Chore Chart

I've been having a little trouble keeping track of all the things I need to help my kids with. I'm pretty good about keeping track of all their activities; Piano, Art class, cub scouts, etc.
But when it comes to reminding them to do their chores; practicing piano, reading in Spanish, trash duty and so forth, I'm not doing so great. So I googled "chore chart template", I found several,  this one is my favorite  I found it at "The Project Girl".
I like it because I can hand write on it, customize it to what they need each week and it's cute. I can also use it for my own chores and organize myself too.

Here you go:

You can download the chart here

Let me know if you use it!

One

I can't believe my baby is already one. I know I say that about every birthday, but to me the first year always goes way too fast and I end up wishing I could do it all over again.
William is the smallest one year old I've had, he is so tiny it makes it impossible not to hold him all the time, he is a busy little guy, but he's always smiling and happy. Some people say that baby #3 is always like that, is that true in your family?

Last Minute DIY Valentines

I  don't know about you, but I usually find myself making Valentines last minute for my kids' classes. I don't like to buy the store ready Valentines, but I also don't have a ton of time to make them.  Each of my kids have to bring 24 Valentines and I've found a few cute/easy ideas I'd like to share with you.

We made these last year, the idea and photo came from Martha Stewart,

I just printed these cute cards for Joey's class from InkTree Press she has a great blog. You can dowload them here.

I've been wanting to make these for a while, they are so clever! The idea came from the talented Allison, check them out here.

Nico decided he wants to draw a picture and have me make copies for his friends, if he does it I will share them on an update, we'll see.

Let me know if you make any of these :)

Do you have any easy Valentines ideas?


UPDATE: This is what Nico drew and gave his friends today, we just taped a chocolate candy to the back,  he's so funny!

I think he saw this in one of his Diary of the Whimpy kid books.

How to get that thing out of your kids nose

Every night we have homework. I say "we" because it's not just the boys that have to sit there and do it, Matt and I have to supervise, help and correct the homework. They have lots of homework and they get bored and distracted, I mean they are 6 and 7 they have so many other things they'd rather be doing.

The other night I was helping Nico while Joey was across the table doing his work, the baby was in his play pen and Matt was on the phone. All of the sudden I look over at Joey and see that he's about to start crying.

Me: Joey what's the matter?
Joey: I did something really dumb (crying now)
Me: what did you do Joey? Tell me, I can help.
Joey: I put the Orbeez up my nose and I can't get it out (crying harder now) BTW Orbeez are little gel like balls that grow when you soak them in water, he got one from a friend at school.
Me: It's OK Joey I'll get it out, don't worry (very worried inside, but I faked being calm really well)
Joey: I'm I going to die?
Me: No honey it will be OK (trying not to laugh and cry at the same time)

I looked up his nose and couldn't see anything, to top it off the Orbeez was clear and it was way up there! I remembered that one of my friends had something similar happen and that the solution at the ER was pretty simple, something like blowing your nose while you cover one nostril and keep your mouth close. I asked him to try that a few times, it did not work! It was not good, I really didn't want to go to the ER.

I told him to stay calm and I ran to my computer and googled it, I found an answer right away at this blog and I went to work following the directions.

First, I asked him to lay down, then I covered the open nostril and put my my mouth over his as if I were going to perform CPR, I then blew into his mouth as hard as I could and voila! the Orbeez literally shot out of his nose and hit my leg (along with snot). I was so relieved, Joey was so happy he couldn't stop laughing. Actually Nico and I couldn't stop laughing either, I think it was because we were relieved, nervous, surprised and amused by the whole thing.

In the meantime, Matt was still on the phone and never even knew what happened. Lucky him!!

Now you know how to get that thing out of your kids nose, I hope you don't have to use this knowledge :).

isn't he sweet?