The Norton Family: Art imitates life; The season of giving... or maybe it's the incentive charts

Art imitates life.

If you're familiar with blogland at all, you probably follow Urban Grace Interiors. Or either you live under a rock. She had a Tastes Orangey giveaway this week and featured a few of their favorite pieces. My heart skipped a beat when I saw this one:

I could not get over how much it resembles Bethany. Only with dark hair. But it was something about the dark hair that I loved too. Stunningly beautiful.

A print is now on its way to mi casa. Merry Christmas to me. :)

Note to Chris: This does not let you off the hook, honey. HA!

The season of giving?

My sleep is precious. I'm the first one up and the last one to go to bed most days/nights. Which is fine as long as I get the sleep I need. If I don't, you better watch out for Medusa.

For the past couple of months Reid has had trouble staying in his bed all night. He would start off in his bed but made his way to ours around 1 a.m. every.single.night. Once I'm woken up it's so hard for me to go back to sleep. On the off chance I was able to, it was short-lived because Turbo is apparently a UFC fighter in his dreams. He can drop a nasty elbow. Yet I was so incredibly tired when he would come in that it seemed easier to just let him get in bed with us as opposed to getting up and walking him back to bed. Not to mention it would have been a battle and one I wasn't willing or ready to fight at 1 a.m. It had gotten to the point, though, that I felt we were creating a little monster.

I promise I'm getting to the giving part.

For the most part our boys are well-behaved and well-mannered. We are complimented regularly on it while we're out in public, and we're quite proud of them. Well, at least until we get home and words like poop, burp, fart and balls are used.

Yeah. Kinda kills the whole "so proud of my boys for their good manners" thing.

Moving right along... We have dealt with a good bit of sibling rivalry lately. I feel like a referee more than a mom. It was getting out of hand as well as getting the best of me (as was my lack of sleep). I knew it was something we needed to get a grip on.

That's when I remembered that incentive charts have worked wonders for the boys in the past. Remember the frog chart? I had a little talk with the boys about the charts and what I expect from them. They were very receptive, and thankfully the google came through for a Sponge Bob chart for Reid.

The other day (which just so happened to be the day those inventive charts graced our refrigerator) a beautiful scene unfolded. I was wrapping gifts when Grant asked for some wrapping paper. He scurried off with a few pieces, some scissors and tape, and called us all in his room a while later.

Professor had wrapped a few treasures from his "safety spot" to give to his brothers. Which then prompted Bueller and Turbo to do the same. It was a joyous moment in the Norton household - brought a little tear to the eye. ;)