My Little List Maker

We go through some paper at our house.

A lot of paper. 

My oldest son loves the stuff.

He draws, makes paper airplanes galore, and does origami. When he was four years old, he made me a "coat" out of white computer paper and tape. He made piles of "things." I kept some, but if I would have kept everything, we would literally be swimming in paper. In fact, I'm surprised the Feds never showed up to investigate our vast consumption of paper goods and Scotch tape.

And once he learned to write, whew-wee!, did our paper consumption increase. He began writing everything down. And I mean everything...including (but not limited to) recipes, ideas, future plans, calendars, to-do lists, check lists, gift lists, and all kinds of random lists. 

Two weeks after I gave birth to Peanut in 2010, we all packed up the car and moved into a hotel room for four months to be with my husband while he finished job training. It was the middle of the school year, so I had to homeschool my oldest...while caring for a newborn...inside a hotel. (Thankfully, it was a suite, but still...can you say "insane?")

Opie was bored and missed getting his chore allowance. So, he broke out some paper and began writing one of his infamous lists on things he could do to generate some money from inside our cave hotel room.

He figured he could market my teaching services or even do laundry for someone. He really enjoyed dancing, so he thought that might generate some revenue. (In fact, I woke up a couple of times to find him dancing in the hotel hallway, door ajar, while blasting Disney Channel's "Big Time Rush" from our television.) Drawing pictures, making decorations and even doing a few magic tricks were other ways he decided could increase his cash flow.

While I knew the chances of someone knocking on our door for these things were slim to none, I didn't want to discourage Opie's little entrepreneurial spirit. Had I read the final list, though, I might have at least encouraged him to change the wording on one of his services...

Here's what I read...days after it had been taped to the outside of our hotel door.

FOR SALE

Teaching $7

Decorations $6

Laundry $6

Drawing $7

Dancing $7

Tricks $10 

After reading it, my husband and I were actually surprised that we hadn't gotten any late night knocks on the door.

HOTEL LIFE

My Little Trick-ster jumping on our hotel bed.

My two boys getting to know each other.

Terribly sleep deprived in our den/kitchen/office/bedroom.

Homeschool Hotel. I still can't believe I did that. 

Opie, practicing his handwriting...

As hard as those times were, I cherish every second of juggling it all in that itty-bitty space. We made some amazing (and funny) memories. 
Come to think of it, I believe Opie made a list of them...