We made it

Through what? "Winter break", of course.

Tomorrow K1 goes back to school, and I must say, the last 2 weeks have been great. Which was definitely unexpected. Day 3 didn't start out so well. Day 3 you say? Yes, Day 3. I put an ad hoc system into place that worked magnificently. And only had to use it on Day 3. 3 warnings and you're in your room by yourself until supper. She was at 2 warnings at 8:30am and stayed that way the rest of the day. Of course the warnings could have been taken away with excellent behavior. We had good behavior though and for that I won't argue.

The rest of the 1st week, behavior was rather well controlled by the threat of waiting longer to open gifts, or taking gifts away. It's hard, and it isn't like we would have really followed through with it (which just means it was a very bad threat to make as a parent.) But it worked. Probably only works on young kids. So we'll just have to keep that one in mind unless we really are ready to follow through on that one.

So what worked on week 2? Well, we weren't around for a few days - got about 15" of snow visiting in-laws and decided the icy roads weren't worth it w/3 small kids to get home so H could get to work. H did get to work the next day. But the Ks and I just ended up playing. Its so great watching little kids play in the snow. K2 was up to his theighs. Of course he couldn't use the tracks he already had made. He always had to make new ones. Boy did he sleep good that night!

So now its only January and the mere thought of taking down Christmas decorations makes me sad. I've got about 2 weeks here. Drives me nuts that people don't leave their stuff up longer. Technically it is the Christmas season NOW. Not in November. Drive around now and it takes a bit before you see a tree lit up. Ours is lit from the time its dark out until I go to bed. From the Friday after Thanksgiving, until I absolutely HAVE to take it down. I hate taking them down. The house looks naked. Even if I leave snowman decor up for another month. It helps, but there isn't a twinkling tree in the corner. If I had clear lights on my tree, I'd consider making it a Valentine tree and redecorate the darn thing. Huh. Maybe next year! I could have the kids start making decorations this year. This could be fun. Then we could make it an St. Patrick's Day tree - not a drop of Irish blood in this house. But as they say, on St. Pats day, EVERYONE is Irish! Cheers! Then it could be an Easter Tree. But after that, I'm afraid it'd have to come down. Darn it all anyway. But you know, I think that'd be enough to get me through my 'funk' and into spring past the cabin fever that inhabits this part of the country. This needs more thought. We'll see what else I can come up with.