Whoa, it has been too long

Yes, it is true, I am here. As always I have so much I would like to post, but I have a little one who needs her name to be changed to Lordess Fontlauroy. Yes, I know she is only two and half months old, yada yada yada, I KNOW. But I am so tired. 

Anyhoo, I am going to get this post done and published. I AM. Over the past few weeks we have started doing family meetings. Not that we are that busy of a family, but we have stuff going on and definitely topics that need to be addressed on a weekly basis. Every night Jack was constantly asking what we were doing the next day, or this weekend, so I felt it was time to have a day and time where we laid it all out.

At our first meeting we covered what a family meeting is and how each one of us can contribute to the meeting. I have a topic, our plan for the week, open discussion, and a game. My topics were general family knowledge and behavior that first week. What is our address, our phone numbers, how and when to use 9-1-1. Then we covered behavior. Behavior over eating all of our meals, screen time, and doing things when asked. Can ya tell there has been lots of whining lately? Lots. I have tried sticker charts, chore charts, begging, anger, choices, consequences, you name it. Even though Jack understands the concept of money very well, the idea of allowance just wasn't cutting it. So I headed to the dollar store and packed up on puzzles, nail polish, hair extensions, cars, basically half the toy isle to make a Prize Box. I even threw in some ones to make it interesting. The kids love the Prize Box. It is a visual reminder and a very heavy box to hang over their heads to get them to make beds, brush teeth, and all that horrible stuff parents make their children do. They can also get a prize for random acts of helping or kindness. 

Jack has been drawing lots lately and had an especially long timeline of the Mesozoic Era with drawings of dinosaurs in each period. I felt so bad just hucking it, but it wasn't being used anymore. So for this weeks meeting, I turned it over and decided to make a giant sized family board game to review the previous meetings discussion. It was super fun! It was nothing fancy (heck, this alone took me all of nap time), but the kids dug it. Each player would roll a dice and in order to advance, had to answer a question right. Along the way they could land on squares that made them do other things. They especially liked the Bonus squares that granted them surprises. you'll see them below:

So far family meetings are a success. Some last ten minutes some last twenty. I don't think the kids could stand much longer than that. But it feels good to sit down and talk out our weeks, lives, frustrations, and happy thoughts.