Gotta Love Texas Winters

I love a little cold weather now & again, but it's hard to complain when our "winter" includes plenty of this:

Hooray for January days filled with sandbox play & walks through the neighborhood!

Happy Words

Beau loves to laugh & often finds the most random things hilarious.  Many times it's a word we say or sound we make that sets him off.  Like the good parents that we are, we proceed to repeat it ad nauseam just to get a reaction out of him.  One day last week, his laughter trigger happened to be the word "nope."

A Little Boy No Longer

All three of my children have been very slow to acquire hair, at least at first.  That's okay, I think my bald babies are pretty cute.  But when Jake & Mallory did finally get hair, I was thrilled to see their gorgeous curls, compliments of their father.

To add to the gorgeousness of his curls, Jake was also a towhead.  Anyone remember this blond beauty?

Since his first haircut shortly after his second birthday, Jake's hair has thickened up, gotten quite a bit darker & lost most of it's curl.  It did still curl some when long, though, which is why I think I preferred a slightly shaggy look on him.  This pic was taken about a week ago & shows "the mop," as we called it.

As of Saturday, the mop is gone.  J took him for a haircut & had my approval to get it a bit shorter, but I was not prepared for this!  Don't get me wrong, I think it's adorable.  But I did shed a few tears out of pure shock when the boy who returned after a haircut was not my little three-year-old but a big boy.

 

As I told Justin, we might as well just send him on to first grade right away, because that's how old he looks to me.

 

My only consolation is that I'm starting to see a curl in Beau's hair that is coming in.  Heaven help me when he starts growing up.  I'll definitely be a basket case!

Dressed to Impress

Whether they're dressed up for church, or wearing a silly concoction all their own, I think my crew is a great-looking bunch!  Not that I'm biased or anything.  Here's some random recent cuteness for you.

Beau ready for church in his handsome pirate outfit from Mimi

Mallory showing off her cute new dress from Aunt Rachel, as well as baby Sally's lovely pajamas

One morning before school, I tried to pose the kids for a picture since the boys had on their Christmas presents from Pa & Gigi.  Beau was super cooperative.

Jake is a master at wrangling his little brother!  Notice that Sally made this pic as well.

 

Jake & Mal were super excited to dress "goofy" for their friend Karl Mikal's goofy-themed birthday party.  You can't see it here, but Mal had her hair in one pig tail & one dog ear, which she found hilarious.

Oh, how I love little ones in footed pajamas!  And matching things!

Miss Priss in a new dress from Mimi

Beau looking dapper in his brother's hand-me-downs

And finally, pajama day at school!

Well done, Jake & Mallory!

Several months ago, we began using an incentive system to encourage Jake & Mallory toward good behavior & doing their chores without complaining.  We snagged this idea from a friend's blog, & it has really worked well for everyone. 

Ideally, we sit down twice a day, morning & bedtime, to go over the rewards each kid has earned so far.  When mornings are busy, we just do it all at bedtime, but it gets hard for them to remember the stuff from the beginning of the day.  I need to work harder to fit in it at the right time.  Each child has a large jar to fill with rewards from each of the six "task" jars.

A button is earned from the potty jar for a dry pull-up (Jake) or underwear (Mal) in the morning, & then another can be earned for a full day without accidents.  A colorful bead can be earned from the bed jar for making their beds when told in the morning (to the best of their abilities).  Two buttons from the toothbrush jar can be earned daily for completing that task without any resistance.  One pom-pom from the toy jar is given to those who clean up well.  Pom-poms from the mouth jar aren't necessarily given daily, but just whenever Mommy notices one of them being especially polite with what they say.  The thumbs up jar, the most coveted of all, holds jingle bells, given at random times for good behavior that goes above & beyond.

When their rewards reach the first line on their big jar, that child gets to pick out a prize or toy of some kind from Target (or another store they like).  Reaching the second line earns them a trip to the ice cream shop.  When the top line is achieved, it's Chuck E. Cheese time!  They usually earn rewards at a pretty similar rate, although it varies day to day, so we've been able to get by with group trips for ice cream & CEC so far.

 

This is by no means a perfect system, but it does help encourage & reward their good behavior.  Good job, guys!