Clean Dishes

It snowed today - about 2-3 inches. It's made the ground look pretty again by covering up all the dirty icy snow. The kids played in it this afternoon having fun eating the fresh fallen snow and rolling around in it. It's been rather warm for it being January. High's in the 20's & 30's. Kind of crazy given that the 1st have of December was exceptional on the cold side.
Ella got through her 2nd lesson on her "Ferris Wheel" phonics. I think she's starting to catch on better. For her workbook page, she has to draw picture for the 6 words that she completed by adding on an ending consonant. She's quite the drawer. Tom was able to tell on most of the pictures what she had drawn.
I'm trying to put together a chore/cleaning organizing chart to help keep stuff (like dishes and laundry) from piling up. Today I actually kept up on all the dishes and did them after each meal - I think this must have a been a first for me. Like many people have mentioned, it was quite easy to clean up right after the meal when the previous meals' dishes had already been taken care of and it really didn't take long either. Now I hope in the next couple of days to incorporate the kids with the cleanup by having the 3 older ones take turns rinsing the dishes for me. I think I might try Ezra for breakfast, Emmeline for lunch, and Ella for supper.