Our Solution...

So I think I may have come up with a solution to solve the "I want everything...NOW" problem with the kids. I decided to make a reward chart set up with expectations and what they get as a reward. Here is what Carson's chart looks like:

Carson will EARN 1 sticker for:
1. Listening to mom & dad
2. Cleaning up his toys when asked to
3. Playing nicely with Hunter

Carson will LOOSE 1 sticker if he:
1. Whines when asking for something
2. Miss behaves during church
3. Fights with Hunter or his brother

When Carson earns 10 stickers he may choose either to:
Get $5 to buy anything he wishes
Movie Night at our house with video of his choice
A secret toy purchased by mom
A special lunch date at any place he chooses

So far this has been working quite well. Tyson has lost a few stickers and Carson has been threatened that he will loose a sticker a few times. The kids are about 1/2 way to reaching their goal. Tyson can hardly wait to get to 10 stickers so that he can choose the secret toy bought by mom. He is hoping that it is a Bakugan...which it is, but he doesn't know that. So we will see how long it takes the kids to get to 10. Some days I feel like it will take them forever and that they will loose interest. And other days they are both angels and I want to reward them with LOTS of stickers. I have come to the conclusion though that if they reach their reward to quickly they won't learn anything along the way...so slowly but surely they will make it, it just might take a few weeks to get there. In the end the reward will be so worth it. Isn't that how life is though?

On Saturday we went out to the Corn Maze. SO FUN! It was a beautiful day...but windy. Still we couldn't complain because the kids had a great time. Here are a few pictures:

For this picture above I used a GREAT photoshop program called Picasa to edit all the photos. Holy cow...SO easy and I think it does a great job. Thought I would pass along the info.

Here is Tyson with a pumpkin that he picked out of the pumpkin patch. He was needing to find a fall item to take for Show & Share this week and this is what he chose. When we went to pay for it though he decided to pick a smaller one so that it would fit easily in his back pack and wouldn't be so heavy to carry. He was excited this morning to take his special pumpkin to show everyone. It is amazing how a little thing can bring so much joy to a chid.

We have been enjoying this beautiful fall weather! I think we are having a nicer fall than we had summer. This week is supposed to be nice and HOT...YIPEE! Yesterday Carson was a big helper to his Great Grandma. He helped her rake up the leaves in her yard and then put them in the bag. Grandma had to tend to baby Grace and turned he back for just a minute and Carson decided that he wanted to make a snowman out of the leaves and dumped the whole bag out! Grandma had a good laugh over that one. Before we went home though we helped her pick them ALL back up. I am very thankful to my grandma who is always SO willing to watch the kids for me when I need to run errands. Yesterday I was getting my hair cut and totally planned on taking Grace with me, but she insisted on me leaving her, so that was very nice. It is a great blessing to have family so close. I am happy that my boys know their grandparents and are able to visit them often.

Well the house work is calling my name...so make today a GREAT one!