This, of course, had everything to do with Christmas and her birthday being in quick succession.

Her LEGO Pottermania hit just in time, because when we visited the LEGO Store at Bellevue Square a couple of weeks ago (the only LEGO store in the state, by the way – you’d think there would be more of them!), we were told that the Harry Potter sets are in the process of being retired, since the movies have all come out and there won’t be any more big marketing pushes.

Still, there are a couple of sets that I knew that she would want.  And I was beginning to see which way the wind was blowing with these sets right before Christmas.  So… we have a couple of sets hiding in our closet at the moment, which she does not know about.

But then I had an idea.

When I was a little younger than Ane, but not by much, I desperately wanted the toy of the moment – a Cabbage Patch Doll.  Don’t laugh, it was the 80′s.

However, my parents set up a chart for me in the kitchen.  The Major had a similar one.  We both were receiving an allowance at the time, and we were saving up our money for our “goal” – the toy of our dreams.  For me, the Cabbage Patch Doll.  For the Major, it was an AT-AT.  We eventually saved enough money to buy our toys – I got mine first, since the Cabbage Patch Doll was cheaper than an AT-AT, and I had a bigger allowance because I was older.  But the Major finally went to a Toys ‘R Us in Portland, Oregon (no sales tax, which is why I also bought my doll in Oregon on a visit there), and plunked down the contents of his piggy bank for that AT-AT, which he still owns to this day.

And yes, I still have my doll.

So, I proposed to Ane that she start an earning chart.  If she can earn $80 (considering the rate of inflation and the size of the toy, this is probably not that far off from how far the Major had to go), then the Webmaster and I will pay for the rest… and she can buy the full Hogwarts Castle LEGO set.

(Which is already sitting in our closet because I was able to buy it for considerably cheaper – with a rain check sale price – than what it’s being sold for on the LEGO website.)

She liked the idea, so we’re going to do it.

This is good for both of us.  This is really going to reinforce to her the value of a dollar – something she has been discovering lately.  She got a lot of gift cards for her birthday, but has been surprisingly stingy about spending them.  She walked around the American Girl Doll store right after her birthday party, with gift cards burning a hole in her pocket… and declared that she was too overwhelmed to choose anything, so could she just go home and come back later?

It’s also going to help her with the concept of saving – not that she hasn’t done that before, but she’s never done it for something this BIG.  I really think every kid at about this age should be encouraged to save up for something big that they want.

This scheme is also going to help me… because I am not good at remembering to give Ane her allowance every week.  Granted, she has no problem spending MY money on things she wants. But then, when I say, “Fine, but it’s coming out of your allowance,” it doesn’t have any meaning to her, because that money was never in her hands in the first place.  It’s like I am Mom, the credit card with a limit.

Nope.  I need to be Mom, the ATM, that you have to withdraw from and see the cash in hand before you spend it.

I kind of wish we could do this with Tad, but he doesn’t earn an allowance yet because he doesn’t have any regular chores that he is expected to do around the house.  He helps to clean up and sweep every now and then, but Ane dusts, helps take out the garbage, watches Rerun for me while I am either taking Tad to or picking him up from the bus stop, and is supposed to keep her own room clean.  Plus she does earn extra money for extra jobs, like watching Rerun while we are working on a big project (like painting the house, for example), or for doing yard work or helping her Dad wash the cars.

If Ane gets really motivated, she could earn that set quicker than she thinks.

I guess we’re going to learn how motivated she really is.

The snow has melted off the pavement, the roads are clear (enough), and the buses will be rolling this morning!!!

I am too excited to put up a decent post.  I will feel more like a functioning adult tomorrow.

Time to get back on schedule!

I leave you with a cute picture of Rerun, who loved playing in all this snow…

… and while he could, he made a collection of his favorite snowballs.

By the time he came inside that day, his collection was quite impressive.

This toddler is so funny and adorable.

But even he is very glad to be getting out of the house again!

With his new bed, he really doesn’t seem to feel the need to wander about the house at night to find a different place to sleep – he REALLY loves his bed.  But in our effort to make his bed especially appealing to him, he has a desk lamp on the headboard to read by, and that is causing problems.  He wakes up in the middle of the night and turns it on, and then will often fall back asleep with it on, which sometimes bothers Rerun.  Recently, though, he’s been refusing to turn it off to go to sleep.

I wanted to nip this one in the bud right away, since I am very tired of sneaking into his bedroom to turn off that lamp all the time.  Last night, I found a way.

