Motivation

As a parent you find that each of your children is motivated in different ways. This weekend we found something that really motivated Levi.
Everyday Levi is supposed to read for at least 15 minutes a day. That is about 450 minutes a month. The last two months we found that he had read about 700 minutes per month. I asked him if he thought he could 1,000 minutes during the month of May. I told him that if he met that goal that we would take him to Dairy Queen. I guess that’s all he needed to hear because on Saturday he read for 150 minutes! That is a combination of him reading to himself and us reading to him.
I guess Dairy Queen is very motivating to a first-grader.

The joys of raising boys

Ah, the joys of raising boys. They never cease to amaze me. A couple of days ago Josiah decided to take the soap dispenser and walk around upstairs. It was in the bathroom, his room and Nathanael’s room. It could have been a lot worse, but boy was I mad.

Chris

Upcoming Projects

Now that the kitchen project it is time to start thinking about the other projects on the “honey do” list. Fortunately these projects are not as expensive and not as invasive to our daily lives. This summer we hope to accomplish some, if not all of these tasks: stripping the deck and putting a new coat of stain (this time we will buy a good oil based stain and not the bad stuff we put on 2 or 3 years ago), paint the front porch where we had the windows put in last year, put a fence up around the yard. We’ll see how much we get done, but those are the bigger projects on the list.
As I sit outside watching the kids play I’m typing this up on my AlphaSmart Neo, (it’s great not being tied to the computer in the house) I look at the house and it is hard to believe what we have put into this house over the past six years. The deck, remodeled bathroom, new double-hung windows, new shingles (before and after the hail storm) remodeled kitchen, new storm windows on the front porch. We really feel blessed with how we have been able to turn our house into a nice home. Now we’ll have to see if we ever get that garage we have been talking about.

99% Complete

The kitchen project that has seen two seasons (winter and spring), St. Patrick's Day, Easter, both Chris and Cari's birthday's the NCAA men's basketball tournament, tax day and yes, even Earth Day is now 99% complete. Just a few final touches to be completed. Since 99% is an A+ in my book this will be the last post on the kitchen project. The slide show will show you before, during and after pictures. By clicking on the caption icon on the lower left side you can see comments about each picture.



Chris

More Thoughts on Creativity

Last fall I wrote about how as a society we have lost our creativity. When I wrote last time I spent time talking about how one of my son’s started playing stickball on his own. This week he and some of his friends found out that stickball is much like regular t-ball. They had a blast with a simple tee and a stick from a tree. I hope they keep much of that creativity as they get older.

Excellence in Sportsmanship

This week we learned that Brett Favre announced that we was retiring from the game of football. For the past 16 years Favre has been the leader of the Green Bay Packers. Although Favre broke many NFL records in this career, I think there are two things that I will always remember about him.
1. His love for the game. There are not many men that have walked onto a football field that showed such a love for the game of football.
2. He stayed out of trouble. In today's world of sports it seems like we are constantly hearing about professional athletes that are in trouble for a myriad of issues. Brett Favre is a roll model to many kids and he was a good roll model because he stayed out of trouble.
Thanks for the memories, Brett.

The art of saying thank you

What is the right was to show someone that you appreciate them? Do you give a card? Do you give a gift? Do you write a note? Do you send a nice e-mail? Do you just say the words "thank you"?
I don't think there is a right or wrong way to show someone that you appreciate them. The important thing is that you do something. By saying, or doing, nothing at all you make the other person question whether or not they ever made an impact in your life.
So the next time some one does something that you appreciate, just let them know in some way. Especially if they have invested a lot of time into you.