motivation

Saturday afternoon i spent with my nephews. Carter is lets say... 12. J.T. is umm... 9? and Logan... let's go with 6. does that make me a bad uncle that I don't even know how old they are? It seems they grow quicker than big people. They're always having birthdays and quite frankly I find it difficult to keep up with what they like and dislike. One week it's dinosaurs, the next it's hannah montana. I thought taking them for the day would give my sister in law time to sleep (she's a nurse and had worked the night before) and my brother time to catch up on some outside house work. He hasn't mowed his lawn since school started. I had it all figured out. I've been needing to clear my woods of some brush and limbs... and what better way to do that than to recruit a miniature 'grounds crew'. Carter, the oldest seems to understand the idea of 'work'. at times. the other two boys have no idea what it means. After about 15 minutes of carter and I collecting loose limbs, i strolled across the yard to check in on his two younger siblings. Both i found reclining in the hammock. I tried to play the strong 'parent' role... and i threatened to take them home immediately if they didn't get in the woods and pick up sticks now! after all, what did i expect? i wasn't paying them. but they must've gotten the message, because for the next 24 minutes we collected, competed, and compared the size of our tree limb treasures. "breaktime" came quickly... and I knew they were pretty much done for the day. We played football for a bit... and i took them home. I learned a few things from that day. I need to be more patient. I need to realize sticks can be more than just sticks. They can be swords, guns, rocket launchers, and alien antennas. and i learned that i need to spend more time with my nephews. they are pretty cool guys.