Let’s Get This Party Started!

We’ve decided to relax this weekend and not do too much of anything. Good idea. Except that when the girls appear to be playing contentedly on their own, it often means that they are Up To No Good.

Exhibit A:

I was taking out the recycling when I noticed that my good stock pot was outside holding a very large rock. There was anger, my friends. Deep anger.

I stormed into the house and demanded an explanation. It was only when M explained (while J moaned and sobbed) what they’d been doing that I realized that the rock was stuck in the pot. In fact, they had used a quantity of butter to ease it out, to no avail. There was a heated review of:

• The primary problem. They frequently use items that don’t belong to them without prior permission (with some discussion of my scissors, their father’s brush, and, frankly, just about everything in the house);
• Scenarios involving a potential alternate universe in which Everything Would Have Gone Just Fine If They Had Only Come To Me First (in which I would have gladly offered a bucket or my back-up, chipped enamel stock pot from college days);
• Their lack of respect and utter ignorance of the cost and consequences of their actions (this because M said, and I quote, “If we can’t get the rock out you can just buy another one”); and
• The possible dire consequences (in which I offered an off-the-cuff estimate of an approximate cash penalty of $50 to $60 for replacing the pot.

As it turns out, I was able to remove the rock almost immediately, using a tool that remains far more effective than smears of grimey butter: gravity. I came back in, announced a reprieve from the cash penalty, and sent them into the kitchen to wash, dry, and polish the pot. This was accomplished with more sobbing from J, eye-rolling from M, and bickering between them.

Then I felt compelled to review the ground rules again: 1) Ask me first, and 2) When you don’t ask me first, tell me immediately before I am left to discover something myself, which leads to Great Maternal Wrath.

So, what the heck are we all going to do for the next week to keep our kids from getting up to no good? There’s a ton going on.

• Winter Break Activities
• Winter Break Camps

Day by day:

• Monday, February 20th
• Tuesday, February 21st
• Wednesday, February 22nd
• Thursday, February 23rd
• Friday, February 24th

Or you can always take a mini-vacation in the form of a day trip or a one- or two-nighter somewhere nearby. Cute W and I are big last-minute Priceline-a-hotel fans). Some posts about places to consider:

• New York City (the public library, a spring trip there
• Jiminy Peak 
• Cooperstown (a review of the Farmers Museum at KidsOutAndAbout.com)
• Some short trip suggestions (Boston, Rochester, and New York City again)

Right now Monday and Tuesday look like the best weather days.

If you’ve got younger kids, I’m a huge fan of Steamer 10 Theatre. Their shows are selling out, so act soon if you want to go to something. And (broken record here) consider the Steamer 10 Pass.

Plenty of libraries have free activities planned. Here are a few: at Guilderland Public Library, East Greenbush Community Library, and Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library.

There’s always a movie, and The Secret World of Arietty is out.

So, what are we going to do?

Umm, I don’t know. We’ll probably ice skate at least once, we’re trying out a new gymnastics class, the girls have dental appointments, and we might try a day trip somewhere. And in between, my children will do their best to destroy the house and everything in it.