Summer 2012, An iPhone Pictorial

Most of my summer has consisted of

 

Cooking

Cleaning

Feeding

Chasing

Chauffering

Schlepping

Cajoling

Disciplining

Referreeing

Packing

Unpacking

Laundry

Exhaustion!!!

 

Notice that "blogging" was not on the list. 

And with the exception of our time in Massachusetts "photography" was also not on the list.

 

But thank goodness for my trusty iPhone! 

 

All along I've been thinking that it would hold the story of our summer safe and sound until I could find time to blog it all.  That time needs to be now, because tomorrow, unbelievably, is the very LAST day of summer vacation.

 

So here we go!

 

The Last Day of School!!

(courtesy of my iPhone)

 

 

 

 

Little brothers at the ready with silly string!

 

 

Gotcha!!!

 

 

First day of summer and where did they want to go??

Back to the school playground - go figure?!!

 

 

June was full of activity - too much if you ask me

(but whose fault was that?  MINE!!)

 

Ben went to "Sports Camp" and got to try out a new sport each aftenoon

(he's the one in the red hat)

 

 

Sporting agreed with him...

 

 

There was A LOT of driving around to all of those activities...

 

 

See the tennis racket on Molly's lap?

She complained incessantly from the second lesson onward.

By the last lesson, we just gave up.

It was the bees.  She is terrified.

It was a match made very FAR from heaven.

(You live and you learn.  Note to self: NO MORE TENNIS!!)

 

 

He may have gone to Sports Camp, but he certainly earned the "good sport" award for trucking all over creation for his siblings.

 

 

Jack went to 3 weeks of local parks district camp and one week of

Ballistics Camp at the SciTech Museum one town over.  No biggie right?

Turned out it was a 40 minute drive.  Each way.

It was a TON of fun.

(but a ton of driving!)

 

I would do it again if we could find someone to carpool with.

He was in heaven, blowing up new things every day!

Rockets and blasters and cannons, oh my!

 

 

To celebrate the end of the week, we went to the GOLDEN CORRAL.

It's a buffet.

They likey.

 

 

They likey A LOT

 

 

 

 

They likey ALOT ALOT ALOT!

 

 

 

Did I mention it was hot?

 

IT WAS HOT!

 

 

 

Just about then it was GARAGE SALE time!

It was a

herculean,

gargantuan,

MONUMENTAL

effort.

 

But we managed to turn  THIS...

 

 

(Yes, this was my basement.  DON'T JUDGE!!!)

 

 

INTO THIS....

 

 

 

 

 

 AND THEN INTO THIS...

 

 

What are you more jealous of?

My pudgy belly?

My fanny pack???

Or my MOOLAH!!!

 

 

Operation Purge and Sell

(or risk Marc setting fire to everything in the font yard)

netted us nearly $500.

 

$500!

 

But almost better, it gave us back our basement and cleaned us of some soul-crushing clutter.

 

I thought and thought about what we should buy with our windfall.

A new rug for the family room?

A built in griddle for the stovetop?

A weekend away?

 

In the end, the money used itself to buy TIME.

While it sat in the laundry room drawer waiting for me to choose a big ticket item...

I used it to pay my Tuesday/Thursday morning babysitter all summer long.

 

While she was here, I got to do

THIS....

 

 

and go for walks and bike rides through THIS....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Which led to maintaining THIS...

 

 

 

Which is 20 pounds LESS than I weighed in January!!!

 

I actually got the scale down to 130.5,

 but I was greedy and was waiting for it to read 129.5 before I snapped a picture.

(Note to self: DON'T BE GREEDY, SNAP THE PICTURE!!!)

 

And then we went to Vegas.

 And came home with a few extra  pounds, and THIS...

 

 

Hi Baby!!

 

 

So the 135 is here to stay for a bit.

Happily so!

 

Because NEXT January, we will have something really precious and adorable to cuddle,

instead of my love handles.

