Last week I wrote a post asking for advice about Kora & Logan sharing a room. We were having a terrible time getting them to sleep. They would stay awake for 1-2 hours after being in bed talking and playing. This wouldn’t be a problem if they weren’t so tired the next day.

I received some wonderful suggestions from readers and put a few in action to try to solve the problem. The one that has worked the best was the advice from Tiffany of Tiffany’s Toy Box. When her two were younger she “put classical or light jazz and it gave them something to focus on aside from each other and it helped put them to sleep.”

Kora & Logan love music so I thought this would be the perfect solution. It worked beautifully for about 3 days. Then the novelty wore off and they were back to their old ways.

However, we adapted and have since expanded the tactic. We now tell them that if they don’t stop talking we will turn the music off. We’ve had to do it a couple of times and it’s reduced them to tears. However, we’ve held firm and now we only have to mention that if they want the music to remain on, there can be no talking and it works wonders.

So thank you Tiffany! Your comment has really made a difference in our house and I truly appreciate it!

Today’s question is pretty simple: 

What Would You Do with all these tomatoes?

We have a lot of tomatoes (as you can see) and I want to do something with them quickly before they go bad. Anyone have an amazing tomato recipe or a great method of storing them?

Nope, it’s not Seattle. This is how Cleveland welcomes Spring.

For more Sundays in My City Fun visit Unknown Mami.

Do you have any plans for St. Patrick’s Day next week?

We won’t be doing much, probably just order or make a dinner of corned beef and cabbage. That’s it for us. A far cry from our younger days of kegs & eggs and beer & bagels.

Have you heard of Aloha Friday? According to Kailani at An Island Life, in Hawaii Aloha Friday is “the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend.”So every Friday we get a chance to take it easy on posting. Each participant asks their own simple question and then we visit each other’s blogs to comment on one another’s question.

I’m in the mood for a good movie rental this weekend. Any recommendations?

Have you heard of Aloha Friday? According to Kailani at An Island Life, in Hawaii Aloha Friday is “the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend.”So every Friday we get a chance to take it easy on posting. Each participant asks their own simple question and then we visit each other’s blogs to comment on one another’s question.

For more Wordless/Wordful Wednesday fun visit 5 Minutes for Mom and Seven Clown Circus.

This is the same sweet smiling face who lied to me for the first time last night. I walked away from the dinner table to wash a couple of dishes and when I came back his mini-hamburger was gone. I asked if he ate it, he said yes.

I later found it under the table.

I picked it up, dusted it off, and told him there is no lying and he was to eat it or there would be no tv before bed.

He screamed, cried, stomped his feet, and spit at me.

So I put him in the corner where he screamed, cried, banged and pounded some more. After time was up, he came out, sat at the table, ranted and raved, so I put him to bed. Where he screamed, cried, pounded his feet, and spit at me some more.

After he got out of bed – twice, I put him back in the corner. He then professed his love for me, said I’m the best mom in the world, yelled about his neck/back/throat hurting, and insisted he was still hungry, that his tummy was grumbling (not true since he also ate corn, a banana, and a breakfast bar with “dinner”).

Next, he escaped out of the corner screeching at me the whole time that he would not go back. I went over and ordered him back to the corner. It was then that he broke my heart with an ear piercing scream and look of terror. I gulped, sighed, and picked him up and put him back in the corner.

At this point he was acting like was a hardened criminal that swore he’d never go back and there I was dragging him through the front door of the clink.

He did eventually go to bed, but only after asking for, “My Daddy and my doggie.” I told him Daddy was at work, but that he would be here in the morning.

He repeated that he wanted his Daddy and his doggie. I asked which doggie, hoping with all my heart that he meant a stuffed animal, but nope. He wanted Avery. Now, tears filled my eyes and I couldn’t answer for a minute. In that moment of silence, he started repeating over and over, while sobbing, that “Avery was died.” I eventually pulled myself together enough to tell him that while yes it was true, maybe he could try dreaming about Avery. He agreed and seemed to settle down a bit. I gave him a hug and kiss, told him I loved him and said goodnight.

He eventually fell aslep and I recuperated the rest of the evening on the couch, savoring every minute of his sweet snore tangled with ragged breath flowing through the monitor.

How could such a happy face make me so crazy sometimes? And all over a stupid mini-hamburger?

***Want to win a $25 Gift Card to Target? Enter my Wanchai Ferry Prize Pack Giveaway. Giveaway ends tonight at 11:59 pm EST!

If money was no object, what home remodeling project would you start today?

Why does everything always seem to break at once? Currently our roof is leaking, our porch is crumbling, our vinyl siding was melted by the grill in one spot last summer and has multiple small holes in other randoms places, both cars need to see the mechanic, we need replacement windows, our washer won’t spin, the refrigerator ice maker stopped working, our stove is unbalanced, a couple walls need to be patched in places, and I won’t even start listing the half-done painting projects. Sigh. Home ownership is so fun.

At least the house looks nice when you don’t examine it too closely. It looks cute from the street, it’s decorated nicely, it provides warmth from the cold winter air, and it holds lots of wonderful family memories.

If money was no object and I could only do one project – I’d be really torn between fixing the roof and fixing the cars. What about you, what home remodeling project would you choose to start for your house?

Have you heard of Aloha Friday? According to Kailani at An Island Life, in Hawaii Aloha Friday is “the day that we take it easy and look forward to the weekend.”So every Friday we get a chance to take it easy on posting. Each participant asks their own simple question and then we visit each other’s blogs to comment on one another’s question.

***Want to win a $25 Gift Card to Target? Enter my Wanchai Ferry Prize Pack Giveaway. Giveaway ends Wednesday, February 24th at 11:59 pm EST.

I am a compensated affliate for this post.

This picture was taken while the kids were visiting their grandparents last weekend.