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 :-)

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

It has been two weeks since we first embarked on our journey to change the face of chores in the Holden/Greene house.  It is with a huge smile and happy heart I am pleased to report the Have/Have Not Challenge is working. Truthfully I think it has been a success.  

In two weeks, we have not had one unmade bed or any dirty clothes thrown on the floor. Breakfast dishes have been placed into the dishwasher and backpacks put away.  For two straight weeks and counting, no one has missed an opportunity to earn points.

Now for the slight downside.  I did not take into account when creating this challenge the competitive nature of all five of my children.  I did not realize there would be such a desire to wear the weekly title of Haves.  I was not prepared for all the extra chores they would be begging to do in order to earn added bonus points to increase their score. They have actually been fighting over who will do the extra vacuuming.  There is fighting over who will clean THEIR bathroom.  Moments occur when the arguing becomes too much and the threatening of point reduction becomes a reality.  Yes you heard that correctly. They argue over who gets to do the chores.  What?  I know, right?  They are blowing my mind.  In fact they are calling dibs on chores days in advance.

So without further ado and with great pride I announce the winner of Week 1….Team A: The boys.  However they only won by fifteen points.  My top chore doers were the thirteen year old (girl) and the eleven year old (boy).  Both carried their teams and did extra chores adding bonus points for their team.  But the eleven year old earned more bonus points leading his team to victory.  The girls handled their defeat pretty well but once the announcement was made, the thirteen year old was in the kitchen doing additional chores to gain bonus points.  The real kicker was the sixteen year old.  Once I announced that the eleven year old would be awarded an additional reward for his hard work (carrying his team) doing bonus chores the previous week, the sixteen year old grabbed the vacuum and vacuumed the playroom and stairs.  He then called dibs on vacuuming for the rest of the week.  I AM IN SHOCK!  It’s like living in the Twilight Zone. 

So my friends, I would say our challenge is working.  Yes we’re only two weeks in but when the oldest child takes it seriously, the others tend to follow.  

To read more on the details of the Have/Have Not Challenge, visit
The Adventures of the Thundering Herd.

Adventures of the Thundering Herd: The competition begins!

When you have five kids, you have a home grown basketball team.  You also have a small army.  My father calls my crew the thundering herd.  I believe that title is an accurate description.  They are not a quiet bunch and you definitely know when they are in the room.

Compared to some we are not a huge family.  Larger families exist.  However for me, we are a big family.  We live in a cozy 1700 square foot town home.  Three boys in one bedroom, two girls in the other.  Their rooms are small.  But I would not change a thing. The laughs and wrestling we hear each night before bed warms my heart.  

One of my greatest joys is time spent together.  Each room has a purpose.  We cook in the kitchen together and sit down, almost daily, to dinner around the table as a family.  We retreat to the bonus room and pile in the recliners and on the couch to watch movies or play video games.  Each room allows us to do things together as a family.  It is my dream come true. What I often envisioned my life to be when I had kids.  

With that said, seven people living in 1700 square feet can get messy and crowded.  There is a lot of stuff.   Clutter is easily accumulated and it drives this momma mad.  Leaving me overwhelmed at times, it calls for constant cleaning and sorting.

In the past I have devised chore charts and punishments watching each fail.  Attempting to keep up with who does what and who is grounded from what becomes too much for the hubby and me to remember. They outnumber us.  However I developed a new system. A competition and this one just might take.

Thanks to Big Brother and their Have/Have Not competitions, I came up with my own.  Yes, there will be a losing team.  A group of children who will become the Have Nots for the week should they fail to complete the simple tasks and earn enough points.

I have come up with five simple tasks each team much complete during the week to gain points.  At the end of each week, points are tallied and the winning team will receive the Have rewards while the losing team will receive the Have Not rewards. I think it sounds fun.  A little healthy competition never hurt anyone.  Right? The idea of the Have Nots having to clear the dinner dishes of the Haves for the week is one the great many rewards! Wouldn’t you agree?

As I pulled out my laptop at the end of our dinner last night, I began my presentation.  Met by the moans and sarcasm of teenagers the young ones embraced the idea of competing for rewards.  

As the house fell asleep to the grumblings of teenage angst last night we awoke to different attitudes. This morning beds were made, dishes were put into the dishwasher and the oldest asked if they would receive extra points for having their room already clean unlike the girls. HA! This just might work!

Large families are fun.  Sure we cannot buy all the latest gadgets for the kids or go on big vacations but I would not trade the laughter, adventures at home, and time spent together around the table for any amount of money.  God has blessed my life with insurmountable joy. And it hasn’t come from stuff.

My hubby asked me last night if I got this idea off of Pinterest.  My answer, NO.  This one was all me. Not saying another clever momma out there hasn’t developed their own system, but I came up with this one in the forty five minutes before I prepared dinner last night.  Click here to see my Google slide presentation.  Don’t think the kiddos were quite as impressed with my cleverness as I was :-)  I’ll let you know how it all works out!

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1jBeqtowsfgw32jb1LO34gaiRuZnEdPao_dUYuqD3GsA/edit?usp=sharing