Add "shoe sales" to my job description

This Summer the kids have been earning quarters for doing different chores and as a way for us to recognize respectful behavior towards their siblings and (more importantly) me. It has been working pretty well. There are times when they have to pay me (yeah), if the warnings have been given and the negative behavior continues. When they start paying Mom miracles begin to take place, their behaviors improve dramatically.

So we've been chugging along giving and taking quarters for a few weeks now and all the while I've been tripping over shoes. Shoes? Yes, shoes. Not sure of what the change has been, but all of a sudden the kids have stopped putting their shoes away. It really isn't a difficult task. We pull the van into the garage and right there in front of us is a shoe rack on the door as we enter the house. Pretty straight forward - shoes off, hang them up, close door, done!

So now the new rule is if Mom (that's me) or Dad find the shoes, we will take them away and in order for them to get them back they have to buy them from us. Yesterday, we were getting ready to leave for an afternoon at some friends house when I noticed Andrew walking around frantically looking for his shoes. Cha-Ching! Pay up buddy. A quarter a shoe and momma just made 50 cents!

Do ya think this is a taxable income?

Got Laundry?

Guess what we were up to today?

I'm usually very good at keeping up with the laundry, but for some reason I am much better at doing it during the week. I guess because it is just part of my daily routine. When the weekend rolls around, routine's are more of a distant memory and then I get knocked over Monday morning with the reality of a large family. This past Sunday I did realize that I had yet to run the washing machine all weekend and thought about starting a load, but instead put it off until Monday. Well Monday rolled around and my Costco shopping list had become far too long to put off any longer. Fine, I'll work on the laundry after Costco. Well the van was unloaded and grandma was getting ready to leave (the list was too long to have had kids tag along with me), when the phone rang and Nolan was running a fever and needed to be picked up. Did I mention that I had yet to get a shower in and it was now 3:00? I picked him up, lined up a babysitter to watch him while I took Andrew and Ri to CCD and then to Karate. Got home, put kids to bed and the last thing I wanted to do was attack the mountain o'laundry. So this morning, while Nolan and Simon were laying low with fevers, Mary Kate and I decided to start the laundry. I don't usually take pictures of my dirty laundry, but this pile was just too much. I am happy to say that it is now 3:00 and all the laundry is washed and folded (with the exception of the one load in the dryer) and will be put away when Mary Kate is up from her nap!

This is how I define a successful day!

Which child should we leave behind?

While researching a possible family trip to Florida via the Amtrak Auto Train, I was given the following error message...

"We were unable to process your request: Please correct the error(s) shown below and resubmit.

Problem with Too Many Children: Our fare rules provide that no more than two children per adult may travel at the children's discounted fare. Children exceeding that 2:1 ratio must travel at the standard adult fare. To continue, please use the Fare Finder tool and re-characterize any children exceeding the 2:1 ratio as "adults". Please note that infants (under age 2) do not count as children for the purpose of determining an acceptable adult/child ratio. [Error ID: 540S]"

So either Andrew becomes an adult or Mary Kate doesn't count as a child because she's under the age of two. Then what is she and is it time for Andrew to get a job to help pay for the vacation???