The Sun is Out!

The new Chore charts are coming along swimmingly. The kids seem actually happy about their work, and I had to laugh, because Things One and Three were singing as they were emptying garbage this morning: "We were born to empty garbage, Wah HAH!!!" over and over. It was pretty funny.
Of course, it's not that the chore concept is new, it's the PRIZE BASKET. I went to the Target Dollar Spot, and WalMart, and filled a huge basket with toys and gum and other goodies. So, if the kids fill up their chore charts for the week (they can only miss ONE star) they get to pick out of the Prize Basket at the end of the week.
They were salivating when I showed them the prizes they could choose from. I think this is the best idea yet!

So we were sitting in church yesterday, and all of the kids were being so quiet and so good, and I was thinking to myself: "This is a pleasant dynamic...and it's all going to change in SEVEN weeks!" Until that moment I was one of the moms who looked at other moms who were at church and had little toddlers crawling all over them, screaming, demanding snacks, basically making TONS of noise, etc.
That was ME, about five years ago. I had the Nightmare children. Now that they're all older, they are much better behaved at church, and I was getting all smug because I didn't have to deal with babies and toddlers anymore.

Heh. Joke's on me, right? It's like we're starting all over again. Six and a half years is a HUGE gap, I think. But I do love babies. They're fun.

Do I have mixed emotions or what? ;-)

I saw the sun come up this morning. Seriously, I've never watched a sunrise in my life, that I remember. Hubby was dashing around this morning (he just left for New York--can I say he's THRILLED that the weather there is supposed to be WAY cold) and I was sitting on the bed, looking at the sky through our bay windows and suddenly, there was the sun, s-l-o-w-l-y rising up! It was neat. Although I couldn't look at it very well, it was too bright. I'm just glad there's sun. The last few days have been gray and yuck. It was just a neat little thing to witness. It made the ensuing flurry of packing lunches and cramming kids into snow gear a little less tedious.

Well, off to the grocery store I go! Lots to do!