Bribery

Alyssa’s attitude continues to improve. I think she has decided that the benefits of being a family girl, far out weigh the negatives! Thursday night she asked if her friend could come over for a while. I said yes, after the chores she owed me were complete. She immediately got to work on the ½ hour that she owed me. I was very proud of her when she looked at the clock and realized her time was up and finished the chores she was working on! I thanked her for having such a good attitude and told her that her friend could now come over. They played very nicely for almost two hours and then asked if she could sleep over. I said NO, it’s a school night! Well, they looked at each other and said, well, tomorrow night then? The little stinkers had that all cooked up! I said yes, even though I knew I was being played because I felt like Alyssa deserved a reward. She has been trying really hard to turn her behavior and attitude around and I wanted her to know that I recognize her efforts.

Friday after school, Alyssa had her scrap booking party for Girl Scouts. I went along to help and bring some of my tools along. It was a lot of fun and very well organized! After scrap booking, Alyssa’s friend came over and we all went to watch Jeff’s softball game. Let’s just say that they did NOT win and leave it at that! After the game, we went home and started a fire and the girls made S’Mores. They finally went to bed at – I don’t know because they were still awake when I went to bed at 1:00am!

Saturday, I got some time to myself! Jeff took Alyssa’s friend home and then the two of them went and had some Daddy & Me time. I went shopping and had three whole hours to myself! It was awesome! Sunday, we were officially welcomed into our new church. I feel really good about this new “family” of ours. It is a very welcoming place to be.

The weather has been very volatile. We have had wave after wave of storms and heavy rains go through since Thursday. The rain total is almost 7 inches and counting. As a result, there are flooding concerns and the last few days have been very depressing and very worrisome! The river is 3 ft. over flood stage and many streets and basements are flooding. We spent a small fortune to water proof our basement about three years ago, and I am happy to report, so far so good. With rain in the forecast for the next week, we are praying that we continue to stay dry.

Well, last week of school! Alyssa is very excited to get the summer underway! Next week she starts at the Y.M.C.A. summer program. She attended last year as well so she knows all the fun that is in store for her. Now we just need to get through the rest of the week with no major meltdowns and we should be good. We bribed her so that should help. We told Alyssa that if she made good choices all week, she could bring a friend up north with us this weekend. I know, we are rotten parents, but we are just coming out of a really bad month and I still need to regroup! I am hoping that the added incentive will help keep her on the straight and narrow!