A few renewed rules...

KIDS:

1. Bedrooms cleaned by Friday evening.

2. 5 attitude marbles in the attitude jar by Friday evening.

3. 1 Chapter Book read by Friday evening.

4. Piano EVERYDAY.

If these rules are kept... movie & treat night on Friday.

PARENTS:

1. Toilet tag played 1-2 times by Friday evening.

2. Hot Breakfast at least 2 times a week.

Suggestions: Malt-o-meal, Pancakes, Bishops Bread, Quiche, Breakfast Casserole

3. Mom has to exercise everyday before bedtime or play games each night before bed.

If these rules are NOT kept then they get Denny's on Saturday morning & nightly games.

It's interesting to hear Casey & Samantha agree that I need to exercise EVERYDAY or "You are really grouchy." It seems like every time I seem to get a handle on 1 piece of my life 3 other pieces start to fall apart. I accept & move past 1 obstacle then I bash my toe & fall flat on my face over 2 new ones. The harder I try to get things "right" the worse things seem to get. Obviously, I did NOT exercise much last week... crazy, mean mom came for a visit this weekend... I'm sure Ryan working 12 out of 13 days then another 8 out of 9 evenings didn't help either... this was the month we took it easy... then a doc went into labor early & 15+ shifts needed filling... the bright side... a bigger pay check. Things are so overwhelming right now. I know I'm looking at life through a peep hole at this point, only seeing a very narrow, skewed view. I need to take a step back, get a ladder, climb up high enough to see over the fence and really take in the view...

Gratitude Journal:

1. Forgiveness... hopefully our kids are firm believers!

2. A Child's long term memory... I'm banking on it not being so good!

3. Humor... please let our kids see humor in my frailties as a mother.

4. Laughter... let them laugh often at my expense, at least then they won't be crying.

5. A new day... starting with pancakes & eggs... lots of eggs!