The Best Day Ever

So according to my daughters, and SpongeBob Squarepants, Saturday was the best day ever. Why, you ask? It was allowance day AND my husband brought donuts home for breakfast while he was out on his Saturday morning coffee run. So anyway, because of these two facts my three little girls launched into an explosive rendition of the chorus of Spongebob's "The Best Day Ever" song and it went on...and on...and on...and on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQXNi9d1WvE (Here's a link to the song in case you've managed to not ever hear it in your life) It began shortly after the last donut was devoured and continued as Jim made his way outside on this mild day to take down the Christmas lights, continued as I made our bed for the morning, and continued on as I unloaded the dishwasher and loaded the washing machine. AT LEAST 15 minutes of the same 5 words sung over and over again. But...I didn't mind. I'm happy that these little things make my girls so happy.


So who knew that donuts and $1 each would prompt this (50 cents for Livi)? I certainly didn't when Jim announced at the beginning of the week that he would start doling out an allowance to the girls if they cleaned their bedroom and playroom everyday of the week (except for Sunday, which is their day off). I was kind of happy, but secretly thought, man this is going to mean more fights for me. My girls have trained me to believe that it is easier sometimes to just do it myself than wage a 30 minute war with them about cleaning up after themselves. But I guess at 5, almost 6, and 4 it is time to learn about hard work and reward. AND at the end of the week it wasn't so bad!

Jordan quickly devised a plan and put it into motion unbeknownst to Ava that each day she would scope out the room that was the less messy of the two and chose that as her room to clean all on her own...leaving Ava to clean the other...which really kind of means Ava lays in the middle of the floor staring at the ceiling with her legs crossed while she talks to, or sings allowed to, herself. Somehow it got done each day. The threat of not getting an afternoon snack helped and I only had to remind them a few times per cleaning session that they wouldn't be getting allowance and that they pretty much would be staying upstairs until it was done.

I'm hoping that the sugar high, the natural high of a job well done, and the memory of the smell of a dirty $1 bill will remain in their minds this week as we launch week 2 of Operation Allowance. Jim has already promised them a raise in 6 months if they keep this up...so we shall see.

Now, if I could just get them to stop fighting with each other and get through the dinner hour (more like 15 minutes at our house) without a meltdown!!