St. Louis and The Best Idea EVER!

Ok- so I was off again last weekend to CKC in St. Louis. Actually, it was in podunk Collinsville, Ill. , but no one knows where that is. It was seriously 1 street off the highway with some resteraunts, some hotels, and a convention center. that's it.

BUT.... aside from the size of the place, the convention center was so nice! Compared to our crap shoot of a place in CA just a few weeks ago.

CKC is seriously amazing. Setting up the booth and just the 2 days of constant sales and people was just too much fun. Not getting sick this go around was the best part. It makes such a difference when you're feeling well. (go figure)

So all in all, it was great. My classes went really well, and I'm proud to say that I had MORE than just 1 person too!!!! lol- Actually, my first class had 27 and my second class had 37! It was such a blast teaching to that many ladies.... i think i'm brave enough to want to see what teaching 50 would do to me! :)

But here's the picture i caught on my camera the very last night there. We had just gotten home from a later dinner at Applebee's (um.... SO eating there like once a week from now on!) and had just gotten out of the shower when i had this epiphany of a LO i could do (which will come very soon!). Let me just say, that after 3 days of working 15 hours straight, going back to the hotel and working another couple hours on projects, and only getting on average 3 hours of sleep a night, you're pretty dog tired by the time the last night hits. not that it's not worth it though- which is why i'm totally going to keep traveling with Kim. It's just too fun to NOT do! And BTW.... hop on over to Kim's site-- it's seriously one of the best. her kit club has just been re-done and you get enough supplies in there to make 3 double page LO's. It's totally cool.

Oh...... and this is a picture of our feet/legs. notice the red spots and the swollen hairy legs? yah- that would be the beating up we go through every show as well. hahahahahaha- i know we're so funny, we can't help it! ;)-

And one last note: supposedly people think i'm huge in this pregnancy. I lost count the first day of the show with how many people approached me and asked when i was due and when i told them, they would gasp and tell me that i looked like i was about ready to pop. Yah. um....... ok then! good thing i don't get offended at stuff like that. I know that I'm not "fat".... i'm actually losing weight in my body and getting a basketball of a belly. I'm telling you right here and now that this kid is going to be the biggest one out of all my kids though. Just a hunch, but for those of you who know me and have seen me lately, you'd probably agree. hahahahaha

Ok... so now i'm back and starting a new adventure. aka..... kids on spring break. yah.

After today, Rick and I had this idea of how to help us cope through these times of non-school. I had to share because I'm always up for advice and help with kids and issues facing parents. SOOOOO.... what I love about Hailey's school is that they "grade" the kids on behaviour as well as on school work. Every child in every grade is given a folder with a calendar for the month inside it. Each day, the kids are graded on how they behave in the classroom. There are 4 "levels". Top level is a blue star (the best behaviour), second level is a green smiley face (good behaviour), third level is a yellow straight mouthed face (behaviour needs improvement), and the last level is a red frowning face (not acceptable behaviour). It obviously works in the school here, so why not apply that to home? I'm proud to say that my daughter has only ever had 2 yellow faces and only a handful of green faces..... 97% of the time it's a blue star.( yup... proud mama :)

with that being said and explained, we kept wondering why the kids behave the way they do at home when their teachers say they are just fine and behave wonderfully at school. granted.. i'm sure almost every parents goes through this. So tonight for family night, we decided to do our own behaviour chart. Rick put together a chart and we all sat around and colored it. I then printed off a "calendar" for each child and hung it on the wall. They were each given a circle with their initial in it as well. During the day, rick and i will take that circle and move it up or down according to their behaviour at home. When the end of the day comes, whatever their circle is on, is the permanent "grade" for the day and that is marked on their personal calendar. At the end of every week, if they maintain blue stars and green faces, then they get a special treat. If they continue that good behaviour and get all green faces and blue stars the entire month, they get to go to the store and choose a new toy. if they get ANY yellow or red faces, it's over. They don't get rewarded at all.

I know that this will work with hailey. Kayleb.... i'm worried about still. He sees hailey getting praise for her blue star accomplishments every day and has become accustomed to telling me that he has also gotten a blue star at school every day too. hahahaha

But he's a boy and a monster and he's been copping a major attitude lately and i think this is the key i need to get that under control.

So there ya go- a picture and story for what may be the best idea ever for us! hope you can use it too!