It is the classic “if this then that” predicament.  I find that each.and.every move this short “Hott” mama makes is a culmination of a deal of some sort between me and the kids.  Do you find this to be true at your house?  In order to achieve results, I feel like I am forced to beg, borrow, steel, and negotiate everything from teeth brushing, trips to the mall or Toys-R-Us, to simple homework.  It’s exhausting, isn’t it? For Violet, who somehow manages to occupy a room resembling a tornado zone, we are constantly threatening that “if you don’t clean up that room, then you’re not going to gymnastics tonight!”  Although this normally works, well… last night, it.did.not.  Needless to say, she went to gymnastics and conveniently forgot to put her laundry away.  At one point, I think we lost Levi in the mess. The ultimate con, Levi is the king of “Let’s Make a Deal”!  After listening carefully to a conversation between Dan and me discussing the upcoming end of our cell phone contract, … [Read more...]