Cherry Blossoms

Snow and wind knocked a couple of branches off a cherry tree near the bottom of the street.  It seemed to be such a waste to have them go into yard debris, so we took some clippers and played Martha Stewart. 

... then we learned that Daddy is definitely allergic to cherry blossoms.  

Firefighter Badge

Ace chose Subway for this week's Lunch with Mama.  Their kids lunch is currently firefighter themed. It included a badge & some sticky letters.  He did the letters all by himself while I was on the phone with Oosje.  

NO PARINTS OLAWD

I recently attempted to outwait the children's tolerance of a messy room.  I told them that if the mess was too big, I wouldn't come in.  Songs and stories and happy thoughts in my room.  No getting laundry. No helping to find socks and shoes.  If you want me to go in, clean it up. 

Moolah did clean up twice during this period.  Both times she said something like "It's so much nicer to have a clean room.  I'm going to keep it like this forever." Which usually lasted about six  hours.  Ace would not clean up. 

Tuesday we had a snow day, and we invited some nearby friends for a playdate.  I stood with the children outside their rooms and asked them to imagine they were a friend visiting.  Moolah wrinkled her nose. I agreed to help if they participated.  

So, we turned on some music.  We cleaned Moolah's room. Then we tackled Ace's room.  While I was sitting on the floor sorting hot wheels from playmobile soldiers, I looked up and saw this sign hanging on his door.  Both the kids saw me look at it.  

 

Moolah said, "Ace asked me to write the words for him," and she read it to me.  Ace looked up and looked at me.  He went over and took it off the door.  

"Moolah, will you make it say 'No Parints Olawd Except Cleaning'?"  

Scrabble with Daddy