A Normal,Blissful Weekend YAY!

This is our fishy named Squishy.

I have to tell you, my kids decided in the middle of my cleaning spree to clean out their sea monkey bowl and Squishy's bowl all at the same time.

It was chaos in my kitchen for about a half an hour.

They pick the most inopportune times to do things like this.

Looking at Squishy, he seems to have lost some of his color. That concerns me, but I don't want to freak out my kids. I don't know why he lost his color. He was a brighter blue when we got him and three days into having him, he went paler and I thought he was going to faint or something.

He's still with us though.

So are the sea monkeys. 

All three of them.

My house is a zoo. 

We have three sea monkeys, two parakeets and a partridge in a pear tree, actually a Blue Betta in a round bowl.

We are off for some burgers in a little bit.

Thought we'd take a walk and get some burgers to go and enjoy some fresh air with the kids. They have been very well behaved this weekend.  For that, they will receive an award of a burger each. I might let my daughter invite her friend she is playing with. I have to see how much cash I have on hand and if I have enough first though.

Wouldn't want to get there and have to say, "Sorry Jenny, you walked all this way with us craving a cheeseburger and I'm a dollar short."

I'd probably just let her have mine.

I'm not that cruel...especially to a kid.

We played one hell of a long game of Monopoly yesterday. It started out with me, my daughter and the twin boys. We began at 1:30 p.m and didn't get done until 8:05.

Yeah, that's what happens when you get into the blood thirsty game of real estate.

It felt like it was never going to end. I thought for sure we'd be playing until the birds woke up this morning.

My daughter dropped out first after a half an hour. She was outside with friends who came knocking on our door about 2:00. Then it was me and the boys. Took about three hours before my oldest twin son was bankrupt.

There were tears and I finally told him, "It's just a game. Don't worry I'll get all his money too."

Then it was me and the youngest twin.

Let me just say that at one point I recall telling him, "This is going to get ugly."

He grinned at me.

The next two and a half hours were grueling to say the least. We were playing on the living room floor and my elbows are still raw from being on the carpet. The only time  I got up was to check on the pot roast in the crock pot, fix dinner plates and tinkle when necessary.

I finally got my son when he landed on Virginia. He had, at this point, mortgaged all but one of his properties at which point he gave me whatever he had left in his hand and threw his hands in the air in a motion of defeat.

There were cards and money and hotels and houses everywhere at the end of the game.

That's his money scattered all over the board. 

I had Boardwalk and Park Place, as well as the green properties all of which had hotels upon them, I had St. Charles, States and Virginia and Oriental, Vermont and Connecticut. 

Not to mention, for some reason, I kept getting the free parking cash.

If only my monetary luck flowed like that in real life.

It was fun.

We had a good time all in all.

My daughter wanted to play this morning.

Until she started losing all her money.

Then she quit.

My youngest twin took over her spot and he lost all his money too.

The game was over when he took her spot pretty much within an hour.

Now he and his brother are playing. 

Occasionally I hear them yelling, "Mom, he's cheating!" But there is no bloodshed or shoes flying or anything like that going on around here. They seem to be problem-solving on their own.

Seems like my parenting this weekend is working.

Not sure if you recall the little phone incident with my son (click here for that blog) , but I put my foot down and didn't cave despite the tears and the click on the other end of the phone line from both my boys.

I said what I meant and meant what I said.

And it worked!

They have been watching their tone with me, and have been calmer than most days and when disagreements ensue or I ask them to stop annoying one another, it's gotten a little better around here with compliance.

It's like a nice wave of peace around here for a change.

Also, I have been working on not screaming like a screech owl when they begin their little tirades or start to argue. I am calm, and I take a breath and then I deal with the situation.

It's a learning process for us all here.

Well, it's time to head out the door now.

I'll be back later.