 

But forget about January for now!  Back to SUMMER!!

 

Did I mention it was HOT???!!!

 

 

We did our best to stay wet as much as possible.

We don't discriminate.

 

POOL.

 

SINK

 

 

 

CENTENNIAL BEACH

 

 

 

Look who got brave and went on the water slide this year!

 

 

 

HOSE

 

 

 

SQUISHY BAFF

 

CAR WASH

 

 

 

 

 

LAKE MICHIGAN

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you have time for a "Ben Story"?

(who am I kidding, there's always time for a Ben Story!)

 

I had walked about 20 feet away from our 'spot' on the beach to take pictures of Molly and Abby collecting shells.  Emily was going to keep an eye on Ben, who was happily playing in the sand.

 I warn people all the time that he's an escape artist, but they just can't fathom the depth and breadth of this statement until they experience it for themselves.

 

Five minutes later, I came back to find Emily walking baby Madeleine around our spot in circles trying to get her to sleep.  I notice Ben is not there.

 

Right off the bat I know that

 

a. He is not drowning because I purposely made him wear floaties

 

b. I purposely brought the orange floaties so he would be easier to spot when he ran

 

c. Emily is going to need therapy over this, even though the child could elude Scotland Yard.

 

So I did what I always do.  I started walking in the direction I imagine Ben would.

The farther I went without seeing him, the quicker my pace became.

When I rounded the corner of the beach, I finally spotted him.

 

FAR away.

 

And still running.

 

It took me at least two or three minutes to catch up with him.

Take a look at the picture again.

 

 

If you look as far as the jetty behind him,

Our "spot" was on the other side of that.

By at least 100 yards.

 

FIVE MINUTES.  That's the time I wasn't looking.

 

F-I-V-E

 

At least this time he was a smidgen alarmed that he didn't know where I was.  He was looking for our 'rainbow' umbrella, but someone down the beach had one too.  So he just kept on going.

 

Like I said...until you see him in action, you wouldnt believe it.

 (don't even ask about the time he got lost at Nannie's house and we found him on her ROOF!)

 

Okay, back to SUMMER!!

 

So it was HOT, right?

 

 

And the next coolest thing to water is

ICE CREAM!

 

We at a LOT of ice cream...

 

 

And frozen custard

 

 

And snow cones

(even learned how to make them in the Vitamix at home!)

 

 

And more ice cream

(this was our annual pilgrimage to Sweets in Lake Forest - YUM!) 

 

 

 

And when we just couldn't take the heat for ONE MORE SECOND,

we hibernated inside.

 

There was lots of  TV watching

Transformers, Avatar and Star Wars (the animated shows) were favorites

 

 

Lots of baking...

 

 

 

 

 

 (these were the brownie pops we made for the Vacation Bible School Potluck Dinner)

 

 

 There was some organizing...

 

 

 

 

 Some housekeeping...

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was a whole LOT of foolishness and fun...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the mess? 

It knew NO BOUNDS.

 

In the midst of the fun we took care of some important business.

 

Like dentist appointments for everyone

(including a crown and filling for Mommy who may be toothless by the end of this pregnancy!)

 

Saw Dr. Leazzo for our physicals.

We took bets on who would weigh more, Molly or Ben.

It's been neck and neck for four years running.

Molly has edged out Ben by a hair until now.

 

Because this time.....

 

 

It was a TIE!!!

They weighed EXACTLY the same - 40.8lbs. 

 

 

He was pretty pleased.

 

Jack on the other hand was NOT so pleased

with the five teeth he had extracted...

 

 

 

Do you have time for a funny Jack Story?

 

 

When we got home from the pediatric endodontist he was LOOPY from the meds they gave him.

He could barely walk, but I caught him crawling across the kitchen floor.

I asked him what he needed but he just waved me off,

reached into a drawer, grabbed something and crawled back to his perch on the couch.

 

I asked him what he had, and after some prodding, he finally showed me.

