Tokens, Trophies, and Dead Tired

This was a surprisingly busy week with surprisingly few pictures to show for it.  We began a token system this week.  It seems as the summer has worn on the obedience has waned and the mean talk has increased.  For example,
Me: "Child, please put away your papers/markers/Legos/toys/dolls/shoes [insert any and every object a child has touched]."
Child, in an increasingly whiny/combative/angry/lazy/[insert any tone of voice except pleasant]: "But, Mommmmmmmy, it's not mine/I didn't do it/I'm not finished with it/why do you make me do everything?/it's not fair."
So, Voila, the token system.  If they do not do what I ask right away, or they answer back with anything but a pleasant, "Yes/Yes ma'am/Yes, Mommy dearest, I'd love to do what you ask me" then they get one token taken away.  They get three tokens a day and at the end of the week if they have 18 or more tokens then they can take something out of the garage sale pile or the pile labeled "Grandchildren."  I have a box of confiscated items that were too nice to get rid of, so I told them I'm saving the toys for when they have kids, hence, the grandchildren label.

We had a fun time at the splash pad in the neighborhood.  We hadn't been since last year, and it wasn't working the day we went then, so I didn't recall the set up.  The kids had a great time, but I was sweating like crazy because there was no shade.  Technically there was shade if I stayed on the grass, but the fire ants found me there, so I stood on the sidewalk.  Next time I'll have to walk through it once or twice to stay cool.  It's like a bazillion degrees in the sun.

We made it to a program at the library to fulfill one of the summer challenges for the reading club.  It was a man with a guitar teaching the kids to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  It takes a special man to sing little diddies for the kids.  Basically, he resorted to potty talk, telling them they needed to use less toilet paper, which got them all laughing.
Josiah also finished his 20 books for the summer and earned his trophy.  He was happy about that.  Fortunately, we still have another reading program to finish out July to keep them motivated and focused.

We met up with a friend from Virginia who happened to be in our neck of the woods and she took our family pictures.  We're anxiously awaiting to see how they turned out.  She has a little boy who just turned one and our kids completely loved him.  Henry kept asking me, "Can I touch him?"  They just wanted to hold his hand and walk with him everywhere.  They were all really good with him.  It almost made me want to have another baby just to see them interact with a little person all the time.  Almost, but not quite.  We'll just have to enjoy other's babies for now.  We met in the evening and went out to dinner after, so we didn't get home until 9 p.m.  Our passengers were completely passed out.


We did a ton of yard work this weekend.  We have discovered foundation issues with our house (yeah! just what we wanted!), so we worked on getting rid of foliage too close to the house.  Henry was out there helping us and he is just a joyful little helper.  He is so pleasant and just runs and does whatever we ask.  We love working with him.  But Henry is also a saver in every sense of the word.  Every time I was getting a bundle of branches ready to be tied up, he'd always find some to save.  "Oh, mom, I can use this one."  Right now he has a whole pile of branches that he's going to use to build a house.  He's always working on a project.

This coming week the boys have VBS in the mornings.  Caroline isn't old enough for the program so she and I are going to have girl time together.  It should be a good week.