Aunt Aloha and Uncle Ronnie were in town last night. Actually they were here to see one of their grandchildren compete in the Olympic golf tryouts at Olympia Fields.

THE OLYMPICS, people!

He had already surpassed the first qualifying round and this week will compete in the second round. Still they managed to find time to drive over an hour away to visit us for the evening. As usual, they showed up bearing wonderful, age appropriate gifts that the kids loved. There were books about Star Wars AND Legos. A triple win for the older boys. Adam and I were treated to a lovely dinner out.

We got a chance to catch up with them and hear what was going on in the lives of all the Baumgartens. They also had four kids, so there is always something happening. I got a glimpse at what my future would be like. Guess “not busy” is off the table forever.

The other gift they got was for the twins. It was a sticker chart. The kids glommed onto it, asking all day the next day how they could get more stickers. I’ve introduced chore charts before with little success, but for some reason this time they all got into it. I had Ben doing laundry, Sam unloaded the dishwasher and Jack cleaning up legos.

It was awesome.

It reminded me I need to be better about rewarding more than punishing. Same result, but done in a totally different way.

Thanks Aloha and Ronnie, hope to see you again soon! And if your grandson qualifies, I’ve got an extra Elmo sticker here waiting for him…