Quality Time

This weekend, our family had a lot of quality time. We had the place to ourselves, and we had playdates with a couple of friends, so we spent the morning helping the kids clean their rooms. We also did a ton of laundry (washed and put away), and threw away those things that tend to accumulate when children forget what a garbage can looks like. All in all, it was a great day. I especially loved it, though, because the kids actually enjoyed doing it after a while. We gave them an incentive - for every block of time spent cleaning, they got a block of fun time. After an hour's worth of cleaning, their room was done and the living room was much better. So we spent the rest of the morning playing with them before going to the park with friends.

In short, we had a great weekend (nevermind the sick day I spent in bed yesterday - I'm ignoring that because Saturday was so wonderful). This weekend we're planning an overnight trip to Orlando, but after that we'll probably try to do that sort of thing most Saturdays we're home. It's a good way for the kids to appreciate the need of it more, and it's fun time to spend as a family. It also helps our small place seem more livable - which will come in handy next year when it's not much bigger and we're there for several years. In those days, we'll have to learn a lot of cheap ways to entertain ourselves again - like going to parks, playing at home, and free entertainment on campus. I'm sure we'll manage. Saturday was just a great example of how.

-- Robert