The reason you have kids

is so they can do the chores. Or, at least that's what I teased my mom about when I was growing up and doing chores.

I decided I had to suck up my type A personality and let the kids start some real chores around the house. Best thing is, they love it (for now)!

Jacob has been setting the table for a while, but now he gets to put away clean silverware. Cleaning up toys and his room are also on his regular chore list. He likes to help me clean the floor, but I don't count on that being a complete job. Now, if I ask Beth to do something, he asks if I have a chore for him.

Beth, being older, has more that she's expected to help with. Most recently, I've handed over the unloading of most of the dishwasher. I will also let her load the dishwasher. Her other chores beyond cleaning up her room and toys- getting drinks ready for meals, clearing the table, recycling the cans/bottles. Occasionally, she'll help clean the floor and dust.

They will sometimes help with laundry as well, if they're around when I am working on it. I know it's important to teach them how to take care of a home and themelves so they can one day be responsible adults. I count my blessings that they enjoy helping Mommy!

"Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life" ~Picasso

One of my plans for the summer was to take the kids to a couple of the phenomenal art museums in Fort Worth. I wanted to encourage Beth's love of art and take Jacob along for the exposure. My cousin, Tessa, lives close to Dallas, and we don't take enough chances to get together. Well, wouldn't you know it, they're moving to Houston at the end of the month. We planned to get together before they left, so I invited her to the Kimball Art Museum with us. Oh, Tessa just happens to be an elementary art teacher, too.

Tessa talked about the art with the kids, asking them if a statue was a boy or girl, what colors they saw, the tools they used, etc. It was great for Beth, who wanted to read every description for Tessa.

The front desk had some great things for the kids to make the museum more interesting. Jacob had a ring of laminated photos of various art in the museum. His job was to look for them. He was so proud to find them. I tried to use the back of the card to ask him some of the questions about the art, but he wouldn't go for that. Beth got a hand-held device. Some art descriptions had a family picture and code number for her to punch into the device to hear some fun facts about the art. What seemed most interesting to her was when an artist would paint a family in clothes and surrounding that weren't their reality because the family wanted to appear wealthy.

When we got home, the kiddos were busy wanting to do artwork. Jacob drew a picture of our family and proudly showed it off,

Beth first drew a self-portrait, wearing clothes different that her own. Then, she made this colorful artwork (on the left) and signed the back. She said it was ancient, and one day, when she was dead, somebody might come to our house and see her picture and know that it was famous. Too funny!