Thursday, March 6, 2008

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)

14 comments:

Unknown said...

LOL!!!! You are soooooooo stikin' funny! Good luck and I hope you survive the next three weeks.

Christina

Tausha said...

i am truly happy that my children are not the only ones who do this. They can eat a huge dinner with 7 courses and desert. They walk in the door to anoyone that is family-i'm hungary can i have something to eat? EVERY SINGLE TIME! Good lick with the 3 weeks, i like public school the whole 9 month thing is really fabulous, except when it's summer!

Hey It's Di said...

OH wow! I can completely relate to the "fantasy list" and the cheerful family all doing it together! I just wish that one of these times I'd either get real or the fantasy would become reality!
Good luck for the remainder of your time with the kids out!!

Bonnie the Boss said...

You have my sympathy. 3 weeks with your children home You need chocolate. I also have those fantasys about my house and kids. Then they come through the door and it's as if you can hear that errrkkkk sound of a record needle being scraped across a record.The fantasy ends. Good luck.
Bonnie

Jen said...

40 minutes? Not bad for a child.

I agree with Bonnie. You need chocolate to get through this. Maybe some bon bons.

Jessica G. said...

Cinderaaron! I love it!
I thought year-round school was the way to go but now...not so sure...

Jo said...

I love how the we almost always ends up being just plain ole me. Good luck with the goals, and I hope you reach them.
Poor, poor Aaron! You make him work and won't feed him pears. You must be a mean mom.
Kids. sheesh.

Kimber said...

Good to know I'm not the only one stuck on this fantasy that just won't come true. And that my kids are not the only ones to go to someone else's home and plead the 'starving' case, no matter how full I stuff them before they go over.

Good luck with the 3 weeks!! I hope at least part of your fantasy comes true!

cara said...

Oh I think your fantasy is one shared by practically everyone with children! Funny how when you are a teen your dream world revolves around Brad Pitt and then you have children and the fantasy is something as simple as order and tidiness!! 'Simple' but somehow unattainable.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Mom!!! THANK YOU!!!!!! Thank you for changing that. However next time could you use 2 instead of II?

mommeeof10 said...

The only good thing about my kids having days off is that I get to sleep late. I leave for work at 10:30, so if they are home, I sleep until 7:30 or 8 am. My older kids get up with the little ones and feed them. All I have to do is give them the reward of being the first on the computers. We have 2 that at least some of them are allowed to use. The other 2 are daddy's servers. One my older 3 can use. The new one is daddy's only.

Damama T said...

JILL!! OH MY FLIPPIN' STARS! You get on a roll and before long I'M ROLLIN'!! "...don't even think about drawing pictures of yourself thinking about them!" and "Cinderaaron" dang near did me in! ROFLMBO!!!

Anonymous said...

Remind CJ that we have a Nintendo 64. We have to power it up by creating electricity on an old bike we pedal while playing our Nintendo. Thanks for all the nice things you said about us. Your Cousin the egg freak.

Anonymous said...

Remind CJ that we have a Nintendo 64. We have to power it up by creating electricity on an old bike we pedal while playing our Nintendo. Thanks for all the nice things you said about us. Your Cousin the egg freak.