It was a pair of nail clippers.

 

 

 

He told me...

 "I've got a string stuck in my mouth and I just can't pull it out."

 

 And I told him...

JACK, THOSE ARE YOUR STITCHES!!!!!

 

Interestingly enough, the oral surgery recovery was ROUGH

because the referred swelling gave Jack an ear infection that knocked him out of commission for a week.  We couldn't figure out where his high fever was coming from and were worried that he would end up in the hospital with an infection, but luckily, Nana diagnosed him over the phone.

 

Too bad she can't write prescriptions too!

 

But I digress. BACK TO SUMMER!

 

We really weren't terribly adventurous with any field trips this summer.

Mostly because I was in my first trimester and motivation was hard to come by.

But also because in all honesty, the kids just wanted TO PLAY.

And how can you say no to that?!

 

We did get to the Library...

 

 

The Colonial Restaurant

 

 

The playground

 

 

 

 

On bikes, no less!

 

Steak 'n Shake

 

Another playground

 

 

 

Oh, and Massachusetts, of course.

 

We've spent the last few weeks just enjoying summer,

swimming at the pool,

hanging out with friends,

taking it easy.

 

And now...

it's T minus 48 hours until we are back in school!!

 

 

The backpacks are hung in the mudroom with care,

New sneakers are shiny with wiggle room to spare.

The teachers are prepped, just yesterday met.

We've sussed out our classmates

and homerooms, and yet...

 

I'll be happy to have my routine back, I know.

But I'm sure sad to see summer 2012 go.

Molly's Birthday Photo Shoot

I didn't necessarily intend to wait until we hit Cape Cod to take Molly's 7-year old portraits.  I just sort of didn't have time to BREATHE, let alone take pictures, between May and July.

As it was, I had to sneak these in at the last minute, in the middle of family visiting, as the rainclouds loomed, and as the new 7 year old began to melt down from sheer exhaustion (and I was right there with her!)

But I think we pulled it off - I mean, really...how can you go wrong with a subject as adorable as this??

She FINALLY lost that wiggly front tooth the day before we left on vacation. 

So stinking cute!

She's still 100% GOOFBALL though!

We shook some sillies out jumping on the bed, and then headed outside before the sun set.

Then we went rock climbing....

She was a big fan of yoga poses...even though she's never done yoga.  Go figure!

Then we hit the beach...

Then it was time for my "grand idea".  I'm putting it in air quotes because usually, when I have a "grand idea", it turns out to blow up in my face.  In this case, my genius idea was to have Molly draw the word "seven" in the sand and pose next to it. 

But by the time we got to the sand, she had HAD it. She was whiney, grumpy, and overly sensitive. She simply could not sit in that itchy, itchy sand. Not even for one second.

She posed for ONE second.  ONE.  And she chose the pose.

I can imagine the opera music she's hearing in her head.

She was one curtesy away from her pajamas at this point and I had to let go of my "grand ideas" in favor of a "happy kid".   But I'm pretty happy with the results because they show Miss M. exactly as she is.  Today.  As a brand new seven year old.

I saved my favorite for last though.  Boy is this girl beautiful...inside and out!

Pilgrimage to Cape Cod 2012!

We got back last week from our second annual pilgrimage back to Massachusetts.  Last year, we stayed for more than three weeks, but this year we were ambitious and tried to pack the same vacation into just 15 days.  Let's just say there were successes and failures on that front, but the   successes made up for the failures by far!

I thought I'd recap the trip with a Cliff's Notes version of photographs.  I figured there had to be some sort of free computer program I could use to whip up photo collages, like the Diptic app on my iPhone.  Lo and behold, there is such a thing, and I already have it! Picasa came to my rescue and with a few clicks of some buttons, and the magic of technology, I managed to collage the whole trip in the time it would have taken me to make ONE collage in Photoshop!! 

So here we go. 

Pilgrimage 2012!

