follow up

the first day i hid candy between the trash liner and the trash & kristen found it.
yesterday it was in the sink of dirty dishes (in a baggie) & cole found it.
today, when i picked kristen up from school, the first thing that came out of her mouth was not "hi, mom" but "did u hide the lolly pop?"

when we walked in the door, cole ran to the sink, unloaded the dishwasher and loaded the dirty dishes. kristen told him to just look and see if it was there but cole responded that he wasn't doing it for the candy, but to help around the house (evidence i have tried to reach their heart, right?!!)

kristen started putting clothes away. cole put my folded laundry away and made my bed. kristen picked up caden's toys. then she took out both trash cans. cole emptied the recycle bin. we had pancakes for sninner (huge snack since they are starving after school) & they both cleaned up the huge mess that made in the kitchen.

they were baffled. they said the candy was nowhere.
so we did a house tour of each room looking for what needed to be done & did it. that was a good opportunity to show them what i see when i look around.
FINALLY, cole decided to put away caden's clothes that were by the stairs & found the lolly. kristen threw herself down and started crying, "he found it yesterday! i wanted to find it today!" (love those teachable moments, right?) after she re-gained her composure, she said, "congratulations for finding the candy, cole". she asked for candy, too & i said no (she handled that nicely).
so, my house is perfectly clean. cole is eating his lolly and i let both of them watch tv; normally we have no electronics during the week but for all that effort, they deserved it!

p.s. the pancakes are wheat pancake mix & i add chocolate soy protein powder and flax seed. we put peanut butter and chocolate chips on top & syrup. YUM!