If you've been reading my blatherings for a while, you know that I'm a lazy housekeeper. Well, I came up with a new solution. Not long ago, I asked the kiddinkidinks to put away all their toys. They had plenty of time to do it, but they kept coming to tell me it was done when it clearly wasn't. Finally, I set the timer for 5 more minutes and told them that anything remaining out of place when the timer sounded would become mine to do with what I wanted. Unfortunately, I was able to collect a large-ish bin of toys, their Blocks Box, and both of their pairs of sandals!

Punk has no other shoes right now, so we struck a deal so he could have them back right away. I told them that they could earn their shoes back by doing an extra job around the house. They already help with laundry (gathering, sorting, loading, and putting away), setting and clearing the table, and taking care of their toys (obviously, all of this is to a 4 year old's standard of excellence!). So, only BIG jobs were left and I knew I'd be helping (and I anticipated having more work to do than if I'd just done it myself). Punk chose to mop the floors and Pea chose to clean the bathroom. They both were actually really excited to do their jobs and kept asking me when they could do them! And, they both did pretty well with their tasks, considering their ages and that this was their first crack at this kind of job.

They were so cute, I snapped a few pics of them.The look on her face here is more about the camera than her attitude toward the job. She was having fun scrubbing the tub!