awwwe nap time

sorry about all the mini posts...i'm posting from my phone.

why we smell like dog

Callie's new favorite spot to sleep. she pulls out clothes (fresh out of the dryer) until she's comfortable, then settles down for a nap. Aggravating, but cute!

Ainslee likes spending time at the pool too!

How we've been spending our summer

One of the nice things about our new neighborhood is that we have a community pool. It's been an awesome way to beat the heat this summer. We are at the pool almost everyday. It's been a lot of fun for the girls, and has made them pretty good swimmers. Both like to spend most their time over in the deep end and jumping off the diving board. Lot's of fun!

Rhees doing flips

The girl has no fear!

My "smarty pants"!!!!

It's every parent's dream that their child is the best, brightest, most wonderful of all. I know that my own two girls can be too smart for their own good at times. But, I'm so grateful that they seem to be more intelligent than I ever was at their age. However, when your children are more manipulative and scheming then you could ever hope to have been at that young of an age, the teenage years that will eventually come become a thing of your nightmares! Jared is fooled into thinking that his "sweet" little girls will stay innocent forever. I, on the other hand, have seen the signs early. It is with this introduction that I move onto the whole point of this story......

For the past couple months, I've been introducing more responsibility for Rhees. It mostly stemmed from the comments Rhees was making about money and the realization that she has absolutely no idea how that whole concept works. I've never been one that believes in the concept of allowance, however, how do you teach your child about money if they never earn any. So, after talking it over with Jared, we decided that we would give Rhees some daily chores to do. If she completed these chores each day of the week, then she would earn a whole shiny dollar (broken up by quarters, dimes, nickles, and pennies). That way, we could teach her the value of money, savings, tithing, etc. Her daily chores are very simple. She has to make her bed each day, and she has to unload the dishwasher. In the beginning, she was very excited and did this without any complaint.....however, the novelty has started wearing off, and we now have to "remind" her of her daily tasks.

I noticed for the past 2 weeks or so, that she hasn't been sleeping under her covers. I figured, being as hot as it is lately, she was just too warm at night. But as I noticed that she didn't even untuck the bed covers, I questioned her about it. Her response was, "it's okay mom. I don't need them. I then asked her why she was sleeping on top of them. She wouldn't reply. (you always know something's up when they don't reply). I asked her again. She then told me that she only wanted to keep her promise to Carolyn (her babysitter) to keep her bed and room nice for mommy. I then asked her if she was sleeping on top of her covers so she wouldn't have to make her bed each day. She reluctantly replied, "yes". Then, later that day, she kept asking me when we would be going to the store to get more paper plates. (We usually use paper plates on the days I work and on Sundays so there isn't as large a load of dishes to be done) I asked her why it was so important to her that we get paper plates, at which she replied, "if we used paper plates, I wouldn't have to unload the dishwasher!"