We are getting ready for the boys to start school this week and not a minute too soon for mom. The problem is, since they haven't been on a schedule in several months, getting them into one is proving to be more difficult than we had figured. We are getting them to bed around the correct time, but they aren't falling asleep. No, in fact, they are still up, around and including 10pm. This wouldn't be as big of a deal if they would stay in bed and stare at the ceiling, but no, they insist on jumping out of bed with the lame excuse that they have to go to the bathroom. This might be a valid excuse for a trip to the can, but after 3 times in an hour, I start to get a little suspicious. They either have prostate problems or they are trying to pull a fast one on mom and dad. We have tried the reward method, if they do well, and the penalty method, if they do not. It works at times, but the last 2 nights have been penalty nights. Last night was the funniest. Mason loves to play the Wii, so that is threat number one. It usually works, because he doesn't want to loose the Wii that he now has to read to us for 20 minutes everyday to earn. You certainly don't want to do the work to get something, just to loose it. Wait, that sounds like taxes. Anyway, we had several conversations about them both staying in bed, but specifically with Mason because it is usually Makiah that gets out and Mason just follows. I told Mason, "Don't worry about what Makiah does, you just do what you know is right." I had this same discussion with him regarding "trouble makers," as he put it, in school. Not 2 minutes after I had this nighttime version of the discussion with him, and after being warned, I hear his feet hit the floor right in the middle of my Olympic watching. I went up stairs to find both of them out of bed and mom yelling from our room that the Wii was gone for tomorrow. Seeing as how they were being so loud, they didn't hear the last part, so I relayed it to be sure there was no confusion. I said to Mason, "You just lost the Wii," which he responded from the other room, "Dang it." I wish I could convey the disappointment in his voice when he realized it was gone. His comment was the funniest thing and if you know Mason, you can hear him saying it, much funnier. He now has lost it and the computer for the last two days, so he isn't happy. Wish us luck tonight, we are running out of time to get this down.