Happy Thoughts from the Past Week

• Daddy's home!!!
• precocious pianists
• home runs
• bouncing balls
• swinging bats and rackets
  
• boys checkin' out the ladies at volleyball
• kicking, splashing feet
• smooth, gentle glides
• tree climbers
• matching outfits (I love matching outfits!) from Therese
• sweet older ladies who are longing to serve
  
• persevering bikers
• a van that ran well for fifty miles in 6 hours and 10 minutes
• a baby and 2 pre-schoolers who were cheerful in the van for 6 hours and 10 minutes
• cub scouts who rode several miles very well... without complaining
• boy scouts who rode over 125 miles combined within a 24 hour period
• a daddy who is willing to ride 75 miles with his boys (and who knows how to fix bikes!)
• baby jogger wheels that still turn
• creative writers
• library books
• patriotic cub & boy scouts
  
• a budding artist/photographer
  
• giggling primary children when Sister Widebottom visited to talk about the Word of Wisdom and treating our bodies like temples
  
• a sweet, cuddly baby who is trying her hardest to be cheerful even though she feels awful
• she knows her name is "Angel"
  
• lots of freckles, a.k.a. "brown polkadots," as Rebecca calls them
• the primary program is written!!! Thanks, Kristi, for the fun late-night writing session!
• 2 brothers walking side by side into volleyball - best friends just like when they were little tots. I have put that away into my memory moment vault to remember forever!
  

Classic Quotes from the Past Week:

• Teancum: "I'll be the poison tester." (before tasting my cooking)
• Teancum: "You'd better clean that up, Rebecca, cause all Mom and Dad ever have to do is cook the meals." Hmmm...
• Teancum: "When I grow up I'm going to be a normal dad." Mom: "What's a normal dad?" Teancum: "I'm not going to go to work." Mom: "How will you earn money?" Teancum: "Other people who earn money will give it to me." I have often thought we do things backwards. Dads should be home with their kids while they're young and then go to work when their kids are grown up and gone -- instead they're gone working while the kids are young and then retire when their kids are gone. I guess Teancum has the right idea here, except for the last part...
• Micah's latest essay, spelling corrected: "Cake"

"I love cake. It tastes good. I like to eat it. Especially cheese cake. With the crust cooked just right. And the cheese cake made so it's just a cross between white and yellow. Cheese cake was first made some where on earth. I do not know who first made it, but they are a genius. It came to America some time before I was born. Cheese cake is in the cake family and it comes in some different ways. One is cheese. Two strawberry cheese, and maybe some other stuff that I don't know. So if you ever get to choose your dessert then you should choose cheese cake."

The twins have been having a very rough summer. We've been praying about different approaches that we might try because the variety of things we have tried in the past are not working well. We've learned over the years, however, that there is no "magic bullet," as we've tried a wide variety of behavior modification techniques, and while they haven't been total failures, they certainly haven't provided the results we have hoped for. One morning on my run I had the thought that I ought to try having them write essays like Cameron & Micah write for their homework. Essays would provide 1) proof that they understand what they've done wrong, 2) their chance to acknowledge their wrong-doing and apologize in a less-direct way (they are both very stubborn), 3) a chance for them to think out (in writing) ways that they might have handled the situation instead, and last but certainly not least, 4) practice to improve their writing skills.

Since that revelation on my morning run, the twins have each written several essays. I'm not saying that this is the magic answer that we've been looking for, but it was an idea for something different to try. I will keep trying to think of creative consequences for things they do (I've thought about making up math pages with story problems, etc., but that makes a lot of work for me and I don't think I'm the one who needs to be punished.) :) Here is an essay that Ian wrote this morning. There are more essays on the twins' blog. I have corrected the spelling (otherwise you'd have no idea what it said...)

Sassing

"Sassing is bad for you. Sassing is when you talk back to your parents or yelling to them. Listen to your parents. All what they are doing is preparing you when you grow up. So listen to your mom, dad, grandpa, grandma, or even your aunt, any grown-up. Don't say, "but my brother told me to!" That will make you look stupid in front of your parents. Just say "ok, it was my fault. I am sorry." That is what you should say. Don't just get puffed up with anger and be mean to other people. Just calm down and do what you were supposed to do. If you do what you were supposed to do then you would get to have fun fixing. Two times I did this and now I can fix it. Should I say sorry or yell back to them? I would say sorry then I get to have some fun."