Mother's Day Weekend

We had a nice visit with Aunt Marie (Grandma Jones' sister from Virginia) at Brittany Adzic's (Dave's cousin) graduation party on Saturday. Congratulations Brittany!

On Sunday all of the grandparents were here for lunch. The kids experienced nana and papa overload, and had so much fun!
Grace examining Grandma Jones.
Grace and Nana Humphrey.
Nana Streby and Grace enjoying a beautiful Mother's Day book that Mark and Kim put together for Barb of all of the grandkids.
Papa and John doing what they do best. "Papa's the greatest!" has to be yelled before the tickling will stop. Looks like John is suffering.

Money well spent!

We have recently started paying John a commission of $1.00 every Saturday. It is not an allowance since he must work for it. He has no list of chores because I don't want to manage that and we don't want to give him the opportunity to say, "But mommy that's not on my list." He just has to listen and do what is asked of him at any time. Because a week is a long time for an almost 4-year-old to wait, he earns stickers that I put on the refrigerator when he is doing something particularly helpful. Then on Saturday, Dave counts up his stickers and if there are enough (and since there is no required amount, there is always enough) John gets paid.
This commission jar idea came from a class Dave recently taught for our church as a service to the community called Financial Peace University http://www.daveramsey.com. We are seeing John appreciate earning money and begin to think about purchases.
As John's first goal he has been saving for more sand for his sandbox. I found a local sand and gravel distributor who said we could come have all the sand we need at no cost. After explaining what we were trying to teach our son, they agreed to ask for $4.00 for whatever we could shovel into the truck. It actually took John 8 weeks to save the $4.00 because money can also be taken from the commission jar if needed.
We recently picked up the sand and filled his tire, and the floor of the shed that has been turned into a playhouse/toy stoage unit. John proudly "helped" shovel and has been in his sandbox rain or shine ever since.
His next goal is to save enough for a goldfish and all that goes with it.

The invoice from John's purchase. Made out to John Humphrey, for the amount of $3.00. He carried his jar of money in and poured it slowly out on the counter. There were only two bills. When we started counting coins and he saw his savings getting smaller and smaller, John began to whisper to me asking if he could keep that one, and that one. I thought for a minute that what we had hoped would be a great learning experience was about to turn ugly. He had saved exactly $4.00 and would be leaving with no money. Thankfully the woman behind the counter saw what was happening and told John, "The sand you are interested in is on sale today for $1.00 off the original price." I could have kissed her! John gladly parted with most of his hard-earned money and proudly walked out of the office, commission jar in hand.

John models his newly filled sandbox. And to my delight, since he payed for the sand, he is much more careful about keeping it in the tire and out of the yard.

Enjoying the recent beautiful weather.

Fun together!

"Jesus loves you, this I know..."

I took Grace for her immunizations this week. Her one year shots were just three months overdue. What can I say-second child.
On the way to the office, I explained to John what we were doing and asked his to be a big boy since his sister was going to need my attention. He told me he would help her be brave.
When we entered the examining room, John sat quietly in a chair off to the side while the nurse prepared the three shots. As she picked up the first and poked Grace, John walked calmly over, stood beside Grace, and in a quiet voice began singing "Jesus loves you." To my surprise, the nurse joined in the singing as she administered the second and third shot.
It was just a nice moment. Grace, of course, still screamed hysterically.

Working on projects in Papa Humphrey's shop.

Notice the tongue. John apparently learned this attractive concentration technique from his mother. Or so I've been told.