The Culprit

All kids lie to get out of getting trouble. My 6 year old is no exception. It actually is human nature...avoid punishment at all cost. We work hard to establish trust early in life so that we have it during the horrible teenage years.

Both of our boys, however, are funny. About half the time, they actually admit to wrongdoing. Then I am faced with a quandary. Let me explain...

The cats are finally getting along for the most part. However, their play has gotten quite physical, to the point that I am getting kind of scared. Pumpkin's head is inside Minnie's mouth when they are "playing" and Pumpkin is taking big old bites at Minnie's stomach.
Exhibit A













So this afternoon, I noticed this:

See a bare spot?












and I mentioned it to Noah...

"Noah, I think Minnie has actually bitten a chunk out of Pumpkin's fur this time."

To which my honest little boy said,

"No Mommy, the scissors "slipped" and I cut some of his hair." And he actually brought the chunk of fur to me.

So here's the quandary...

Punish the boy for maiming the cat, or praise him for telling the truth at a moment when he could have actually gotten away scott free.

Here's what I did: First, I began with telling him how proud I was at him for telling the truth that he had hurt the cat and that if he had lied, he would have been grounded (which he has never been, but has heard about it and the idea scares him) for the rest of the week. Instead, he would be banned from using scissors (this is a big deal for him) until school starts and can't touch the cats until Friday.

I actually feel pretty good about the consequences. Last week he did something naughty (I don't remember what it was) and I couldn't think of a punishment to match it and he came right out and said, "Mommy, I thought you said that the punishment has to match the crime." It's weird what this kid actually hears and what things he doesn't.

Sometimes, however, it's hard to hide the truth...

Case in point, a few weeks ago, our little culprit must have gotten hold of a pen.


Can you see it on the lampshade?











How about the window blinds in the bathroom?













I would think a boy as intelligent as my little genius would think to write someone ELSE'S name to his artwork when writing on furniture.

Tackle It Tuesday: Craft Cabinet et al.

I told you yesterday that this weekend turned into MAJOR home repairs. It all started with the craft closet. And it's ALL DEB'S FAULT!!! :)

While the boys and I were over there last week, Deb said to me, "I was going to ask you how you organize your craft stuff because ours is a mess." It forced me to actually think about the state of our craft closet:

Here's what she didn't know...




















and on top












UGH! All of you who were so impressed at the beginning of the summer with all of the crafty things we did and I posted about....this was the result of all the fun.

So Friday night while Deb and I were out at Lowe's, we saw some great deals of different kind of storage stuff that you see at the regular stores (Target, Meijer, etc.) and I got a great set of 10 pieces. So Saturday morning, I got motivated.

Does anyone else make a bigger mess when they organize than there was in the beginning?

So I started putting stuff on the table to get a clean slate



















But after the table was completely filled, I still had a cabinet full of stuff,.



















So then I put all of the empty containers on the floor and started sorting craft items by type



















Pumpkin felt it was very important to help by EATING some of the supplies so I wouldn't have to find a place for them...thanks for the aid, Little One.














After about two hours and warding the kids out of the kitchen about a millions times (they were so excited to see ALL of the craft stuff out), this is the final product.



















There's even space left for more stuff.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL!!!

I couldn't just stop...

The top of the dishwasher

Before














After












No, I'm not a complete slob. Life just kind of took over for the last couple of weeks and I have been slipping in my household duties. There has been a lot of discussion in our household over the last few weeks lately about what I could do to bring in extra money in the mornings while Aaron is at preschool 4 mornings a week and Noah is at school all day every day. I would have thought that Steve would be the one pushing for me to find something. He surprised me yet again though (I love that guy) and said that he would rather have me be able to spend the time finally getting this house under control. Every room in our house has had a half-baked improvement project started and left to be finished over the years. This is the time to finish them. The list is growing so stay tuned for a very active Tackle It Tuesday for at least the next few months. It should be very entertaining.

