Tuesday

This morning Zachary pulled a heavy toy off of a shelf in the toy closet, and it slipped and whacked him in the face. So, now he has a big bruise by his eye. It is getting embarrassing to leave the house with the kids. Nothing like going to the grocery store with a 10-month-old and a two-year-old with black eyes. However, we did save over $125 at the grocery store tonight thanks to Grocery Game (if anyone ends up signing up for this, put me down as a referral). Maddie and Andrew each pushed around a mini "customer in training" cart and were eager to help shop.

Last night for Family Home Evening our lesson was on working as a family to beautify our home. It has been a challenge to teach our children any sort of work ethic. To give you a brief example, when Madeline was three she dumped out her toy box and toys were strewn through the entire basement. After three attempts to get her to pick up her toys I gave her an ultimatum, either she pick up her toys or she sit on the steps for a three minute time out. Without even hesitating she ran for the steps and sat down and demanded that I tell her when her three minutes were up. Why is it so difficult to raise good people?

Anyway, at the end of our FHE which unfortunately included impromptu fisticuffs between our boys, Maddie giving silly answers that drove us crazy, and Mylie fidgeting out of our laps in an attempt to crawl to the stairs, it still didn't seem like we had made much of an impression on our kids. As I complained to Ben that keeping the house clean while the kids undo all that I am trying to accomplish has been a challenge, and that all I would like is one place that could remain clean where I could have some sanctuary, Maddie offered me what she deemed an obvious solution. She suggested that I purchase myself a Cabbage Patch Kids Sunflower Playhouse. She assured me that she saw it on TV and that adults could fit in it.

Well, I must admit it was an interesting option. Still, I think I would prefer something a little bigger with room to accomodate kids who are willing to do age-appropriate jobs. We are going to continue to work with our kids to "beautify" our home. Hopefully we will have some updates of our progress in future posts. Either our kids will grow to vastly improve their work ethic, or Ben and I will grow to vastly improve our patience thresh hold.