Three weeks out of school-Week #1-part 1

Alternate title to this post
"I like pears!"

My kids are on year round school, so every 8 or 9 weeks, they have 3 weeks off.
Monday began week #1.

First of all, I would like to tell about this sweet little fantasy that I have every time the kids go off track from school.
I see our family all working together towards a common goal.

Getting the house clean.

I see my sweet children being ever so willing to help in any way I ask, because, of (in my fantasy) they share the same dream that I do. Everything in the house would be put in it's place, closets organized, toys put away, laundry clean, folded and put away, dishes sparkling clean.
We are all happily working together, singing as we go. The sun shines brightly while birds, butterflies and other cute little forest animals come in through the windows, helping with the work in any way possible, all the time singing, and helping and....................

We interrupt this fantasy to slap you upside the head with a great big painful dose of reality!

OUCH!

I'm sorry, where was I?
Oh yeah, cleaning.

I made a list of things that would be accomplished while the children were out of school for three weeks.
Did I mention that yet?
They are out of school for three weeks!

THREE WEEKS!!!

Anyway;
#1 Everyone's rooms get cleaned.
#2 Storage room cleaned out and organized.
#3 Paint the living room.

I thought the list looked reasonable. #1 seemed somewhat do-able.
About two years ago, we told the kids that if they got their rooms clean, for every day they stayed clean we would give them a dollar.
Long story short, in two years, between three kids, we payed out exactly $17.00
Now the kids have goals. Brielle wants a new desk for her room, and Aaron wants an iPod.
They are doing a pretty good job cleaning their rooms so far.
CJ's room got clean a few weeks ago when DH put the Playstation II away until his room was clean enough to see the floor.
It's amazing how well the children work when properly motivated.

I only wish that "A clean house makes a happy mommy" would be motivation enough for them.

#2 is something I've been wanting to do since we moved in.
#3 probably won't happen, but I can dream can't I? (at least until reality hits me......again)

We (mostly ME) managed to get all of the kids old clothes out of the storage room, sort them and donate boxes of clothes to DI. We also got 4 boxes of hand me downs for nieces, cousins and friends.

Wednesday morning, I decided to reward the children for their help, and I made them French Toast for breakfast.
Later that afternoon, my cousin called to see if Aaron could come over and play with her son.

YES! YES! A thousand times YES!

I ask Aaron to finish loading the dishwasher while I got my shoes on.

Sidenote: One thing I need to explain is that every time Aaron goes over to my cousin's house, he asks for canned pears, and my sweet cousin will feed them to him. He won't eat the same exact pears at our house, only at hers.

As I drive Aaron over to play with his cousin, I tell him,
"Do not ask for pears!"
Aaron:" What if they offer them to me?"
ME: "If they offer them to you, that's fine, but while you are in their house, you are not allowed to say the word pears. You are not allowed to open the pantry door and stare at the pears. You are not allowed to say "Can I eat something that rhymes with stairs!" Don't think about them, don't draw pictures of them, don't even think about drawing pictures of yourself thinking about them!"
(I don't have anything against him eating pears, I just don't want him going over there and begging for food)
As I dropped him off, I old my cousin about the pear conversation we had in the car. She looked at her watch and said "OK it's 2:20, let's see how long he lasts."
Later, when I picked him up, she told me he had lasted exactly 40 minutes before he asked for the pears. She said he ate two big bowls of pears, and a bowl of cereal. He also told her that he was starving, because I hadn't fed him anything that day, he had just spent the entire day doing dishes.

Poor poor little Cinderaaron.

Seriously, I only make French toast about twice a year, you would think that might stand out in his mind.
We now have 2 weeks and 3 days until the kids go back to school.
Wish me luck.


PS: CJ just fell on the floor begging me to make sure that I referred to our Playstation as a Playstation II lest anyone dare think that we have one of those "crappy" Playstation I consoles.
Not that I even really care. (Please don't be offended if you only have a Playstation I)