Amazing day!

 After complaining about my boys on Saturday, I need to tell you about today's amazing performance. Today is a public holiday - Culture Day. Read about it here. Yesterday, mums at school were excited about having a mid-week holiday. I can't say I joined in their excitement. CAJ teachers didn't get the holiday, only the kids. So I had three boys all day with no husband.

My loose plans for the day revolved around some jobs around the house.  Loose, because I've learned the hard way that forcing my kids to do what I want them to do can sometimes end in heartache and a sore throat.

• Our back yard, tiny, though it is, needed some attention. The grass grew long during the summer and hasn't been tended to since we arrived in July. I went out there once and the mosquitoes almost swallowed me whole. So we've delayed until the temperatures died and the mosquitoes died too.
• Our front road gutters needed sweeping. 
• Also I'd committed to contributing baked goods to our church's fund-raising sale on the weekend.
• And our snacks had, as usual, diminished. The constant struggle when you have ravenous boys. I know, they aren't teenagers yet, but they still eat a lot for their ages.
• Other things that needed to be done included making bread and starting our prayer letter.  

Believe it or not, all of the above was achieved. And with cheerful boys. Yes, part of the reason is that they were externally motivated by our Token Economy chore system. On the horizon is a trip to Baskin and Robbins and two of them needed to get their points up to be able to 'afford' to go. 

But it was more than that. They all pitched in, with cheerful attitudes and even enjoyed the work. We worked outside for an hour and a half this morning. Then had lunch and some quiet room time. After that we baked together in the kitchen/dining room for two hours. 

End result of the day:

• one huge banana cake
• 12 pear and raisin muffins for church bake sale
• 60 honey/ginger biscuits (US = cookies) for snacks and lunch boxes
• bread for lunches
• a prayer letter begun
• a backyard where we can see the ground again, even if it looks like a herd of baby elephants went tramping through
• pot plants - the dead ones were ditched, leaving room for some in-season flowers to be planted on the weekend



David showing off our lawn mower.

• front gutters swept

More importantly:

• boys who enjoyed working together and can feel the satisfaction of contributing to the household
• boys who are learning to do things around the house
• boys who will one day be able to cook for themselves
• boys who are learning that there are more rewards than points for doing things around the house - that personal satisfaction is good too
• one boy learned a new task - sweeping the gutter. He said he'd happily do it again (I'm a little sceptical about that, but we'll see).
• one unstressed and very satisfied mum
• one mum who can concentrate on other matters tomorrow when everyone is at school
• continuing to build on our new relationship with the neighbour (he lent over the fence to lend us a hedge trimmer. Later our eldest son returned it and was greeted with the response - "borrow it anytime". These are the same neighbours who will be pleased to see our gutters swept!

I'm a happy camper!