let's make a deal

Last Thursday morning, Monkey Boy was very adamant about not going to school. He stripped off his pajamas and squatted on the top step of the stairs, “I am not going to stupid school today! I hate school.”
    “I’ll tell you what, Ren, let’s make a deal,” I said.
    “What kind of deal?”
    “Well, if you go to school today, and you stay on green all day, and I don’t get any phone calls from the school, no notes from the principal, and no bad reports from your teacher at pick up time, then after sissy’s violin lesson, we will go to the church, where you can meet your friends in the gym, eat pizza for dinner, play games, watch a movie, and run around like a crazy kid for two hours!”
    “Tonight?”
    “Yeah, tonight.”
    “I can do that tonight? For two hours? For two whole hours?”
    “Yes.”
    He sprung up from the top step and ran down the stairs, “Deal. We have got a deal. Wahooo!” Then he turned and ran back up the stairs, burst into the bathroom where B was showering, “Guess what, Dad…”
    Ash looked at me and said, “Sneaky, mom.”  She knew that there was a big event at the church—which had been planned for weeks. The kids were being treated to a Kid’s Carnival in the gym while the parents took part in a denominational presentation. “That was really sneaky.”
    “I would say it was advantageous.”

“It was not a carnival. It was terrible. Who thought it would be a good idea? I got to put on a costume, but yeah, it still sucked.
-Ashlyn Groshong

It was awesome. We had so much to do. We played a game where you have a bottle and you throw it into stuff. We had popcorn. We got to draw a magic mask with a magic pen. It was the best day ever. -Ren Groshong
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