She wants fun.

Summer has begun! The weather has steadily been warming, the strawberries are growing and school has come to an end. Both of my kiddos are sad to see it end, they love seeing their friends, and I suspect they enjoy being away from me for a nice chunk of the day. Because if I'm not around I can't come up with things for them to do. Things like cleaning their rooms, or putting away their laundry, or feeding the cat, or emptying the dishwasher. It's almost like my kids live in a alternative universe that has never heard of chores. Butter upon returning home after her final day of school asks "What fun things do you have planned for tomorrow?" I begin to ponder this. Thinking to myself what I will be doing tomorrow: laundry. I say "Cleaning your room."

Her room has not been purged for a good couple months, I haven't seen floor since April...yes cleaning the room is at the TOP of the "fun" list. I have already decided I'm cracking down this summer. In order to keep my own sanity, rooms will be kept picked up and organized. Rob has warned me he can't stand all the "stuff" in the common areas. Which I've told him it's because there is no place in their rooms to play that they bring it out to other areas. I will admit I've been lax on the issue.

My son is in the process of earning his bed back. Long story short: he took a marker and wrote all over his bed; every possible surface of the bed, including the sheet. He wanted to label it. I took the toddler fire truck bed out of his room, he now only has a mattress. Besides taking a marker to it, he's been jumping on it.

" Please do NOT jump on your bed." has fallen on deaf ears. Butter lost two teeth jumping on a bed, that still haven't grown in and that was 5 years ago now! 

Butter got a talking to by Rob last evening about her dish duty and what it will cost her if she doesn't do it. She is stellar at acting like she's doing something while completely doing nothing at all. I'm pretty sure procrastination should have been her middle name.  It took 8 weeks to finally do this:

I am so excited that she did it, but it was on her own time. This is a girl that would scream bloody murder if any part of her face got splashed! She is a plugger. She needs her nose plugged, I get that, I'm the same way. Maybe she'll get the nose thing next round?

When I told her I wanted her reading two books a day on summer break she nearly threw a fit.

"TWO!? Ah come ON! That's stupid."

"No, stupid is not using this time to practise your reading. Reading books gives us knowledge and can be very entertaining."

"I can just watch TV for that."

"I think I should ask Roo to label that, then I can throw it away."

"NO! And besides Mom you watch TV too. How will you watch your shows?"

Darn it, smart cookie, maybe I should only require one book a day, she's smart enough!

There will be plenty of fun spent at the beach and I've got a few other things in mind, but mostly it will be a summer learning just what it means to pitch in and contribute. I'm waiting until tomorrow to break that news to them.