Saturday 28 February 2009

Well That Was Fun

Our boys fall in the "love playing with toys, but hate cleaning them up" category.

Jeremy is an expert at maximizing the 'spread' of toys throughout the house. Sometimes every room in the house - including the bathroom and the laundry room - will have a toy or two (or 30) in it.

Our house is not that big and when the toys start to migrate, it drives me crazy (which in turn drives Tina crazy). Two weeks ago, Tina cleaned up the house, including the crawl space and the toys. She did a terrific job. I was happy.

All was well. Until the boys made a mess.

So, like all other parents, we told them to clean it up. That went over like a lead balloon. Neither child was capable of cleaning up. They couldn't sort Star Wars toys into one bin and animal toys into another.

After repeated warnings, Tina grabbed some garbage bags and we started filling them up with toys. That pushed Jeremy over the edged. He cried his guts out. He even kicked Tina at one point. I found the crying amusing, but I did like filling up those bags. It felt good.

Now the toy bins sit empty on the shelf. The bags are in the garage and they boys, especially Jeremy, will have to sort them and then put them away. Our plan is to temporarily 'retire' some of the toys to minimize the messes and to help the boys concentrate on a few toys. Then we will rotate the toys to keep things fresh.

Posted by Adam

Monday 16 February 2009

Cleaning the House Via Brantford

Tina made a proposition I could not refuse: take the boys to Brantford and she would clean up the house, crawl space included.

By 4:00 pm I was out on the road and Tina was starting her cleaning project. I told her that any garbage can go in the garage and that I would take care of it.

So I spent the weekend in Brantford, where Babcia entertained the boys for a couple of days and I did nothing. Not a bad deal.

I came back to a pile of crap in the garage (yeah) and a very clean and tidy house (double yeah).

Happy Valentines Day sweety.

Posted by Adam

Sunday 1 February 2009

One Night With No Kids

With Tina's mom in town, Tina and I decided to spend Saturday night in the Detroit area to have some together time with no kids.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Belleville, Michigan. It wasn't that far shopping or from Windsor.

After checking in to the hotel, we drove out to the Ruby Tuesdays at Michigan and S Canton Center Road. Then we stopped by Lowes and Target before returning to the hotel.

The next morning, we grabbed breakfast at the awesome breakfast bar and then hung out in our room until 11 AM or so. We packed up and headed over to IKEA to do some browsing and shopping. We purchased a simple desk for Corbin and a few other things. Then we drove around eventually ending up in Auburn Hills.

We had a late lunch/early supper at Olive Garden before heading over to Great Lakes Crossing for some more browsing and shopping. Then it was back home.

An excellent and relaxing weekend. Thanks Bev (who watched Corbin) and Lauralie (who took Jeremy for the weekend).

Posted by Adam