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So March has arrived. The snow is almost completely gone, thank you Jesus! And now of course our yard looks AWFUL. Garbage everywhere, sleds, misc. toys....yikes. Now I understand why my other always made us do a "spring pickup" outside.

This month is BUSY for us....here's why.

1. Sydney turned 4 on the 4th..her golden birthday. It was a great day filled with Diego cake, a new camera and her new bike!

2. My sister gets married this weekend!!!

3. Next Saturday is the Daddy/ daughter dance...my girls are so excited to go with Daddy!

4. My brother and his family arrive near the 20th for their first visit in 3 years! I get to meet my new niece and they get to meet Thomas!

5. Easter...lots going on there, eggs to color, dye to spill, baskets to fill, eggs to find...

Then of course we slam into April where we get to go away for Spring Break...SO looking forward to that. We are going to try and tap some of our maple trees this week and make some syrup..that would be fun.

I also had a small meltdown this past weekend when I asked the children to clean their rooms. Jonah was fairly retiscent and complied with little nudging. The girls, however, whose room was AWFUL, were not so easily convinced. Finally, Matt and I helped them rearrange hoping that would spark some interest in cleaning their space. Um...no such luck. I was on my hands and knees cleaning their room as they are playing around me. I lost it. I informed them that I was done and they were not leaving their room until it was clean, no dinner, no nothing. THat got them moving, but I was so upset. How did my children get so stubborn and so indignant that I would ask them to clean up their own mess? My depression grew as I realized that I was at fault for not every making them do it. I usually just do it myself because it's faster and there's no hassle. After a long talk with Matt (whom I adore because he just let me vent and scream and throw things and then gave me some chill out time before trying to help)we decided that it was time for chores. I mean, there must be an upside to having so many children! Then began the debate as to whether or not an allowance was in order. After much discussion we decided that there were some things that they should just be expected to do without having to be paid. Matt went online and foiund chore charts and we made them up, printed them out, and hung them up. The bigger kids have more, obviously, but even Syd has basic chores. We are on day 3 of the chore chart and I am happy to report that it is going well. The kids have embraced their chores with little to no complaining. Jonah and Molli even do the dishes! I'll keep you posted on how we do!