My Young Women group just completed several monster hats to donate to the kids who are receiving chemotherapy at Primary Children’s Hospital. We used my sister’s pattern and tutorial. 
I was especially proud of our 14 year old Mia Maid President, who worked so hard and was there for every step of the process, from purchasing fabric to making the final stitches. Look out world, this young woman is smart, capable, funny, spiritually strong, and she knows how to make warm, fuzzy monster hats.
We have had many methods of listing jobs at our house. Most of the time I’ve written out the lists on bits of paper, but I am not very consistent. I decided it was time to do something new with our job lists.
My new job chart system had to
I made about 50 magnets. The green magnets indicate personal scripture study. The white magnets indicate making beds and doing homework. Yellow and red are for music and dance. These colors remain constant each day and are placed in order of importance.
The dark blue and light blue tasks rotate. The dark blue tasks are “big jobs” and the light blue tasks are “little jobs”. Most days each child has one big job to do and one small job. The big jobs are things such as changing sheets or weeding. Little jobs are things such as emptying a rack of the dishwasher or picking up toys in a common area or putting away laundry. I don’t have personal hygiene items listed on the job chart. The kids seem to do pretty well with this without incentives or cute reminders.
When a job is completed, the kid turns the magnet upside down. This saves time. As for the incentive, each job completed is one point. Each night I add the points to a running total. When the kids collectively earn 100 points, I take them out to eat. The system is forgiving; I understand that some days are busier than others, so I put up fewer jobs. Also, if a child is swamped with school work, they know what jobs are most important and they work from left to right. If they don’t get one of the last jobs completed, no big deal. They know that they have done the most important things.
If there is a job that I don’t have a magnet for, I just put up the magnet that reads “Help Mom” and they ask me what to do.
So far, the kids and I really like this system.
If you are interested, here are the details of how I made it: The letters are stickers from the scrapbook aisle. The square magnet/dry erase board and easel are from Walmart. I made a list of the jobs that need to be done and ranked them according to importance, frequency, and size. I assigned colors for each category. I typed the jobs on bright circles of color and printed them on glossy photo paper. I cut out the circles, glued them to round magnets and then glued the glass stones on top. I used round magnets and epoxy.
The job chart came about because we had so much success with our family home evening chart which I made in September. Making crafty wall hangings is not my thing, but stretching myself to do this has really helped our family. There is accountability, fairness, and I LOVE the lessons that my children prepare. This chart has made our family home evenings a success. The jobs which rotate are Prayer, Song, Lesson, “Helper”, Conduct, & Treats.
I made the family home evening chart with vinyl rub-on letters which were not very forgiving. Stickers are definitely a better method for a beginner like me. The metal board with the frame was on clearance at Hobby Lobby.
These charts fulfilled personal progress goals that I am working on as a leader and a mother in Young Women.
My good friend in Sahuarita introduced me to this ribbon to keep a mother’s Scouting pins. I think it is a great idea and I enjoy the memories when I see the little Bobcat pin, his Arrow of Light, and others. (I’m missing the First Class pin.) There is only one rank left for Daniel: Eagle. He’s considering several ideas for his project and he’s working on the BIG 3 required merit badges that take 3 months to complete.
Here is Daniel receiving his Life rank last week. I love the looks on the leaders’ faces. I’m grateful for what Scouting teaches Daniel. I am thankful for men who take so much time to be with the boys and for their families who faithfully send them off to camp each month.
Richard and I find that a common theme in our conversation lately is milestones completed. Soon Daniel won’t be going on campouts each month. Timothy completed his final Pinewood Derby. Paige is driving. College, high school, and big decisions are coming. I hope that they have enjoyed childhood. I love watching them grow, even though it means that they don’t need me as much anymore. The process of the children gaining independence doesn’t allow me to be a constant spectator, but I am here, perhaps less involved on a physical level, but more involved on a spiritual level. I’m praying for them all day long.
Our traditional pictures at the front door just before General Priesthood and General Young Women meetings may need to find a new location. It’s too sunny!
We bought Daniel a new suit. The salesman asked him where he was going on his mission. Daniel is compiling a list of things that he’s heard lately that you would only hear in Utah.
On Sunday we went to Spring Lake to watch General Conference. There were a lot more flowers than we found last week. We roasted marshmallows outdoors. Grandpa let the boys use hatchets. It was a good time.
As we drove home, Mark exclaimed, “I love spring!” I do, too. I have poppies & irises from Spring Lake to introduce into my flower garden today once the April morning shower ceases. Hooray!
I’ve been writing this blog for 4 years today. As a quiet person, it’s been a joy to be known through my writing. Thank you, my dears, for reading. Happy weekend!
Timothy and Richard created a masterpiece for their last Pinewood Derby together.
Timothy won most of his races and received an award for the excellent styling of his car.
Richard gets one year off and then Mark will be in Cub Scouts. Just three more cars to go!
The kids had their first Easter egg hunt in the Secret Garden at my parents’ cabin on Saturday. The annual Easter egg hunt is something we have heard about with a twinge of pain because we have never had the opportunity to be there. Well, this year we were THERE. And we loved it. Almost all of the cousins were there from my side of the family. I loved watching the dads hiding the eggs almost as much as I enjoyed watching the kids finding them.
Daniel took the photos of the spring flowers emerging on the property. At our house the bulbs are beginning to bloom in our front yard and it was a happy surprise to find a row of crocuses in our new flower beds. We planted some tulips, but the the beds are full of more varieties of tulip leaves than we planted. The daffodils arrived just in time for Easter. I miss my Arizona irises which are probably blooming right now, but living in Utah was worth every sacrifice.
Paige and I got to go to the Conference Center tonight to see the General Young Women Meeting.
It was a powerful experience. Even the art in the halls and the smiling ushers were special to me. I was so grateful that Paige and I could have this opportunity. When all of those young women began to sing the opening hymn I couldn’t join them. I just tried to breathe and wipe the tears away as quickly as possible.
I watched the General YW President before and after the meeting, walking about and greeting people. This taught me a lot about her leadership style and her capacity to love. People can teach us even when they aren’t speaking to us. She was just a tiny speck from where we were sitting, but I could see how people reacted to her focused attention and how she maneuvered from shaking hands with apostles to hugging a little 12 year old girl. It is a skill to be able to greet so many people in a meaningful way.
I love General Conference season. When I am listening to the apostles and other leaders, gospel living seems well within reach. Their words inspire me to do better.
It was a quick trip, but so much fun. There’s no place like San Francisco. For me, it holds memories of my grandparents and Aunt Kate who took me there a couple of times when I was a teenager. I like driving through Berkeley and seeing all of the pastel houses. I like the rolling hills. As I have been writing my grandmother’s history, I have learned quite a bit about the Bay Area. A piece of my history lives there.