Adventures of The Thundering Herd: Have/Have Not Challenge Weekly Update

Welcome to the weekly Have/Have Not Challenge update.  I’m a few days late but it has been quite the week.  Not much time to sit and write.  And there is much to write.

After my last update I began receiving texts from my sister.  Lots of questions about how the challenge works.  I think she was intrigued.  She wanted in on the action.  Wanted to add her own challenge. We put our heads together and came up with a fun idea for the next two weeks.  

I cannot wait to share the details with you all.  But first...the winner for this week was 
Team B: The girls!  Yay!  The girls worked hard and accomplished the title of Haves for the week! The boys did not lose by a large margin.  Because the oldest child forgot to make his bed one morning, it cost his teams points which ultimately led to their loss.  The boys have handled the loss like champs and done their chores with no major complaints.  So proud and impressed with my children.  

Sisters <3

So on to the newest part of the challenge.  For the next two weeks, on top of earning team points to win the title Have, the kiddos are earning individual points toward prizes.  Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J.  went shopping and purchased 10 lbs worth of gifts to reward these kiddos for their hard work.  There are four different levels.  With each level, the value of the prize increases.  They have until Christmas Eve to complete chores and earn points.  On Christmas Day, we will video chat with Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J. and they will award each child their prizes.  Sounds like fun right??? There’s more.  

My clever sister came up with more activities for the kids to complete as a way to earn bonus points.  Fun things they can do on their own and others they can do as a team.  Last night we had a video call with Aunt Jen, who lives here.  (Thank goodness for technology that allows us to communicate <3 )

She explained the rules and answered all questions. And there were many questions. But before we could even finish the call, the younger three were off and working.  

Let me share her creative bonus activity ideas:

• 100 points if for one WHOLE DAY every time your mom says anything that requires a response, you end the sentence with "....gracious mother, queen of my life" (for example:  "Bretton, did you clean your room today?" "Why yes I did gracious mother, queen of my life".  EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.  Miss one time and you have to try another day.  You can only do this ONCE.  Also, one time will be recorded and posted to Facebook so I can enjoy.
• 75 points for a handwritten christmas card to aunt jen and uncle TJ that has to be delivered by 12/25 (YEAH!!) (bonus 5 points if chloe gets one too) - ONE TIME ONLY.
• 50 points if you write and perform a Christmas skit or song.  Must be recorded and put on Facebook for me to see.  At least 2 minutes long.  ONE TIME ONLY.  You can do this by yourself or with another sibling or parent or friend.  If you can somehow put Star Wars in it and it makes sense - I'll give you an additional 10 points.  An additional 5 points per person who joins in your skit (up to 20 additional points).
• 25 bonus points for making your siblings bed for them.  They will get their 50 points and you will your 50 + an additional 25.  You can only do this TWICE in the 2 week period.
• 10 bonus points for writing your mother a christmas poem.  At least 4 sentences.  It will be posted to Facebook.  ONE TIME ONLY.
• 5 bonus points for drawing a Christmas picture to post to Facebook.  You can do this TWICE.
• 5 bonus points for miscellaneous actions, behavior, anything your mother deems worthy.  She can dole these out at any time in any increment of 5.  BUT BEWARE - she can dock points for bad behavior as well.  
• additional bonus points can be rewarded to any challenge for extra effort or creativity!

So here we go.  It has begun.  The first Christmas pictures were created last night by both girls and my eleven year old son wrote three Christmas poems.  Later there was singing coming from upstairs as they have begun writing the lyrics to what will be their Christmas song.  Cannot wait to hear the finished product. And this morning, my thirteen year old decided she would attempt the "gracious mother, queen of my life" challenge. The laughter already created by this challenge is priceless.

Hats off to Aunt Jen and Uncle T.J. for contributing to our Have/Have Not Challenge and adding some more fun to the not so fun job of doing chores :-)