Life Skills Part I

My sister had a great idea that she shared with me....(as a mother of 4 also).  She decided that this summer, she was going to teach her kids some "life skills".  I think we both realized that our kids might not even know how to pour their own glass of water (an exaggeration of sorts, but you get the picture)!  I would love for my kids to have a fun fun, happy happy ,no worry summer, but the truth of the matter is, when you have 8 hands and 8 little feet (yes that would be four kids) running through your house, making forts, walking right over trash on the floor to get to the door, leaving towels wherever they drop, capri-suns left on the couch, the front door wide open, folded laundry barely making it in the drawer, water running in their bathroom, toothpaste EVERYWHERE, dirty clothes left wherever they were standing when they stripped down, poo poo on the floor (ok--this happened today...pretty sure I noticed that one quickly, as Owen jokingly came down saying Gray left a piece of chocolate on the floor), shoes pretty much scattered across the driveway and garage, plates left on the table, an insane amount of crumbs under my table, no matter how many times I sweep....life can get a little ummm, ahem....messy and chaotic!
We need some life skills or their future spouses are SO going to resent me!
So here we go....the first idea is to let each child cook dinner for everyone.  And I mean REALLY do it!  Of course, I need to be close by or we will not have a house to destroy anymore, but the idea is to allow my kids to experience how to do everyday things that they will inevitably have to do one day.
I started with Wills because 2 were "swimming" in the tub and Owen was listening to my I-Pod....in a trance listening to my hip hop music that I down loaded for my spinning classes. 
Our first life skill is Cooking dinner for a family of 6.  Now we are not fancy here at the Carrington house, so it just so happen to be Taco Night, which comes around at least once a week.  He turned on the oven, browned the meat, added some spice, cooked the Taco shells, and made some cheese dip.  He laid out all the toppings for everyone and he actually did a really good job with everything.  It didn't go over without quite a mess of course, but that goes with having kids in the kitchen, I suppose.
So....now I have one child who will one day know how to make a mean taco dinner for that future lovely lady friend of his, all thanks to his Mama!

Taco Night!

 pre- a little help from mom on how to get all the shells on one sheet!

 Jammin to some Lady Gaga and Black Eyed Peas