Public Enemy #1 and Toughness

Public Enemy Number 1 - deadly crafting snakes

Ben at football camp

Alex at football camp

The babies attentively learning during speech therapy

Ben getting his "worship on" at VBS last week

Behold these slithering creatures pictured above. Our latest nursing staff dismissal was due to these wooden snakes that I purchased at Hobby Lobby as art projects for the boys. Long story short, every time she'd come and we accidentally hadn't pick up the vicious snakes, she would threaten to leave. After the 3rd time of threatening to leave and shutting herself into our walk-in pantry and calling the agency telling them she would no longer stay here if the snakes were not put away, we did our final snake sweep.

I apologized to her and ushered her out of the pantry telling her that any snakes left out of the toy baskets are not intentionally left to frighten her. She did not accept my apology and she said that the boys intentionally leave the snakes out scare her. I explained that sometimes in a household with 4 kids, not all the toys always get put away neatly. She wouldn't budge. So we just asked her to leave and we haven't asked for her back. It's sad because she has been with us since day one, but nobody can walk into our home and accuse our boys of being malicious. I'll admit, Ben and Alex are all kinds of goofy & crazy, but they aren't mean spirited... so she just had to go.

On a lighter note, the boys are in day 2 of football camp. The first day, after 3 hours in the heat and being motivated by coaches that didn't want to coddle them, they came to my car crying and saying how "mean" the coaches were. After I explained that football camp at the high school isn't for playing patty cake or ring around the rosy, they went to camp on Day 2 with a better attitude. No tears this time and they felt proud of the drills they did and the compliments they got from the coaches from working hard. A little bit of tough talking didn't hurt anybody, and I'm glad they aren't letting the boys go soft out there on the football field. We can leave the snuggling and patty-cake for the privacy of our own home :).

Ben and Alex have taken a particular interest over the past week in playing with the babies (more than usual), and it just makes us so happy to watch their interaction. They play catapult with Dori (basically throwing things in his direction and watching him roll over and get it... not as violent as it sounds!). They also like to make Dori their parrot -- telling him things and listening him repeat it. They get a big kick out of that! And they love to make Wynnie laugh by running around him. The babies have a great time, Ben and Alex have a great time, and it's just really neat to see them bond.

I'm reading Tim Tebow's book "Through My Eyes" and its soooo good!!! If you don't know his story and his background, you gotta check it out. I got a neat tip from what his mom used to do with them. She would give them "character points" anytime he and his siblings would get complimented on their behavior by an adult or if they went above and beyond and exemplified solid character. I was so excited to get it started at our home! We announced to the boys that for every 10 Character Points they earn in their allowance jar, they get $10. So for the first evening, there was ALOT of fake character going on.... "Mami you are sooo nice! Mami you are so pretty! Papi, would you like for me to get you a coke from the fridge? You are the best papi I could ever have!!!" All those compliments and offers of fetching stuff got them zero character points -- it wasn't until they forgot about it the next day when Chris took the boys shopping that they began earning them by being polite, and a waitress the next day told me how polite the boys were. Cha ching!! So thank you Mrs Tebow... The idea has been a hit at our house and hopefully they are learning some good values in the process.