Quiet house

Ronnie and Paige left for New Orleans this morning.  As they were driving off for Mardi Gras, I was headed in to work.  Yeah, my Saturday was spent in the office.  I did leave in time to get my hair cut.  I'll post pictures of the new cut tomorrow.  I'm sitting here in a nice quiet house.  The only sounds are my typing and NCIS.  No cartoons, no whining about wanting a shower instead of a bath, no yelling Mommy every few minutes. I do get to smell the corned beef in the slow cooker though.

While I wish I could be in New Orleans with them, I'm enjoying the quiet time.  It's nice to get a Mommy break every once in a while.  I have some big plans for the week.  I'll work a lot, do some housecleaning, and get some scrapbooking done.  At least I hope so.  I'm about to pull everything out of the craft cabinet and set it out on the table.

One room I don't need to clean is the living room. Paige picked up all of her toys yesterday.  And she didn't complain once.  I hear all parents of headstrong 3 and 4 year olds perking their ears.  How is that possible? How did I manage to get my 4 year old to want to pick up her toys.  Very simple, I used the tool all good parents use: bribery.  Paige & I made cupcakes yesterday.  As I was icing them she was happily picking up her toys.  She couldn't get a pink cupcake with pink sprinkles until she picked up her toys.  That's probably the fastest I've ever seen her pick up her toys.  Once you've mastered that one, I'll tell you the parenting tip I got from Marc.  He said it's his best parenting tip ever, and I have to agree.  It's pretty good.  I like a little tease every now and then.