The tree is up!

Yesterday I talked Mike into helping me get the Christmas stuff out of the attic. We nearly emptied the whole thing so I could go through it all and get rid of stuff we don't need. There is way too much Christmas stuff here and the attic is way too full.

This morning (Sunday) it started a bit slow, but picked up the pace a little as time went on. The kids started the morning not getting along, so I decided to try something. I gave Sydnee 10 red circles cut from cardstock and Simon got 10 squares. Each time they would do something they knew they weren't supposed to do, they would have to pay me one of their shapes. If they still had some left at 2:00 when they were supposed to go to a birthday party, great. If not, they would be staying with a sitter. And if they lost some, they would have the opportunity to earn them back. You should have seen them fly. Sydnee cleaned (not just dusted) the wainscotting, baseboards, door facings and chair rails. She even wiped down the walls on her own. Simon didn't do quite as much, but he wasn't losing his shapes as quickly as she was. They both were able to go to the party and did great while there. I was thrilled.

When we got home they were able to earn one back for being so good at the party and then we started to put up the tree. They were so excited. But with this they had to not touch the ornaments until they were given the opportunity to do so. They were to ask permission first. I am hoping for just one year of them looking at the tree instead of taking the ornaments off and to their rooms.

Simon playing with the new Indiana Jones Legos

Sydnee and Aubrey enjoying a cup of tea.....

So as of tonight the tree is up and decorated, the kids still have their little shapes, they have gotten along most of the day with no major issues and we were all happy.

We put up a slim line tree last year and I was thrilled at the speed at which it went up. I have attached the lights so I hopefully wouldn't have to put them on again.

Smokey found his spot pretty quickly. He was so cute laying there all curled up.

Kids at work building an airplane on Friday. Later I noticed they had the DeWalt drill out there. They couldn't even lift the thing, much less use it. LOL