Always behind...

I feel like I'm always catching up. Blogging, e-mails, phone calls, texts...it seems like all I do is remember how much I have to do and try to get caught up in responses to people. Ugh.

On another, more positive note, I'm am having a fabulous week! Thanks to TC and Evie (my 7 yr. old and 5.5 yr. old friends) who have made a huge turnaround in their behavior this week before school, I am a very happy girl! They've been so peaceful and much more willing to take care of business and get on the bus on time (without me jumping in the street to catch the bus for them, which actually happened last week). It's so crazy, but the hour I have with them before school in the morning seems to set the tone for the rest of my day.

I'd like to give credit to Herme - their Elf on the Shelf, but I think they made this turnaround all on their own!

Do you know about this?? Great behavioral tool during a season when kids can reach the epitome of crazy behavior! It really only works if your kids believe in Santa, so if you are a household that doesn't do Santa, you'll want to go ahead and skip this one.

You get to name your elf and print out a certificate online with its name. The idea is that the elf watches your kiddos all day, and each night he flies back to Santa and reports on their behavior. Every morning the kids find him(or her) in a different place and aren't allowed to touch the elf (because, obviously) it would ruin the magic.

I think another reason for my great week is that I've had a bit of a change in attitude. Kids can stress you out, if you let them, but I've decided to expect complete craziness and when it happens, I'm ready. When it doesn't, I'm pleasantly surprised.

When Sophia was A-W-F-U-L at Target this week I just accepted it and didn't let it ruin my day. I actually ended up laughing because every time she did something naughty, Davis would reprimand her. He's no dummy, he knows that at the end of a Target trip with great behavior is a cookie and he earns it every time!

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A little update on my 21 day challenge. It flopped. I wasn't even able to go to my appointment to see how I'd done because Sophia was sick and I had to cancel. Bummer...that's okay, maybe now I can use that as motivation for not eating too much throughout the holiday season. I LOVE peppermint and chocolate together, so it would be nice to have a reason not to pig out!

I like challenges, goals, motivation, etc. So I'm thinking of doing a new one, post-Christmas. Stay tuned - I'm thinking of making this a group challenge!