DAY ONE:

18 hours straight through

Illinois - Indiana - Ohio

Pennsylvania - New York - Massachusetts!!

DAY TWO:

Nana and Papa's House!

After sending Daddy back to Chicago to work for the week, we spent days 3, 4 & 5 hanging around the pool, admiring flowers, eating junk food from Nana's jelly cabinet, learning to swim in the deep end (Ben), playing with Millie and Clyde (Molly's favorite buddies) and Uncle Corey (Ben's favorite buddy!),  defending the pool from gigantic, mutant horseflies, and soaking up lots of love and spoiling from Nana, Papa, Auntie Treecie and Auntie Katie.

We also got to visit some of our favorite places from our old lives in Massachusetts.  St. Mary's church, the Christmas Tree Shops, Dunkin Donuts, D'Angelos and Hanover House of Pizza didn't disappoint!

And don't forget Dairy Twist!!

or the fun one little boy had on Papa's Tractor...

We have the most WONDERFUL friends from Pembroke, who haven't forgotten us even though it's closing in on two years since we've been gone.  Molly's best friend from preschool and her family are the kind of people you thank you lucky stars you have in your life.  They had us over for a cookout one night (and I don't mean just hot dogs - they fed us like kings!!), and invited our Edgewater Drive neighbors the Kanes and the O'Briens, who we miss more than anything else in Pembroke (even Dairy Twist!).  After a few minutes to reaquaint themselves, it was just like old times, with the kids playing like they'd never been apart.

DAY SIX:

Nannie and Grey's Beach!

The magic of the Point of Pines beach in Revere is something special - even Cape Cod doesn't have it.  The way the tide goes out as far as the eye can see, and you can run and run forever, finding ocean treasures in the tide pools for hours...it really is spectacular!  We got to see all of Nannie's family at a reunion on the beach, camp out in the back yard, spend oodles of time playing with our cousins Quincy, Jaden, Mary and Grace, eat cheeseburgers until we thought we might turn into one, visit Nana Nancy and Pa, and soak up lots of love and spoiling from everyone, especially Nannie!  And of course, we left with beanie babies stuffed in our pockets courtesy of Nana Nancy.

DAY TEN:

Cape Cod!

We returned to Bourne this year, and stayed at a beautiful home overlooking Buzzard's Bay and the Cape Cod Canal.  President Grover Cleveland made this property his summer home for 13 years, and later it was turned into an inn.  That inn burned to the ground, but a few years ago, the family that owns the land built a guest house in it's image, though on a much smaller scale than the original. (Hard to believe when you see the size of this place, it was HUGE!) 

The place was breathtaking!  Across from Mass Maritime, we enjoyed 3 sided views of the water, new construction with all the modern amenities (and no stinky mildew that is the hallmark of most Cape Cod rentals!) and close access to the beach.   What a life!!

Daddy was back from Chicago, but was participating in a 3-day golf tournament, so Nana and Auntie Treecie came down to help us move in and unpack that first day.

That evening when Daddy arrived, we finally got to spend some time as a family exploring our surroundings.

The next day, my college friends joined us for the day.  It was a cloudy day, but we don't need sunshine to have fun when we're together!

The next day Nannie and her entourage arrived and we spent three days together having a ton of fun at the beach.

Thursday, we had a quick visit from Auntie Judy and a failed sleepover attempt with our Carpenter cousins.  Luckily, we got a do-over the next day when the entire Egan clan was able to get together for the first time since Auntie Katie and Uncle Corey's wedding three years ago!

We enjoyed delicious steak and lobster for dinner, and celebrated everyone's birthdays for the whole year with an ice cream sandwich cake.  (This was my attempt at making up for the fact that my brain can no longer handle keeping track of birthdays throughout the year.  I gave everyone their gifts all at once and now I feel like I'm ahead of the game!)

DAY 15:

Papa's Birthday

The week was over all too soon, and it was time to say goodbye to Cape Cod.

