Crafts and New Chores

The day two of the mid winter break was like reaching farther into a cookie jar and my fingers touching the crumbly bottom to grab a broken cookie. There are no perfect round ones left and I have to reach for another one to satisfy four cookie monsters ready to throw a riot any time because they are flat out bored and cannot contain themselves!

Luckily, Malawaina came for an ABA therapy in the morning with Noah, so I only had three children to keep busy in the morning. I bundled them up in winter coats, fleece hats, and gloves and went to Crossroad Mall to buy party favors for Sean's party on Saturday. I always do a little pep talk before we go into a store "no running, no screaming, no begging!" but it's only on their mind for about first 30 seconds into the shopping trip. "Mommy, buy this one!", "I Need this", "This is mine!" they almost compete each other with their demands. Today at the craft store, Aly and Sean were hugging a huge Easter egg, pink and blue ones respectively, and decided they should be allowed to take them home. I think Sean even had an Easter bunny ears on his head. Apart from laughing inside, I knew I better get the heck out of there before they find more stuff. And they did... Sean found a Lightning McQueen flashing light and Aly a pink princess flashing light... They both squat down and wouldn't budge and was getting read to scream. I was able to convince Sean to give it up, but it took a store clerk talking to Aly for her to give it up. That is why I don't like shopping with multiple kids!

In the afternoon, we did two crafts to kill time. That kept them busy for a little while. I also decided to give chores to them and Sean started a new chore titled "kitchen helper" today. He helps me heat up food in the microwave, serve rice, and pour drinks into the cups. To my surprise, he took it super seriously and did a fantastic job! Aly really wanted to be a kitchen helper, too, but I told her that she is a diaper helper and she can help me change Saya and Noah's diapers and throw them away. I think they were more interested in doing the chores than crafts. So, my new bag of things to do with kids is chores. I will keep them short and simple so that they will feel like they are very good at it.

And... it's snowing outside! I was so busy with the kids, I peeked out the window at 6:30 pm and noticed the snow then. Hope the snow won't be too bad because Sean's really looking forward to the party on Sat...