I Heart KSL

I have been loving KSL, especially this last year.  It seems to be much bigger than craigslist in this area.  Right after we moved in, we had a Kirby salesman knock on our door and thoroughly convince us that life would not be complete without a Kirby vacuum cleaner.  He was smart to stop by our place knowing that Mr. Clean would be disgusted to see such grossness be sucked up from such new carpet.  It worked!  We were both amazed.  However, I was not interested in spending $1500 on such an item, even if the salesman was giving us such an awesome deal and practically knocking $20,000 off the price.  I felt bad saying "no" after the guy spent 2 hours showing us how super awesome the Kirby was, but not $1500 bad.  It just wasn't going to happen and I wasn't about to do a payment plan.  Julian said he still wanted to save up for one, so I checked out KSL and we found one!  It was a couple years old & still cost $400, but I felt like we won.  And it still sucks great!

Since then, we bought a red pottery barn couch, a piano keyboard, a fridge for the garage, some kids toys, barely worn toddler shoes, and have even sold some of our stuff.  I love it!  And while buying new is always more fun, we've been able to find some great stuff that have barely been used.  

Chores

Giving chores to my kids has been quite the chore for myself over the years.  I want my kids to be responsible and have tried chore charts and just telling the kids what their job is when the time comes, but, overall, it's been a frustration.  I would get frustrated when I would constantly have to remind them to do their jobs, even though it was posted.  And I would cringe when I'd hear "but I did it last time" or "I don't want to"or "I hate doing silverware" and on and on.  And even then, passing chores on to the kids usually means that I might need to redo the job to meet my standard (which isn't very high).  So this summer we tried something new.  In the mornings before we went and did something fun and/or in the evenings before we had our treat, I would make a list of about 5 jobs for Ogden to do and 5 jobs for Kaelyn to do.  They usually included things like washing a dirty window, putting 3 pairs of shoes away, wiping down appliances, unloading the dishwasher, etc.  It seems to be working pretty well, especially for Ogden.  I think Ogden likes to see that there is an end to his list and that once he's done, he's done.  Kaelyn is not as big of a fan.  She still does it, but she can take FOREVER.  So it's not a perfect plan, but it's been a much better fit for our family.  Plus, I like that it's so flexible.  I can just look around the house and see what needs to be done, and then add it to their jobs.  Some days the appliances need wiped down and sometimes I need help folding towels.  Ideally, it might be nice to do something like this with a little bit of tweeking, but for now, I'm liking our system.  Have you had any success with chores?  Always looking for better ways.

Abby turns 1!!!!!!!

Our little Abbers turned 1 about two months ago!  Of course, as summer busy-ness and evening laziness goes, I am just now getting around to posting some pics.  

Abby is so much fun and is getting some personality.  She keeps herself occupied pretty well.  It seems our pantry door ALWAYS gets left open, and this is what happens:

 "What?"

 Birthday presents!

 Cake!  She had no trouble eating this whole piece of crumbly, messy chocolate cake by herself.   I don't know why I didn't take the high chair outside.  She sure loved it though!

We took Abby swimming that morning for her birthday and met up with one of my friends whose little 1 yr-old shares the same birthday. 

It was a fun day, and we sure love Abby!  It's crazy to think that one year ago Abby looked like this.   And now she is a full-time walker and busy-body.  She has long since been weened from the binky (yay!) and has a bottomless tummy.  She might only weigh 16 lbs., but this girl can handle herself.  Happy Birthday Abby!  We sure love you!