But before we hit the road pointed west, we stopped by to celebrate Papa's 69th birthday and snap a few last pictures of the Egan cousins together.

 And then we were off!! 

We were sad to have to say goodbye, and we miss our families like crazy.

But I'll tell you what I'm NOT sad about!

- No more fast food

- No more public restrooms (ick!)

- No more sitting in the car for 18 hours straight

- No more sleeping in strange beds (or NOT sleeping as the case may be)

- No more overtired, hysterical children

- No more packing and unpacking and repacking

(and then realizing you need the thing at the bottom of the pile)

- No more beach sand in crevices I can't reach!

It's worth all the effort of course,
and we can't wait to do it again next year.

It's true what they say...absence does make the heart grow fonder.

And right now, I am very VERY fond of the everyday routine we're slowly readjusting to.

:)

On Rewards and Consequenses: The Mallett Money System

I've been meaning to blog about this for the longest time, because it's become such an important part of our lives at home.  It's something that is woven into the very fabric of our days.

It's called MALLETT MONEY. 
And it's been nothing short of miraculous.

Before I was a parent, I had this great ideology that unlike the children of my own generation, who were parented by the "Because I said so" mentality, I would raise my children in an environment of mutual respect and understanding.  When my kids asked WHY they needed to do something, or WHY a certain rule was in place or WHY they had to behave a certain way, I would give them an honest answer, and they would understand and comply.

Because we would RESPECT each other. 

BAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! 
I know.  It's HILARIOUS in retrospect.  But you live and you learn, right?  Needless to say, it didn't take many years of parenthood to turn my ideology right on it's head.

One of my children usually does what is asked of her not because of our mutual respect, but because it's in her nature to be helpful and easygoing and aim to please those around her.  Two of my children have no desire whatsoever to be easygoing, or helpful, and they don't aim to please anyone but themselves.  This is in their nature as well.  I'm sure because I've done just about everything to CHANGE their nature and had no long term success.

So  forget about "mutual respect".
Blatant bribery has become the name of the game.

And honestly, when you think about it...who does ANYTHING for nothing?  Virtually every good and decent thing we humans do in our lives, can be boiled down to the perception that the effort we are exerting will result in a positive gain for numero uno. 

We work....for money.

We volunteer....because it makes us feel good.

We exercise....to be strong and healthy and feel great.

We go to church...to fill ourselves with all the goodness faith and religion bring

We follow the laws of our society....to keep our freedom and stay out of "The Pokey" as my Nana called it.

There really isn't much 100% altruism out there, no matter how much we tell ourselves there is.

So why should we expect our kids, the little Neanderthals who are wired with a ME, ME, ME!! mentality, to do anything they don't want to, unless they percieve that they are receiving something

positive in return?

With this more realistic mindset,  I set out to devise an incentive plan to encourage the kids to behave in the way Marc and I desperately want them to.  My requirements were pretty far reaching.


A successful plan would have to...

• Be understandable to my 3 year old, but still relevant to my 9 year old
• Provide the instant gratification of an immediate reward, yet teach the value of long term saving
• Require little to no work on my part save for the initial investment and drive the children to perpetuate the system on their own
• Provide the opportunity to solve our hot button issues and teach them the lessons we want them to learn, like;
• The satisfaction of EARNING things
• The value of SAVING
• The importance of sharing in HOUSEHOLD RESPONSIBILITY (i.e. chores)
• The ENCOURAGEMENT to do things that are good for them but that they don't find as thrilling as say, whining for more screen time.  For example, drink more water, call relatives on the telephone, write letters, practice math and reading skills, etc.

There are as many great ideas for discipline/responsibility systems as there are blogs on the internet, so there was plenty of inspiration to be had.


These Chore Magnets from Etsy are adorable!

But I have three kids to organize and need separate, age-appropriate chores for each of them.

I liked these color-coded Chore 'Sticks' with Personalized Jars

from www.gingersnapcrafts.com

 But sticks and Mallett boys are not a match made in heaven, unless 'heaven' is one giant swordfight.

