An experiment

We have been having a little too much arguing, finger pointing, name calling and yelling in our house lately.  Maybe it is because it is summer and we are all seeing a bit more of each other.  Maybe it is because everyone is getting less sleep.  It is probably a combination of both.  Who knows, but I am not very happy about it.

The other day, Owen, out of the blue suggested an idea on how we could reduce these kinds of conversations in our house.  I liked the idea, so we have given it a shot.

Each person (including myself and Scott)  gets a cup with $6.00 worth of quarters in it.  Everytime a parent catches a kid doing certain things (we talked about specific behaviors), they take a quarter out of the person's cup that was yelling (for instance) and give it to the person that was being yelled at.  At the end of July whatever is left in your cup, you get to keep.

Now, there are some obvious faults with the system right off the bat (tattle telling, provoking, both kids at fault etc.), but as we are sorting and tweaking the faults I have noticed that the system is working quite well.  The boys really don't want to lose their quarters and are having second thoughts before they fly off the handle.   So, we continue on....

We hit the ground running

We started the summer off with quite the schedule.  I didn't really plan it that way, but as obligations started showing up, I decided at one point to cram them all in during the first 2 weeks of summer and get them all over with. Let's just rip the band aid off at once and then have a more relaxed summer.

So, we have fit in daily swim lessons for Chase, daily swim team for Owen and daily drivers ed for Taylor.  Added a few doctor and dentist appointments and a couple church and soccer meetings to make things really interesting. 

I also started on our summer schedule right off the bat, just to make sure the boys get to moan and complain that this summer is going to be "terrible" because they have to do jobs.   I know.  What a miserable life they lead.

What I have slacked off on is bedtimes.  The boys have been going to bed really late and we are paying for it dearly with whining, crying and moodiness.  That is next on the list to address.

Bed Head

For some reason Chasey has decided he doesn't want to get his hair cut.  His hair naturally grows out instead of down and is stick straight.  It makes for a great combination in the morning.

6th grade graduation.

It's hard to believe he is done with Elementary School.  He's going to do great in middle school!

Rough week for Owen

You know it's been a bad week when you end up in the doctor's office 3 times.

It started out last Sunday on Mother's Day.  Owen felt sick, started complaining that his head, stomache and throat hurt.  These complaints continued all day and into Monday and by late Monday afternoon, he added that his eyes were hurting him as well. 

I took him to the after hours Dr.  where he confirmed he did not have strep, but he did have an eye infection.  As I have mentioned before, these things ALWAYS happen at night and/or on the weekend.

Tuesday, was pretty much the same complaints, and by Wednesday late afternoon he told me his ear was hurting.  The second he told me that I raced to the phone to try and get an appointment before the Dr. office closed.  I knew he had an ear infection.  I snuck in at 4:30 and the Dr. confirmed my diagnosis.

Thursday was pretty much the same.  Non-stop complaining of head, throat and stomach pain.  I had gone through all my mom treatments and had no idea how to help him.

By late Thursday night, he finally started to perk up and on Friday morning he was better and ready to go to school.

But it doesn't end there.  On Saturday during his soccer game, the ball flew over the chain link fence and into the parking lot. Owen decided to climb the fence to retrieve the ball.  While doing so, he slipped and sliced his palm open.  Back to the InstaCare he went to get it stitched up.

Yes, on the weekend.

Poor kid, it was a bad week.  Here's hoping this week will be better.

And they are off!

And a month early at that.  Because there was so little snow this winter, we were able to start again on the cabin in May rather than in June.  Right now they are finishing up the stone on the exterior.  Our builder says it should be done by mid-July.  We shall see!

Spring Soccer

It's so rare that I get decent shots of my boys playing soccer.  I'm a terrible photographer first of all and second they never seem to be in the right place at the right time when I am ready to take some pix.  The other day, everything aligned.  With the help of my mom (who lightened his face) I got some decent shots of Taylor.  The last one is my favorite.