Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)

Yesterday the boys were just a bit rambunctious to start the day. They were not being bad necessarily… just sort of annoying, and out of control. I happened to be on the phone with my parents at the time (which was part of the reason they were annoying) and was relaying the story to them. Jen said we should send them out to stack firewood. But, since we don’t have any firewood… my Dad said, send ’em out to rake the yard!

“Great idea,” I said.

So, we bundled them up for the chilly morning, set down the ground rules and, truthfully, I expected to be refereeing, and end up doing the work myself.

However, much to my surprise… they did an amazing job. They both worked together. They worked hard. They even had fun, I think. They took an HOUR to do our front yard (Ian said, “How long has it been, cause the bell tower has rung twice since we’ve been out here…”) and they never complained, even though their hands were getting tired.

Near the end of their assigned task I asked them, “Do you guys want to ask our neighbors if they would like you to do their yard? You could ask them to give you $5/each for doing it?” (I just picked a random number out of the air… wasn’t sure what the neighbors would be willing to pay…) At first, they were too tired, but for some reason, Ian was able to convince Alex to try it, and they went and asked.

I checked on them and saw them raking the yard, and learned that they would be paid two dollars each for raking the front yard. They were pretty excited, and diligent in their work. I smiled and left them to it.

I continued to check on them pretty frequently. (The front yard is right near a very busy road, and well, I love my boys, so I wanted to make sure they were still there!!!) They were doing great! And they took almost another hour to do that yard!! They never stopped, just kept at it till it was done. I have to say, I have never “felt” more proud of them. It was a fun parental moment.

When the task was complete, I saw them go to our neighbor’s front door and receive the payment. Alex got his first and ran away from the house cheering and saying, “Dad!!! Look what I got!!!!!!” while waving his two dollar bills firmly gripped in his right mitten. Ian was pretty excited too, but Alex couldn’t stop talking about his TWO DOLLARS!!! 🙂 I told him, “That’s great, Alex! And you earned it! You did a lot of hard work to earn that.” Next thing I knew he was headed to the basement to find mom, saying, “Mom!! Look what I earned!!!!” 🙂

Too cute. 🙂

So last night, after telling them how proud I was of them for working together, and doing what we had asked, and then for doing twice what we asked, we went to Wal-Mart and they each got to pick out a treat that they earned with their hard work. Alex paid for his and the cashier gave him his receipt. He couldn’t have been happier. He said, “I got a receipt!! This is my receipt!”

Pretty sure he’s keeping that one for a while.