Why I have sisters...

A while back my sister, Marta, wrote a blog about her cuties' bday party and said that there is a reason that she had sisters.  For example, when her pictures got erased from her camera after her kiddos 2nd and 6th bday party she was able to use MINE!! Well I have an example of my own.  Mine is geared toward my kiddos too.  I have sisters to help me become a better mother.  

Marta, is a fantastic mother.  She has set the bar so high when it comes to being a mom.  She lives for her children in every way.  And Adie is the same way.  Adie is like me, a working mom, who works away from our kiddos, so we can relate to each other a lot about kid issues.  Maybe our kids are looking to get attention from us in any way they can (good or bad) because they miss us.  All those kinds of things.  It's so nice to have sisters who understand what you are going through and to bounce all of your problems and ideas off of!  Now Maggie doesn't have her own kiddos yet, but she is constant entertainment when our kids are around.  Because she doesn't have her own kids, she is full of energy to spoil our kids rotten with love.  I hope I can return the favor to her some day!

And we all got super lucky because one of those sisters is a Kindergarten teacher.  She is always so smart in ways to help motivate the little youngsters.  And this idea worked like a charm!! So thank you, Adie!!!

We were having an issue with Ella doing things independently.  It was like one day she snapped and stopped wanting to do the things she used to NEVER have problems doing...such as pulling down her own pants and undies to go potty.  She all of a sudden expected help with these tasks she had been doing on her own for a while.  This was just not fun.   After many temper tantrums and hair ripping out I had a little chat with twin sis!! She had all the answers!

A chain!!!! What kind of chain? Well a simple paper chain was all we needed to fix the issues with miss Ella!!

What we did was very simple.  We chatted with Ella about doing things on her own!  Then we told her that every time she did something without our help she got to put a new link on her chain!  We put the first one up and then she was hooked!!

 

 After the first day we went to Hobby Lobby together and picked out paper.  We accidentally picked out paper that matched her room!! Hee Hee. I may or may not have steered her in that direction!!

 We set a goal for miss Ella that when the chain hit the floor we would go to the "Dragon Park." (There is a park near us with gargoyles and dragons and castles...nicknamed the Dragon Park.)

So every day she asked to do things on her own...even things she wasn't really trying to do on her own yet before.  Putting laundry away, folding clothes, anything she could try and do.  It was AMAZING!!

 Here is a picture of her chain hitting the floor!!!

 Here is our decorative box filled with our paper.  We just bought regular old 12 x 12 scrapbook paper and cut them into 1.5" slices!!!

 She picks the paper and it gets stapled to the rest!!! 

We decided that once she finished a chain we would hang it up in her room!!!! (which is why we accidentally picked paper that matched her room)

 

 Here is Ella standing next to her paper chain!!! She is so proud!

 All smiles because we are off to the park!!!

After her first chain we made an extra stop on the way to the park...the horse stables!

 This is Ella with her horse, Whisper.  She was SO excited to go for a pony ride.

 Riding along on Whisper...

 This was TOTALLY a random trip.  We were literally driving by and decided to stop in and see if they had rides available.  Ella was in love.

 Tyler face planted on the dirt road behind the horse so I snapped a quick picture of him covered in dirt!!!! ha ha

 Ella showing off her horse stamps!

 She was devestated when they washed off in the bath :(

 HERE are a few snaps of the park...

you may have trouble seeing, but inside the cross at the top of the castle is Ella's face...

 The monster castle..which is basically a big maze/fort and she loved it!!!

 One of the many dragons the kids played on.  Ella and Tyler were crawling all over.

Overall, the paper chain has been a huge success.  It was such a great idea from Adie, also, to hang the chain where she can see it right away.  Ella's meltdowns always seemed to occur right after nap and when she woke up in the morning.  So that is why we chose to hang it in the doorway.  If we use this in another way, such as for sharing or eating dinner, we would move it to where she can see it while she eats!!!! Thanks to my sisters and good job Ella!!!