Saturday - May 16, 2009

Today was a "try to catch up on yardwork that's been neglected for waaaay too long" day. Got a bunch of leaves (yes, from last fall) put into bags and hauled to the dump. Tied some roses to our front fence. I plan to plant more rose bushes so they can trail along the fence all the way, but I haven't the first clue on what type of roses to get that will trail sideways rather than up, and how far apart to space them. I have to ask Steve LeClair, but his father in law just unfortunately died of a heart attack and they're dealing with the shock and grief of that right now. They were also the recipients of some heart-shaped brownies and a note expressing our deep feelings, though that feels like it's not good enough for that kind of a thing. Still no words. Rest in peace, Jerry.

Alana decided to color on the kitchen counter in pen today. I saw it and asked both kids to come into the kitchen. They've been brought up to know that we appreciate honesty, and they are likely to be punished less severely if they tell the truth than if they try to hide it. Before I could even ask, Alana said she did it. So Noah went back to play in the living room and I asked Allie what she thought her punishment should be. She said no video games. I agreed that that was a good punishment, since she loves playing Mario Kart with Tim and would definitely miss it. She then backpedaled and said "No...something else, I really want to play video games." So I said (jokingly), "Okay, you can clean the toilet. It's either clean the toilet or no video games." She thought about it and thought about it and decided she wanted to clean the toilet. Well, okay. Sure, kid. Okay.

So, she cleaned off the pen (yay, magic eraser!) and then I showed her how to clean the toilet and she went to town. Is it bad that I'm hoping she'll keep getting in trouble so I don't have to clean the toilet anymore? Haha. :)

Her friend Hank called to talk to her and of course the first thing she said was, "My mom made me clean the toilet!" I made her explain why so everyone doesn't think I'm some really awful slavedriver. Sheesh.

Soccer game at one o'clock. Allie did really well! She's really getting much better at this, especially blocking when she's goalie.





Tim went over to hang out and build guitars with Mike for most of the afternoon, and I watched the Preakness with the kids, much to Noah's chagrin. He's not a big fan of the horse racing. I rarely, if ever, watch anything on TV so when I want to, tough luck for everybody else! :p