for Lainey.  She is driving me bonkers with this song right now.  It’s all she wants to hear on my iPhone (and she prefers The Boss’ rendition with the E Street Band).  I will admit that it is cute since this is also the first Christmas song that Jay and I taught Lakyn.

And don’t get me wrong… I love Christmas.. it’s my second favorite holiday right after Halloween (sorry Jesus but I do love a good costume party).  But I am tired of listening to this song over and over (and it’s not even Turkey Day yet).  Sadly, my favorite thing about Christmas (so far) this year is that Lainey is old enough to ‘threaten’ that Santa is watching (like a lunatic lurking in the woods) and he knows if you’ve been bad or good so be good for goodness sake!

Now what can I threaten Lakyn with since she is too old for the big-guy-in-red story?

So I received a brochure for this place in the mail and couldn’t believe what I was reading. There is a summer camp where 6-12 year olds can go for only $750 for a 5 day period. And just listen to what fun the kids get to partake in… milking cows and goats, feeding livestock, working in garden, repairing fences, sweeping out barns, cleaning stalls… oh where does the fun end? Can you say CHILD LABOR? Seriously what parents are sending their 6-year-olds to this place…not to mention paying $750-? So I got to thinking and came up with a genius idea. Irene’s house-cleaning camp! I am now taking reservations for this wonderful opportunity for your children to come and clean my house all summer. Your kids will get to wash my clothes, clean our toilets, scrub our floors… but wait, there’s more… when they are finished with the inside they can go to Jay’s Landscaping Camp. That’s right, we’re offering this special 2-for-1 deal to the first twenty 1st graders who sign up. And as an added bonus, your kids will each bring home a flaming bag of Great Dane poop that they get to clean up from our backyard.  Please don’t hesitate, call 1-800-Child-Labor right now!