Sleeping Boys are the Best!

Token System

I have been struggling to get my boys to listen lately. There had been lot of yelling and screaming which I had to take blame for and I just would break down and cry because I didn't know how to make them listen. I had tried everything I could think of. Nothing seemed to be working. I remembered when I was little my parents gave each of us kids little jars and if we did something nice or good or if we were just behaving well we would get poker chips. I don't remember exactly what we did with those poker chips. I think that each of them were worth a certain amount of money or something. So I decided to try it with my kids. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought these cute little glass jars and some precut wood chips. I brought them home and painted them and mod podged them with pirate paper. The boys now know if they are good then they get tokens and when they act poorly they get them taken away. When they fill their jar with the tokens then they earn a dollar. They can save that dollar or they can go to the dollar store and get something. Aidan and Ethan have really been wanting the Bone Knapper from How to Train Your Dragon, so that's what they are working together to get. This has helped me to not scream or yell because it gives them incentive to be nice or do nice things as where before they didn't have a reason to want to listen. They also start to understand the value of money which I think can be taught at a very young age. So far this has worked really well!

Daddy and Son's outing

Ben and I decided it would be good for him to take each of the boys out once a month seperately on some sort of outing. It has been a lot of fun for them! So the other Saturday, Ben took Ethan fishing on the Provo river. Ethan had a blast with his dad!

Newport Beach

On Tuesday after Disneyland we went to Newport Beach and yes Ben and the boys played in the ocean, while I sat freezing in my pants and sweatshirt on the beach! I can not believe they were playing in the water! The boys had so much fun with their dad though like they always do.

Halloween Highlights

The week of Halloween was super busy. We had our ward trunk or treat on Wednesday night, Aidan has his preschool party on Thursday, we carved our pumpkins that night, we took the kids trick or treating at Ben's office downtown on Friday, then that night we took them to the Lehi City party, and then on Saturday we went to Gardner Village to see the witches and of course we took the kids trick or treating with their cousins down in Provo! I have never seen so much candy! The boys had a ton of fun in all the activities that we did! Here are some pictures of the highlights of the week….
WARD TRUNK OR TREAT

PRESCHOOL HALLOWEEN PARTY

CARVING PUMPKINS

KPMG TRICK OR TREATING

LEHI CITY PARTY

GARDNER VILLAGE

HALLOWEEN NIGHT

My Boys!

Ben's Big Project

I have the best husband ever! My parents gave us these bunk beds to use for the boys from when I was little. I am the oldest in my family so you can just imagine how beat up they were. I really wish I had a before picture so you could really get the full reality of how hard Ben worked to get them looking like this! He started early this summer and would spend every available weekend to sand all the pieces down. Then he stained and glossed them. The whole Labor Day weekend he spent finishing them up and putting the beds together in the boys room. He also sanded this shelf for me. Ben has already got Aidan loving his deer horns! So of course those had to go up on the wall. The boys names were my only contribution to the room. Definitely a boys room though! Having them sleep in the same room the first night was torture. Ethan kept crying and getting out of bed. Aidan would then wake up and say, "I don't want to sleep in here anymore because Ethan keeps making too many noises!" However since then they have stayed in bed and sleep through the night which has been so nice! Thanks Ben for being so talented and hard working to get these beds done before the baby gets here!

Ben and his boys!

Our pool is sadly now closed! That was the fastest summer! As much as I love fall, I always miss the summer days. Ben took the boys swimming Labor Day weekend and they just have so much fun with their dad!

Father's and Son's Hike

Our ward was a little lame when it came to the Father's and Son's camp out. Needless to say there was no camp out. They called it a Priesthood Commemoration Activity. They had breakfast in the morning and went on a hike afterwards in Pleasant Grove Canyon. The boys did have fun though with their dad!