The past couple of days the children have enjoyed pretending that they are married (Audri and Carter) with a son (Eli) and dressing up in our clothes. Audri was pregnant earlier today, but she had her baby Natalie this morning. Eli's pretend name is baby Max.

Audri wanted me to be sure and record this and post these pictures (my blog is important to them too, I'm discovering! Audri wants to read every entry and is always asking me to post things on the blog ) so here you go! Just another morning of playing and pretending.

In real life news, I've been working on teaching them more skills this summer like chores and personal hygiene. Up until now I was doing everything for everyone, but there are too many of them and too few of me!  We've already made a lot of progress and I'm hoping to fine tune it a little more before the baby comes.

So far they've taken over folding and putting away all the laundry.

Audri can empty the dishwasher.

Audri can now bathe herself.

I am working on teaching Audri to pick up the kitchen and the downstairs bathroom.

They are both very good at picking up a room (stray toys, books, clothes) but we will work on improving in this area.

I'm working on teaching Carter how to wipe down the bathrooms upstairs (counters, floors).

The folding/putting away laundry is a big help. I taught Audri how to do laundry when she was 5 and she loved it, but I took it back over again. I'm not taking it over again this time.  I wash and change loads, they just fold and put away (my least favorite parts). I'm also requiring them to pick up after their own messes 90% of the time, which also takes a big load off me.

It's a blessing to see them getting older and able to help more. Especially now that the little ones are so close in age and totally dependant on me.