A Little Lighter

No, not me. Or if so, only very little. But after last night's post, I wanted to have a topic that is just a little less upsetting to me (and possibly to my readers, and thank you all for being polite in your responses).

This is the Weekend of Sleepovers at Chez Gamers' Babes. We had intended to spread them out through the week, since it's mid-winter break in our school district, but it just didn't work out that way. So Friday night we had Greg, Saturday night we had Kay, and tonight we have a little girl in Abby's class, whom I will call Lily for the purposes of this blog. Tomorrow and Tuesday we have normal-ish days and nights, and Wednesday Abby is going with me to work to deliver her Girl Scout Cookies, and being dropped off at another friend's house for a playdate. Busy week.

Fun too, although I've watched more Fairly Oddparents than I'd like. Lizzy is particularly tired this weekend so there has been a fair bit of whining. On the flip side, there has been actual napping on her part, which cannot be discounted as a Good Thing. Ever. The big kids of last night's sleepover (Abby and Kay) earned three treasure chest picks each* for the amount of cleaning up they did. It was freaking amazing; the girls' room is cleaned almost to adult standards, their bathroom is properly tidy for the first time in weeks, and all their clean laundry has been put away. They're always required to help, but they seldom go this far on their own. And all for the privilege of Staying Up Late (they finally finished cleaning up the room around 11:30 - but when an 8yo and a 9yo beg to stay up late so they can clean (on a non-school-night), a sensible parent does not argue).

I like to think of myself as a sensible parent.

*The Treasure Chest is our reward system. There are some things you do just because you're part of a family... take your dishes to the sink after meals, help your little sister, be responsible for packing your snack for school... and some things that are essentially extra credit; for those things, you get a Treasure Chest Pick. The Treasure Chest is full of stuff from the dollar store, Target's Dollar Spot, and this little Asian trinket store at our local mall.  So there's a good mix of light-up pens, origami paper, hair ties, little jigsaw puzzles, sticker sheets, etc.