Tad has a select number of CD’s he likes to listen to at bedtime, and most of them are Veggie Tales.  He’s been listening to the Easter CD since Easter without stop.  That doesn’t bother me too much, because Easter music is not nearly as pervasive as Christmas music.  But now that Christmas is here, he really wants the first Christmas CD that Veggie Tales put out, “A Very Veggie Christmas.”  The problem is, the music gets him so stirred up that he rarely goes to sleep while listening to it.  And having the lights on doesn’t help the situation at all.

Last night, he asked me specifically for the Veggie Tales CD.  I had slipped The Vince Guaraldi Trio CD in, hoping that the sounds of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would lull him to sleep.  No, he didn’t want that, he wanted Veggie Tales.

I finally said, “Okay, Tad, you can listen to Veggie Tales… but your light stays off.”

And I switched off the desk lamp.

And he promptly freaked out.

I insisted, though, even as his whining got louder (Rerun wasn’t asleep yet – he was listening to this conversation while paging through one of his favorite dinosaur books).  He could listen to Veggie Tales, but the light had to stay off.  And if he turned it back on, I warned him, I would take the CD away and he wouldn’t get to listen to it.

Tad’s internal struggle was mighty, but his desire to listen to the CD won out.  The light stayed off, I turned on the CD, kissed both boys good night, and left the room.  I did leave the door wide open with the hall light on, so there was still plenty of ambient light.

I checked on them four minutes later (I’d set the timer while I was mixing up a batch of cookies), and they were both awake, but the light was off and all was quiet.

Ten minutes later, Tad was fast asleep, the lights was still off, and Rerun’s eyes were almost closed when I came in the room.  I gave him another kiss and tucked him back in (he always kicks off his blankets), and he dropped off immediately.

I have won this round, but the battle is far from over.  And new fronts are opening up in the war all the time.

Still, I will savor today’s victory, for tomorrow will inevitably have its own defeats in store for me.

I managed to embarrass Ane yesterday without even leaving the house.

I was working on many and varied Christmas projects while the Webmaster set up our VCR/DVD recorder to record my grandmother’s copy of the Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Nutcracker movie on to DVD.  We’ve only had the tape for three or four years in our house, so it was time to get around to this.  (And if you’re reading this, Grandma, it’s coming back to your house to stay now.)

We took Ane to see the Nutcracker almost two years ago, on her sixth birthday.  She would love to go again, but, as her father pointed out, she’s getting to do so many other things for her birthday that adding in ballet tickets was not going to happen.  She conceded that point, and decided to watch the movie in her ballerina costume.

There is something about watching the ballet that brings out the inner ballerina that exists in most girls.  And I’m still reasonable flexible, even if my center of gravity has changed somewhat after giving birth three times, so as Ane was watching the movie, I pirouetted across the living room for fun.

My daughter instantly cried, “MOM!  Don’t DO that!  You’re embarrassing me!!”

I turned around and looked at her.  “What?  I can’t dance in my own living room?  It’s not like we have company over or anything.”

“Someone might see you through the window!“  she hissed.

“Who?  Zoe?”  I asked, amused.  Zoe is our next-door neighbor’s chocolate lab, who spends a lot of time in their fenced front yard.

“Anybody!!”

I looked at the Webmaster.  He shrugged his shoulders.  He’s embarrassed Ane by dancing and singing in public, and that’s because he enjoys seeing her reaction.  I think I just set the bar really high for him.

The Webmaster did not want me to put the glass icicles on the tree this year, because he was convinced Rerun wouldn’t be able to leave them alone.  While Rerun has surprised me (so far) with his restraint regarding the tree, the icicles were being treated like lollipops.

So yesterday morning, before Rerun got up, I moved all the icicles up the tree and out of his reach.  What didn’t fit went back in the box.

So far, so good!

*****

Ane and I are reading Heidi together.  She loves it.  Because she always wants me to keep reading, I offered her two chapters if she showered before the boys took their baths and got into bed early.

At first she declined.  She doesn’t like going to bed before her little brothers.  But then the desire to read won out.  So she showered, brushed her teeth, and got into bed a half hour early – plenty of time to read two chapters.

Living in this house requires knowing the art of making the deal.

*****

When Tad gets home from school, the first thing he usually wants to do is play/read on the iPad.  He is loving the “A Charlie Brown Christmas” book app that we bought for him, and he’s in the process of memorizing the dialogue.  So, I struck a deal with him – he can play with the iPad IF he goes into his room to play.  Ane needs less distractions when she is working on her homework.

Tad was not keen on this idea, but he finally agreed to it and left Ane alone long enough to finish her math homework sheet and get most of her reading done.

We’re going to have to work on this compromise a little bit more, I think.

Why can’t everyone just read the blog?  I’m posting here five times a week!

(I’m only sort of kidding.)

