Unbirthday Party!

My girls have chore charts and if they complete 50 chores they get to pick a reward.  One of the rewards is an unbirthday like in Alice and Wonderland.  We made cupcakes today and the girls made/picked out presents for each other from their toys. Here is a pic with their "presents". It was fun to see them get excited about toys that we already had around the house. The girls were having a sleep over with their cousin so he was able to come to our unbirthday party!  

10 Min Turn Around.....It really works

So I have been frustrated with the little and not so little messes that my girls make for me.  Some days I feel like I clean all day and left off where I started. As much as I hear "you shouldn't stress over a clean house" or "excuse the mess, memories are being made", I LIKE, no LOVE a clean house and feel a little more relaxed when it is clean.  I have tried many different things but this one came to me today because I can always get the girls to do me a favor when it is about a race.  So I called it "10 min turn around". I came to the toy room where the girls were playing and told them they had 10 min to turn around the room to make it clean again.  I told them I would set the timer on my phone for 10 min.  If they were able to clean up in 10 min they could have a few chocolate chips before lunch, which is a huge treat especially before lunch!  Miraculously it was done and in 10 min we had a clean toy room again.   Next time I will take a picture so you can see the difference 10 min can make.