waiting for Spring...

taken on April 15

It's been really hard this year to wait for the Spring to come.  There is still a lot of snow in our yard but at least it is melting bit by bit.  Just yesterday we had a little snow storm come thru and watching the huge snowflakes falling down was like a perfect Christmas Eve scene except that it made me angry. :)  It is just not the same when it happens in the middle of April and we're so eager for green grass and T shirts.

Well, to help us cope with this winter wonderland I asked the kids if they would like us to buy a trampoline this summer.  They got really excited about that because they love trampolines and going to people's houses that have one.  I explained trampolines cost a lot of money and in order to buy one this summer we will have to all do our chores and save all the chore money together until June/July.  It is really nice to have a goal for the money kids save together.  Especially for Kade, if he doesn't have some goal for the money he doesn't care if he gets any and so doesn't care if he misses some chores. :)  He has also been wanting a tablet for his birthday that's coming up in August, which is not cheap so we made a deal that if he wants one he has to pay for half of it with his money.  We started that when he first really wanted a more expensive toy and I really like that he feels ownership in the gift when he helps pay for it.

So, the trampoline is a good incentive I thought and something for the kids to look forward to in this ugly weather.  Truthfully, I want the trampoline just as much as the kids do because I'm once again dreading the full house of kids going wild when the school is done.  I'd love it if it was just my kids here and once in a while some extras for play mates but summer days get very long for me, being stuck at our house with up to 9 kiddos.  I'm just excited that my parents get to come and we can tackle some projects together.  We're also planning a road trip to Canada with them and we're all really looking forward to that.  Now if all the snow just melted away...