A LOT of hard work pays off!!

When I say we worked HARD all weekend, I am not kidding you! We worked HARD! And of course we've already hit the 100 degree days here in SC, so it was HOT and sweaty hard work! the kids were troopers and helped us out quite a bit in order to earn some extra money for their Wii box. They helped with alot of the weeding that we had to do to prepare some of the flower beds. Then I told them they could help with the mulching by earning 50 cents for every wheelbarrow load that they could fill, transport, and dump. It was a BIG job, but we were all determined!

On Monday morning, after Caleb went down for his morning nap, the other kids and I headed back outside to keep working on the mulch. It was SUCH a big job that it was hard for the kids to see the end result. But they kept working at it. By that morning, they had already earned $35 towards their $50 that they needed. Caleb woke up and so we had to stop for a while. (Sidenote: It was just too hot to have him out there, so my mulching had to be done during naptimes. This also meant that the things I NORMALLY do during naptime did NOT get done....hence the delay in blogging!!) Anyways, we took a break, had lunch, hit the pool for a little bit to cool off and be refreshed. When Caleb and Callie went back down for their afternoon naps, the boys were playing Legos in their room. I told them they had the option of playing legos quietly during resttime or they could come help me do some more mulching. After about 5 minutes, both boys straggled out. Josiah was trying to talk them both into finishing the job up - he knew they were getting close. I told them they only needed $15 more - which was 30 wheelbarrows full. This was still very overwhelming to Jacob. Josiah told Jacob that if he would do 10 loads, then Josiah would do the other 20. Bless his little heart. So they started working. It was hot. We were all sweaty and tired. But all of a sudden, they started finishing off these loads and getting closer and closer. When Jacob finished his 10, they knew they were REALLY close. Josiah started beaming once he got into the single digits. It was SO cute seeing them accomplish this REALLY big goal - and being SO excited about it!

I told them that if they could finish it off, we would go RIGHT AWAY and buy the Wii and surprise David with it. This gave them the energy they needed to finish it off!!!

Jacob filling his LAST wheelbarrow full!!
This little guy really did work hard. Josiah is not afraid of hard work, and I'm proud of him for doing so much. He knew he was doing more than Jacob, but he was okay with that. I was proud of him for that.

The two VERY proud boys with their last loads!

Dumping it out...

WE DID IT!!!!

HOORAY! WE DID IT!!!

I tell you - the look on their faces was priceless. Obviously they didn't REALLY financially contribute...we "paid" them this money so it all came out of our pockets. But they learned such a valuable lesson in the process. About how it takes a long time to save that much money. About how hard we have to work for it. About how we need to decide what we spend our money on. It was a great lesson for them, and I was proud of them for keeping at it!

We decided that we would NOT tell Daddy about our mulching that day - that we would let it be a surprise. We went straight after naptime to get the Wii, then to kids worship team practice while David was making some pastoral visits. We all got home around the same time and rushed inside to present David with his early Father's Day present! :)

Obviously David knew what was going on, but being the good Daddy that he is, he was VERY dramatic and played the part well! :)

(Just look at Josiah's face - he was so excited he could hardly stand it! He LOVES surprises!! Jacob, on the other hand, wanted SO badly to call David and tell him all afternoon that they finished earning their money and we bought the Wii!! He'd rather have the instant gratification than waiting for a surprise!)

Trying out archery for the first time :)

It's ridiculous how much more coordinated my kids are than I am. That's all I'll say about that! :) Way to go boys - I'm SO proud of you for working so hard to earn this!!!