Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Just what I always wanted

This year, Brendan and I took each kid individually to Target to pick out presents for each other and for us.  The deal was that we stay out of the equation (other than to pay for the gifts).  No direction, no influence.

Ultimately, their choices were surprisingly thoughtful -- especially for each other.  Here, however, is what I received.

With love, from Isla:


With love, from Tyson:


Con besos y abrazos, Hayes: 


Yes, that's a pinata.


Thursday, December 6, 2012

Elf Madness -- or fifty shades of crazy...

Not that you didn't expect this from me, but I am one of those "Elf on the Shelf" freaks.  I use our elf, "Oodles," to intimidate, threaten, and bribe my kids.  If you want lessons on parenting, look elsewhere. If you want to make yourself feel better about your own parenting skills, or simply have a laugh at my pathetic attempts to coerce good behavior from my children -- namely, Tyson, who recently exclaimed, "Bree, get me my fucking cereal!" (hey, at least he used it properly) -- read on...

Oodles returned on Sunday morning, along with this letter:



If you notice, it was a struggle to find something bad that Hayes does.  Seriously.  Golden child.

Anyway, Day 1 was moderately successful, so I continued to lay it on thick for Day 2:

They did better, but one problem we deal with A LOT is that they are always asking for things ("What did you bring me?" "Can I get a toy?" etc.) ... So we dealt with that on Day 3:



This one hit home, and they had a great day... so Oodles rewarded them with hot chocolate for breakfast on Day 4:
 
Things went downhill quickly that day -- for Tyson, that is.  And this morning, Oodles delivered this message:

I wasn't home this morning to see how it was received, but Brendan said that Tyson took heed.  In anticipation of a better day -- and because I want Oodles to deliver their Hanukkah present before we leave for The Greenbrier -- I wrote this letter for tomorrow:
So, what I lack in creativity with respect to elf positioning (man, some of you facebook/pinterest people are even crazier than I am), I make up for in dedication.  

PS: This really works.  Case in point: Even while Tyson was rolling on the floor during Isla's ballet class, screaming, "It's too loud!  It's too loud!," he did not utter a single bad word.  In fact, he hasn't so much as used even a "bathroom word" since Day 2.   Baby steps, friends.  Baby steps.