But for now, anyone want to take bets on how long the craft cabinet STAYS clean?

Weekend Top Five 8/17/08

A much less thrilling weekend than last weekend for the kids. For us, however, we got so much accomplished. I don't have a whole lot of pictures to describe, because we were too busy. Let me explain...

As many of my readers know, Deb has undertaken a major house switch around that involved painting all the bedrooms, switching all the furniture and toys, and cleaning up all of the messes left behind.

Much to my shame, her messes created by major house changes were still neater than some of my everyday messes. So I decided that something needed to be done. I will share one of them one Tuesday, but the other now.

So with that explanantuions, our top five activities from this weekend.

5. A little straightening up turned into a full kitchen overload...while the kids were running mad Saturday morning while Steve was still at work (pictures on Tuesday). Along the way, I determined that the entire kitchen needs a paint job VERY BADLY and I intend to do that the first month that the kids are back to school. This weekend DEFINITELY taught me to never paint again with the kids in the house.

Along the way, I got frustrated that every room is our house has has a renovation projects left unfinished in the six years we have lived here. So after lunch and a trip to Home Depot, our second home repair project got underway.

4. Our bedroom...it originally had a "fake" bathroom, aka a toilet surrounded by paper board walls. Because the room was so small, we tore out the wall and toilet, leaving holes in the floor and nastiness where the walls had attached to our real wall. The wall had been patched, and I had repainted the walls about a year ago, but the fan had never gone back up because the ceiling never got painted. There were three different colors showing through and two different colored blinds on the window, floor boards left unpainted, and paint peeling off the ceiling. So after painting the ceiling, finding wall border, and getting the fan back up, here are the before and after shots. I still need to buy valances today.

Right after the wall came out















The bedroom this morning










Noah's quote during the entire ordeal sums up how the kids handled the whole thing
"Daddy, Mommy just turned into the Hulk."

3. As a reward for putting up with painting, etc. all day, we took the boys on separate dates Saturday night. Aaron and Daddy went to Richmond Park to swim. Mommy and Noah went to Space Chimps. Cute movie but WAY too many "stupids".

2. Sunday afternoon we needed to finish border and Aaron desperately needed a nap but afterward we stile made it to Richmond Park to swim as a family for probably the last time this summer.

1. How sad is this? The most momentous thing of the weekend was moving Pumpkin's litter and food into the basement. They are getting along well now and he can navigate the stairs well. It means that I no longer have kitty litter and kitty food in my living room.















I am quite sure that anyone reading this had a more exciting top five than me...let's hear about them.

Thursday Thirteen: Minnie Takes Over

Today, my blog has been commandeered by Minnie, our two year old Tabby...She is quite angry about the addition of our kitten, Pumpkin, to our home. I will not be held responsible for the following content...









Well, let's see. It's been almost a week now since that little intruder came to MY house. I don't know if that little ball of fur is staying, but he sure does get a lot of attention. But I'm not standing idly by. I have had a few thoughts as I wait for the alien to go away.

1. I won the first showdown while the alien was still caged














2. I'm going to use HIS litter

3. I'm going to steal HIS toy that mommy bought for him














4. I am going to hide downstairs and pout, even when Daddy comes down to pet me

5. I wonder how long until the alien leaves...what if he never does?

6. Just because I don't like to snuggle with Mommy, doesn't mean that the alien can.



















7. I'm going to eat his food

8. Why does he keep playing with people toys














9. I wonder if he misses his brothers, sisters and mommy














10. He really is cute. Do you suppose I am experiencing the loss of childhood, watching this silly thing play around?














11. Maybe if I'm nicer, Noah will pet me too.















12. Why does he keep trying to get near me, like I'm going to be his friend. He got all the way to touching my paws today before I hissed at him. Maybe I'm getting more tolerant...nah!














13. Why did they bring him home? Don't they love me anymore?



P.S. Mommy requests any suggestions for how to make me get along with my new baby brother. I guess I would like that, too.