I found this Customizeable Chore Chart for Multiple Children

from Confessions From a Homeschooler

This was getting closer! But EGADS!!  Look at all the variables to keep track of here.  I don't want to have to deal with loading and reloading that puppy - I need SIMPLE. 
I also need to weave in more than just chores - I need values-based goals as well.


This Melissa and Doug chart does just that, with labels like SHARE and TAKE CARE OF ME

  But I know my kids...those terms are just not specific enough and there would be daily battles over what consituted success.

Continuing with the values theme, these jars from My Greenbrae Cottage are Good Deed Jars, similar to the pebble jars used by Jack's first grade teacher, Ms. Montanez.   I saw firsthand how much of an impact that jar made on his class, and when Jack was younger, we tried something like it.

But saving up a whole jar is just too much to ask of younger kids.  By the time a reward is gained, the reason behind it is forgotten!  Hence the need for instant gratification

So what's a mom to do?

In the end, I used bits and pieces of ideas from all of these and many other places.  Books I've read, moms I've talked with, stuff I've made up in my own head after countless hours of banging it against a wall...

The idea I kept coming back to over and over was a play on an incentive program at Jack and Molly's school.  Teachers, the Principal, the 'Lunch Ladies', really all the people in charge...give out "Blizzard Bucks" for any behavior they want to encourage in the children.  During the year, the kids can trade their Blizzard Bucks in for all manner of things.  For 100, they can drink any beverage of choice in class.  For 500, they can get an extra recess for their entire class.  For 200, they can sit in the teacher's chair for a day. 

The kids fall all over themselves trying to get blizzard bucks.  But the reason they work so well is because they aren't hard to earn!  It's as easy as following the daily routines of the classroom.  Simply do what is expected and you are rewarded.  Do MORE than what is expected and you are rewarded even MORE.  It's a simple system, but it works!

Being a business-savvy girl, I wanted to piggyback on this idea, to avoid having to do all the marketing and branding  myself!

This is how 

MALLETT BUCKS

were born.

Recognize that cute family in the middle?

The kids do the things they know we want them to do, and they earn Mallett Bucks.  Right then, right there, no chart needed.  And they can cash them in right then, right there, no chart needed.

It's all spelled out in the rules, which are posted in the mudroom for us to see every day.

The REWARDS are also posted right there, and some of the rewards are dangled right in their faces inside those cheerful jars.

If they don't spend them immediately, the kids each have a clip on my bulletin board, where they can save them.

I keep the bankroll in my desk caddy, and when the kids show me that they've earned their bucks, they are allowed to take them from here. I've never once had a buck stolen - though a certain seven year old confessed that she tried to but couldn't go through with it!

So, how do you earn Mallett Money?

To earn Mallett Money, simply pick a job from the JOBS list, where I put everything that the kids give me a hard time about AND everything that *I* give the kids a hard time about!

I wanted to keep things positive, and kid-driven, so instead of giving out mandatory chores, I left it up to them to choose how hard they wanted to work, and how much they wanted to earn.

What about the REWARDS?

On the REWARDS list, I put anything and everything that the kids beg and whine for.

"Can I just have FIVE more minutes of TV mom, please?"

"Can I have a cookie?"

"I'm not tired, can I stay up just a little longer?"

"I'm SOOO tired, I just can't get up for school!"

"I don't like spaghetti! I want WAFFLES!"

Usually, demands and requests like those ellicit a dismissive HECK NO from Marc and I, which instantly makes US the bad guys.  The beauty of the Mallett Money system now puts the onus back on the KIDS!   

"Oh, you want that?  Well, how much Mallett Money does it cost?  And how much do you have?"

I think my favoite part of the system

is the Reward Jars.

