Ahhhhhh

The kids went back to school this morning! I probably shouldn't be as excited as I am, but I am! It's been almost a month and I am loving the feeling of sitting in an empty house with no one needing anything, no one fighting, no one hungry (well, I might be a little hungry, but I think I can manage it!) Anyway, you get the idea.

For Christmas I gave the kids each an envelope with 6 coupons. They were things like, "You can still have dessert, even if you don't finish dinner." "Mommy will take you out to lunch on a school day." "Mommy will do your chores today." and the kicker, "Mommy will clean your room for you."

So yesterday, I wrote down a list of things that the kids needed to do before they could turn on the TV or computer at 5pm. At 2:30 all of them came to me and handed me the same coupon. "Mommy will clean your room for you." One look at their rooms would explain why they all wanted to use it on the same day. Cedar and Olive had had a "sleepover" in Cedars room on Sunday night. I had insisted that all Christmas items be put away or risk being disposed of. The answer my kids had to this was to take everything they got (fragile or not) and dump it on the floor a foot and a half into their rooms.

(Side note: I know that if my parents are reading this they will be feeling a huge sense of satisfaction knowing that the circle has come around to catch up with me. Gloat if you must. I finally feel your pain from all those years ago...)

I was able to finish Cedar's room yesterday. I must say it looks pretty good. He didn't even want to get under the covers of his bed because he didn't want to mess it up. I should take a picture because I know it will only last another day or two.

The girls room didn't get done yesterday. I finished with Cedar's around 5:15 and choose to make dinner instead of starting on their room. It will take several hours and still only last a few days. Couldn't they have inherited Grandma Loveridge's knack for cleanliness? I wonder if there has been any research on THAT gene. Then I might be interested in genetic baby manufacturing!

This morning you should have heard the girls go on and and on, "Mommy, don't forget to clean our room!" Over and over.

Cristy, do you still have that OLD recording of Charlie? I think I might need it today!

Happy New Year everyone.

ps
Do you like my new assistant blogger? She will probably post more than I do. I am excited to hear her start to put out some of her opinions as well as the photo updates.