It just takes one word!

So Ken and I, like most parents, at times have to beg and plead with our children to clean up after themselves, play nice, drop the attitude, stop kicking each other...etc., etc. Well, that is until we discovered a new secret weapon, a word to be exact, to skillfully utter in desperate times. The word?

...DISNEYLAND! Ken and I are planning a trip down to the semi-annual training in Anaheim in June and the kids are well aware of our plans, especially because it involves their first time on an airplane. Leah, ever since entering kindergarten and being influenced by other young Mickey Mouse lovers, knows that Disneyland is in Anaheim, California. So as soon as we mentioned that we were going to Anaheim the kids started asking about going to Disneyland. We kept telling them "we'll see" but then one day the words "maybe you guys can save up and buy tickets to Disneyland" left my mouth. This sent them into a mad dash to their bedrooms to grab their piggy banks and begin feverishly counting their pennies. Discovering their current savings fall very short of the $55 needed for a one-day Disneyland pass Leah and Levi began concocting ideas to make up their lack. Levi scooped up a bunch of cars he never plays with and asked me to sell them on craigslist "for like $40". Leah began wiggling her loose tooth like crazy the next few days with the hope that "whoever-puts-money-under-the-pillow" would soon deliver. Both kids picked dandelions and sweetly offered to do any jobs "you guys want us to help with". Levi, our extremely picker eater, even started eating more at dinner time when we told him we weren't sure he'd be big enough to go on some of the rides at Disneyland. Ever since we began using that amazing D-word and watching the eagerness of our children to earn their way, I've been considering planning a trip to Anaheim every summer!