I'm seriously obsessed with these cheese ball jars from Target.  I only buy them for parties, but then I hoard them and find new uses for them!  In this case, they became our Mallett Money Reward Jars.  I wanted to have something immediate and tangible for them to trade their Mallett Money for, in addition to the list on the wall.

But the GENIUS IDEA that I'm so proud of 

is what's inside them.

This is the $1 jar. 

Ever wonder what to do with all that leftover HALLOWEEN CANDY?

Leftover EASTER CANDY?

Junky FAVOR BAG CANDY from birthday parties??

Well, mine now has a destination.

Any time my kids get candy for a special occasion or holiday, I let them stuff their face a little.  I have a heart after all, and I'm not the kind of mom who is ever going to outright ban anything, because at least for my kids, that's a surefire way to ignite an unhealthy obsession.  But eventually they walk away from the candy (surprisingly after eating far less than I would have guessed) and then, it's ALL MINE!  Into the jar it goes, and if they want it, they've got to earn it.

This is the $5 jar.

Bigger candy goes in the $5 jar, like the big Tootsie Pops, or the coveted blue gumballs we took home from Cameron's birthday bash in Februrary. There are also things on the kids "I've gotta have..." list; mechanical pencils, fun erasers, cheapo plastic jewelry, party favors, etc. though once in a while when I'm trying to kickstart some chore-doing, I'll throw in something special like some Target gift coins.

This is the $10 jar.

These rewards are all worth about a dollar, since one Mallett Buck equals a dime, and ten equals a dollar.  The beauty of the ten buck jar is that when the kids start asking for things at the checkout counter, I know I've got bait that I can use to my advantage. I never let them see me buy it, because they know my standard answer is always "NO, it's not on our list."  But they are always surprised and elated when it magically shows up in the ten buck jar. 

When the jar is low like it is right now, I can take the kids to the dollar store and let them each pick out five things they want.  That seems to pre-empt the greed that seems to overwhelm them at the checkout counter, and it gives me a bucket full of stuff that they will bend over backwards to earn. 

I do everything in my power to never give them
'something for nothing'. 

Instead, if they want it, they've got to earn it.

Once the system was up and running, it nearly eliminated all the times when I just gave in; because they asked nicely, or whined horribly, or I was having a weak moment, or they are just so darn cute who can say no?, or they are just so darn awful and I need forty more seconds of silence to get checked out so please, dear Lord let this pack of gum be the magic potion that silences the beasts until I can escape!

So, cute repurposed jars, and homemade monopoly money aside,

DOES IT WORK?

The short answer is HECK YEAH!!!!

Ben uses the system perfectly for his 3 and 4 year old self. 

He earns his money one dollar at a time for little things,

and promptly blows each dollar as it comes on a dum-dum.

Instant gratification is the name of his game, and this system gives that to him.

Molly uses the system perfectly for her 5 and 6 year old self.
She earns money in ones and twos and threes, and sometimes fives...and while she indulges in instant gratification more often than not, she does employ self-control when the ten buck jar has something she wanted.  She even saved enough money to get a manicure! 

She is learning the value of earning things, and the self-control it takes to save.

And this system gives her that.

And Jack uses the system more than perfectly for his 8 and 9 year old self. 

He goes up and down the chore list doing as many high dollar chores as he can muster.   He has saved and saved, and loves to spend his hard earned bucks on dinner and a movie with dad.  He even saved enough to bring a friend along once and has practically cleaned out the bank at times.

He is perfecting the self-control it takes to save for what he wants.

And this system gives that to him.

One of the best indicators of success was when I had three neighborhood boys sitting in my family room, drinking water and reading books with my own kids, trying to earn Mallett Bucks for themselves.

So the lessons are being learned, absolutely.

The chores and responsibilities are being done without complaint.

The kids are thoroughly enjoying the fruits of their labor.

And Marc and I are free from the guilt of always having to say NO

And instead being able to say YES. 

Yes to rewards.

Yes to positive discipline.

Yes to the results we'd been seeking.

YES TO SUCCESS!