fly his kite.  

I worked Sunday, Monday and Tuesday nights, then went in Thursday morning for a 4 hour Nurse Practice Counsel [NPC]  meeting.  I was exhausted by the time Thursday night came, and I think I was in bed right after the kids were.  We had a St. Patrick's Day themed breakfast Thursday morning for NPC and raffled off a box of Lucky Charms (that had 2 tickets to Disney inside it!).  So fun!!

Friday, Megan brought home some great grades and earned enough Holloway money to purchase a stick.  We went out to Sweet Frogs for some frozen yogurt to kick off her birthday-weekend!

It was so yummy and so cute!

Both boys decided that they want to play football this coming season.  This week was registration week, and so that meant bringing in all of the required paperwork for Pop Warner, including copies of the kids' birth certificates.  The registration lady laughed about on kid being born in Cape Cod and the other being born in Alaska.  Sometimes I forget that we've lived in so many different areas. 

And this sweet girl had her birthday party today.  That's deserving of it's own post...soon. 

Weekend Fun!

I think I'm finally caught up enough to resume weekly wrap ups. 

This past weekend, we all woke up early Saturday morning and decided to make french toast.

I probably had more helpers than I needed, since french toast is so easy to make.  

Megan helped me dish up breakfast and then Daniel helped to clear the table.  Such good helpers!

Later that day, we went over to Keith's parents house to visit.   The kids rode bikes through their neighborhood. 

We seem to have a problem with riding right down the middle of the road.  

I guess one of Grandma and Grandpa's neighbors knows Megan. How cute!

Enjoying some root beer. 

Grandpa being a bucking bronco.  

Finishing out February

We wrapped up February by hitting up the Merrell Park a couple of weekends ago. 

The weather was perfect and the kids really enjoyed the opportunity to RUN around.  I'm shocked that there weren't more kids at the park. 

In other news, Lilly and Pepper have become best friends. 

And since the art easel is still in the kitchen, it gets tons of use.  I find new things on there all the time. 

The BFFs checking out the great outdoors, waiting to be let outside. 

Holloway Money

I've read a billion things about allowance vs. no allowance for kids and trying to teach them to manage money and whatnot.  I also have a weirdness about tying chores to financial gain...I mean, really, I don't get allowance for the chores that I do around the house.  Taking care of the house is part of being a family.

Keith and I discussed it at length and decided that when the time comes for the children to need to have a stream of money coming in, we will reopen the conversation about allowance, but right now, the occasional need for money doesn't warrant starting up allowance just yet.  There are extra things they can help out with, or scholastic ways to earn money towards things.  For example, a couple of weeks ago was the school book fair.  The agreement was that each child would get a set amount of money to spend at the book fair but they had to earn it first (because believe me, there is no shortage of books in this house).   For them, they just like going out buying things.  Funny how quick their tune changes when they are the ones handing over the cash!

So, each child completed their tasks required to earn funds for the book fair and after over an hour of perusing the racks,  it's amazing how they really had to think about their purchases. Everyone was very satisfied and I didn't have to cringe when Megan bought a book about making shapes from pipe cleaners, and Daniel bought a Lego comic book, because it wasn't my money they were wasting! 

I work full-time night shift and go to Nurse Practitioner school full-time on-line, which also requires quite a bit of travel at times.  So I'm not always around to look at the kids' bedrooms and the playroom.  Keith does his best, but he's really an outside chore person.

I joked one day that I was not their maid and that if they had money, I would make them pay me for cleaning their rooms! So, Joshua decided to make some money out of construction paper.  If only it were that easy! 

From there....Holloway Money was born, and some ground rules were set.

A yellow ticket can be earned by:

- Bringing home an "A" on a test.

- For each "A" on a Progress Report or Report Card

- Passing "room inspection" on Tuesday and Friday afternoon at 5PM.

A yellow ticket must be paid if:

-A "C" on any school work is earned.  This includes non-tests, tests, Progress Reports and Report Cards.  

- During "room inspection" the room is so bad that I have to clean it, I must be paid for my effort. 

So what happens with these tickets?

When a child has saved 20 tickets, that child gets to pull out a craft stick from another cup.  There are about 30 sticks that all say something different on them from "tea party" to "stay up 30 minutes late" to "dinner out with mom or dad", "mini golf", "let's go to a movie", "$10 to spend at Toys R Us", and a whole bunch of other stuff ranging from out of the house experiences or extra privileges at home.  Part of the fun is that the kids can't see what written on the sticks, so they pull out the stick and are surprised with what they earned. 

Daniel has been surfing (er, sailing), through the school year this year, will all "A"s and trying to keep his room tidy.  He's even given up on sleeping with a billion stuffed animals because it's harder to make his bed with them in there.  So, he earned 20 tickets first, and pulled the stick for "dinner out with mom or dad". 

Naturally, he chose me.  So, I took him to Universal Studios City Walk to eat at the Nascar place. 

Me and me sweet boy!

He loved that there was a TV at every table to watch sports. 

And that the top floor had awesome video games. 

It's a dark picture, but there are Nascar cars hanging from the ceiling. 

After we ate and played in the arcade, we walked around City Walk and the Bubba Gump Shrimp Co people were out front entertaining the crowd.  They let Daniel try their hula hoop and they swung the big jump rope for him to jump over a few times.  He was one happy camper!

Slightly out of order, but riding the motorcycle ride at the arcade. 

Hoot Hoot Horray!  We've made it to the 100th day of school, and everyone seems to be still enjoying it. 

A sweet note from Megan left on my bed for me one morning when I didn't get home from work to see them off to school.  She put my books in my bed and left me a note.  Evidently, she must have thought I needed to study before going to sleep! 

Can't Beat February in Florida

February is one of my favorite months in Florida, because the weather is so nice.  I like the few coldish days we get mixed in with some of the warmer days.  We try to take advantage of the warmer days by heading outdoors for some fun. 

Off to the wooden park...

And a quick trip to Fort de Soto beach on the gulf coast.

The boys went to an Orlando Magic game with Grandma and Grandpa. 

Then the slept over Grandma and Grandpa's house and went to an award ceremony the next morning during which Joshua received an award for helping with a fund raising program last year.  Evidently, I must have missed that part of the weekend's plans, or I would have sent him with some decent clothes to change into.  Poor guy went in his cargo pants and Orlando Magic shirt,  oops.  

Our big source of stress was Keith's jury summons.  After making some scheduling rearrangements, when he made his check-in call the week of scheduled duty, he was not chosen to appear at the courthouse.  

We still continue to battle with Daniel being unable to drink commercially prepared juices.  For some reason, something doesn't jive well with his stomach.  About 6 months ago, we invested in a juicer and he's been a happy camper ever since.  While we've never been big juice drinkers to start with, it's always nice to have a break from water.  He and I had some strawberry grape juice while he worked on his homework and I worked on a paper for school.  Yummy.