The dirt

Yesterday, when we were at the store, Aiden asked for some legos. They were Star Wars legos for thirty dollars. Now, Aiden, thanks to his adorable dad, is addicted to Star Wars. I personally do not get it. But, I wasn't a dork when I was younger, either. Kidding. Kinda. Anyway, Jude and I purchased the boys a Wii for Christmas and it was supposed to be used for family fun. We were ALL going to play together. I have yet to play an entire game with the whole family because there are five of us and four remotes. Yes, Roman HAS to have a remote, too. Well, Jude bought Aiden a Star Wars game for his birthday in March and he wants to play it 24/7. He drives me nuts. He eats, sleeps and breathes this video game. We limit the time he is on it. Jude plays with him when he gets home from work sometimes. Now, Aiden wants to call his dad while he is at work, every day, to talk about this game. It is really unhealthy. So, when he wanted the legos, in the back of my mind, I thought to myself, maybe, just maybe, this will get his attention on something else. I showed him the age range on the Star Wars lego box (ages 7-12) and suggested we buy the non SW's legos. He agreed! BTW, that age limit thing gets me out of buying a LOT of toys. He is very active with these legos and Roman has a new interest in the house; chase the leogs "I can't play with" around. It is very hard keeping a two year old away from a four year old's 200 piece toy set. Aiden asked Roman not to eat them. He is worried Ro will poop them out and they will be useless to him at that point. He has said this in so many words. There have also been a few smack downs take place in the past twenty four hours. Legos really bring out the testosterone!

So my question is this. Do I go crazy refereeing these two over the 200 pieces or do I let Aiden go back to the Wii, hide the legos, and continue how life was?

Ro vacuuming the legos he just threw all over the floor

Cullen got his progress reports today and I must say, I am impressed. His grades are steady going up. I am still waiting for the report in conduct and religion. Those were not included. I am happy he is more focused in school and things are getting better. Now he gets to pick from the jar. The jar is something he wanted to use as a reward system. He even made the pieces of paper with the rewards written on them. Now, every so often, he picks out the jar. Some of the rewards are: $1, a date night with mom, a pack of gum, free computer time, rent a movie, etc. I have also started letting him play after school again with his friends, not just on the weekends, since his grades have gone up.

How will I ever do homework with four??