I will give you a dime to be quiet

Growing up I shared a bedroom with my younger sister, Ashlee. We share great memories of pretending to sleep while the tooth fairy came, while Mom vacuumed late into the night, and even during an earth quake. We had a lot of fun nights telling stories and laughing when we should have been asleep.

However, I was always the one that wanted to go to sleep first! Some nights it would get late and I would say, "Ashlee, I will pay you a nickle to be quiet so I can sleep."

"OK," she would agree. Twenty seconds later, "Do you want to hear a joke I made up?"

"No, I will pay you a dime to be quiet," I would say.

"But Lisi, it is a great joke," she would quickly return.

"Ashlee, I will pay you a quarter to shut up" (Shut up wasn't allowed in our house, but sometimes I had to say it to emphasize I was serious and ready to sleep.)

Sad thing is, a quarter was a lot of money to me and I would have given it up in a heart beat. Even worse, I still remember the joke she would tell over and over again...."What did the hat say to the cow? You stay here and I will go on a head"

I have great memories of sharing a room. Our current house is a three bedroom house. Taylor and I have opted to put the kids in the same room so we have a play room as well. In the last month Mckay has been going through a, "Mom I am tired can I go to sleep?" phase. Not that I am complaining, I love it. He will occasionally ask for naps, or just say that it is bed time. A mother's dream come true.

I love standing outside their door. Cassidy will start to talk, or bang a book on the metal post of her bed and I hear Mckay say, "Cassidy be quiet, I am trying to go to sleep," or "you are being loud and keeping me awake." Sometimes he even just yells, "Cassidy, stop it!!!!" I can't help but laugh. I totally understand Mckay, and am sorry, because it probably won't ever stop.