we’re into summer by now. i mean, we’re really into it. the initial excitement has worn off. the freckles are out, along with the always-dirty flip flop feet. and boredom is beginning to set in. and with that boredom comes the fighting. you know how it goes. mom and dad beg and plead: get along! please! do it for us! the golden rule! treat others as you want to be treated! well, it only works for so long. it’s mid-july. it’s not working anymore. yesterday, william spent much of the afternoon in his bedroom after i sent him there for being a real pain to lindsey.
now, it’s not so much pleading. it’s more: get along before I BURN THIS HOUSE TO THE GROUND (borrowed those words right from the mouths of babes… elvis earl). we’ll see if that works. anyway, this morning i suggested lindsey have a lemonade stand. she’s good at tasks like this… sign-making, pouring, stirring. the promise of a few dollars at the end makes it all the more fun. steve gave it a title: lindsey’s liquidators. he’s really trying to sell her on that one.
and then we’ve got william. he’s making his own sign and says he’s having a lemonade stand at another spot on the street. a spot cars pass first. a competing lemonade stand with his sister. why? cause he’s a pain. burn this house to the ground? IMA BURN HIS LEMONADE STAND TO THE GROUND, thas what i’m gonna do.
(fear not. his lemonade stand’s not happening. i just let him think so until he gets bored with the idea and gives it up on his own. i give it ten more minutes.)
haha i really love this. so funny 🙂 every fourth of july when my family would vacation in block island with our family friends we had a lemonade stand. we sold it for free but "tips were appreciated" hahaha. and we seriously make so much money. poor bike riders would come around the corner and see 5 cute little kids and only have a $5 bill and would "tip" us. brilliant
That William is a competitive one, isn't he? They will laugh about this in the future, but until then… good luck!
Hahaha, I love this, this is totally the way my sisters and I were, uber-competitive and nothing our mom said or did could really change that, despite her best efforts.
I really appreciate your honesty and candor in your posts, your posts always brighten my day. thx.
for no reason other than being a pain. welcome to every little bored boy i know. and we LOVE them anyway.
goo lindsay! I would sooo buy lemonade from that lil liquidator 🙂
Elvis Earl is super pumped you gave him proper credit. He raises his fist to you.
Those kids. I mean, I'd go a little crazy. My mom used to lock us outside the house in the summer because "Chloe needed to nap." It was so hot! But now I'm thinking, that wasn't such a crazy idea?
laughing hysterically…
what happened to slip'n'slide? that worked last summer didn't it?
Hillarious! This is too funny to me!
BOYS and their sisters. Lord, give me a house full of boys. PLEASE LORD!
my older 2 (girl 13, boy 11) fight so much! I get texts and phone calls during the day of them tattle-telling. So I came up with the idea that they write everything down in a notebook now. They are not allowed to call me unless the house is burning or they are dying! I rarely get any complaints because they have forgotten about it by the time they go to write it down. LOL! I know that won't work for you since you are a SAHM but it is fun for me. Also, when I am home, I make them hold hands sitting side-by-side on the couch. Or play something or make something that they have to team up for! Fun times!
I'd like to place an order with Lindsey's Liquidators for a glass of lemonade. Or two.
Hahah this is too funny! Siblings can be so mean to each other. They will be friends when they are older, I promise. I remember when I was little, I made my brother SIGN A CONTRACT because he heard me say a bad word and I was going to blackmail him if told our parents so said contract ensured that he wouldn't. I found the letter a few years ago and we both had a good laugh.
Wow, sibling rivalry at it's finest! I hear ya on the mid-summer squabbles, though. I need to come up with some things to keep these kids busy, because my house is turning into a WWE ring!
Reminds me of one of my favorite Berenstain Bears books (probably because I used to fight with my sisters so often) "The Berenstain Bears Get in a Fight". I think there is something in there with brother and sister bear dividing their fort . Ring a bell? Anyway, I feel for you. Maybe fighting is what William has decided to do to pass the time this week.
i love that you know them so well and that william's wont happen.
how i remember those long summer days and looking back my siblings and i were so annoying, my poor mum 🙂
hahahaha. they remind me of my bro and i when we were little..except i would hit him until he cried and then acted like i didnt know what the problem was..and or tied a rope around his neck.
what?
I don't see anything wrong with a little sibling rivalry. I feel like I learned my best people skills growing up with two sisters. I also loved that my mom never got involved in our arguments ( you never really hear the true story, you know?)
as far as summertime activities. how about some volunteering? or yard work in the neighborhood? running errands for the elderly? It's nice for a child to get a sense of accomplishment from helping others and/or making a little of their won money.
this all probably sounds preachery but I can't help it, I'm a school teacher 🙂
Have you heard of the beginning chapter book called "The Lemonade Wars" by Jacqueline Davies? It's about a brother and a sister who set up rival lemonade stands. Not the "greatest" literature, but might be fun to read now that the TV is turned off.