I want to make everyone sound good without bragging.  It’s like writing an annual cover letter for a family resume, for people who only check in on us once a year.

So, I’m writing a letter, and the kids are writing letters to Santa.  The plan is to go see him tonight.  I told Ane and Tad that they need to write them up after school today (I’m trying to keep Tad from going too crazy, because once that letter is written, he is going to want to take it straight to the man in the suit), and I can already tell that I’m going to be helping Tad spell out things like “Bat-Cave” and “Legos.”  He can spell “shark” all by himself; he doesn’t need me for that one.

I just hope Rerun takes a good nap, and then sits still and smiles for the picture.  But, if not, well… it will be a story to tell later, right?

… who had the salted caramel.

For my shark boy…

… who is a confirmed chocoholic.

And for my ham of a toddler…

… who shared Auntie’s espresso chip ice cream…

… and insisted on using a spoon…

… because he can.

I am so blessed and thankful to be their mommy.

May you all have a happy and grace-filled Thanksgiving!

Ane: (staring at her plate) “Mom, how much of this chicken do I have to eat?”

Me: “All of it.  Your brother ate all of his dinner, and you had equal portions.”

Ane: (getting huffy) “But Mo-om, I don’t like chicken!”

Me: “You ate teriyaki chicken without complaining last night.”

Ane: “That was different.”

Me:  “No, it wasn’t.  Eat.  There are plenty of hungry kids who would love to have your food.”

Ane: (slumps back in her chair)  “You are M-E-A-N.”

(Yes, she spelled it out.)

Me: (smiling)  “Good, I’m glad you think I’m mean.  Now, could you please tell Grandma that when you see her?  She’ll be so proud of me.”

(It wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.  I think she meant to hurt my feelings.  Too bad – I’m so mean, I don’t care.  And she ended up eating the rest of her dinner.)

Was it only a few months ago that I struck a deal with her to let me read the first five chapters of the first book to her, and see what she thought?  She then watched the corresponding part of the first movie, and was officially hooked.

We are now halfway through book four, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  This girl, my night owl, is actually getting herself ready for bed BEFORE her brothers and going to bed EARLY in hopes of getting two chapters in a night.

Because I read all the books to the Webmaster while he was unemployed in 2009, we can switch reading duties between the boys and Ane – because there are some nights when Ane really wants her Dad, and Tad only wants his Mama.

But here is my current dilemma – do we stop after book 4?

The subject material gets heavier – people start dying, after all – and while Ane is not a squeamish or over-sensitive kid, I’m hesitant that she won’t understand as much of the story as she would in a year or two.  I know that she can handle the darker side of the story – after all, this is the same kid who watches Anakin light on fire in Star Wars Episode III without flinching, and then watched Raiders of the Lost Ark without any problems.  The opening of the Ark scene?  No issues.  Ane completely believes that God can melt your face off if He’s mad enough.

But while I’m concerned that she won’t understand the story completely, I know that there are many, many kids her age out there who have seen the movies and will spoil the story for her, given the chance.  We are insisting that she read each book first before she sees the corresponding movie, but the only movie she’s seen is the first one (still waiting for the second one from the library).  She’s a sharp cookie and can tell when movies don’t accurately reflect the books.

And she’s going to want to keep reading the books.  We might be able to slip a different story in between books, but I know that she’s going to keep asking when she can read the next book.

So… any opinions out there, especially you who have read the books?  What do you think we should do?

What happened was… he spent 45 minutes coloring.

As in, 45 minutes where he stayed in one spot.  It was very easy to get pictures of him.

He kept trying out different pencils (occasionally biting on the ends of them – hey, he’s still a baby), playing with the itty-bitty unable-to-do-much pencil sharpener, and was so intent on doing it all himself.

He kept writing with the lighter colors, so they don’t show up very well in these pictures.  But he was so happy, and so content, and so willing to let Mommy work on other things and not have to sit and entertain him.  It.  Was.  Awesome!

I let him do it again the next day while Ane was working on homework, and she freaked out.  “MOM!  He’s getting into my colored pencils!!!”  she shrieked.

“First of all, those are the FAMILY colored pencils – you have your own in your art kit.  And second, look at how happy he is!  Look at how he’s not bothering you as you’re working on your math homework!”  I pointed out.  Rerun has been known to try and scribble on his sister’s homework when she’s not looking.

She acknowledged that he was behaving, so she kept working on her math, Rerun kept drawing and comparing pencils, and Tad read a book on the iPad while I got dinner ready.  It was a glorious moment.

And I say “moment,” because, of course, it didn’t last.  Oh, well.  At least I know that it CAN happen, and all three kids can be occupied without bothering one of their siblings at the same time.