Bribes, Threats and Apples

It feels like Fall. I even had to put a jacket on yesterday! It's making me a little sad, 'cause Fall leads to Winter. Another thing about Fall that makes me sad is all the apples that fall off our tree. We spend a long time every fall, cleaning them up. Yesterday we tried to get a jump start on it, to get the apples raked, then mow the lawn under the tree, then rake some more... If the apples were any good it might be worth all the work, but the apples aren't very tasty and they're full of worms. They'll make great snacks for my dad's sheep and donkeys, though!

We made the boys help us pick up all the apples yesterday. They were glad to help for the first few minutes, but 30 gallons of wormy apples (that we kept telling them not to eat) is a lot of work. We told them that once we were all finished cleaning up apples, we'd all have some ice cream. That kept them going for a few more minutes, but they were soon sidetracked again. We reminded them of their ice cream reward, but they didn't care. So we told them if they didn't resume cleaning, they could go to their rooms and go to bed. That got them going again, but the rest of the time cleaning apples sounded something like this:

Me: Drew! Get that apple out of your mouth! Owen! Do you want ice cream or do you want to go to your room?

Owen: I don't have to go to my room.

David: Then start cleaning.

Drew: I want ice cream.

Me: Then put these apples in the bag. Get that out of your mouth!

[Scene repeats over and over, ad lib]

The boys were sort of confused as to why we were being so demanding; after all, they hadn't made the mess. When they get older we might explain to them that we just want them to be responsible, hard workers. But I think it might go over their two-year-old little heads, so for now we continue in our overbearing ways, getting our yard cleaned through child labor.