...baby steps.

This weekend was a good one. It's the first time my lady has stayed at the house for the weekend... while the kids were home. It's a big step. One she didn't know if she was ready for. But, if we are going to move forward with our lives together, she can't just go stay somewhere else every other weekend.

It went quite well. My kids get a kick out of her. They respect what she has to say and don't pull the "You're not my mom" crap I have seen other kids pull on adults. My kids respect authority. They also know that they are at my house and that I won't stand for it.

So, this weekend had a lot of things that were different about it and will continue. My kids kind of got the law laid down about the house and how we need to keep it clean. They were shown the chores that they need to do on the weekends they are home and what they can "earn" for doing these chores.

It totally worked.

Right away Saturday morning, they started cleaning without being told. I was floored. Friday night we had told them they should leave a room "better than when they entered it" and I heard my daughter tell my son "no, you have to fold the blankets up before you leave the room!"

The one thing that was great was that I kept the video games to a minimum. They really should be a reward and not the norm when they are here. I get so little time with them. So, I confiscated the GameBoy that they each have and put them away. No "video" games for the weekend. Games were played though. We had a super long game of Sorry! that was quite fun to play. It took forever, but it got all of us talking and playing at the table instead of in front of the TV.

This needs to happen more often. It really sucks that more families don't do this. Eat at the table. Clean together. Reward for good. Play games as a family.

It was a fun weekend.