Jack's first job - and a costing lesson

Through a weird sequence of events (involving Jack's bike sitting outside), Jack accepted his first job as a doormail deliverer. The gig involves walking to 100 houses and getting paid $.15 per each doormail delivered. Jack did the math and realized that he would make $15. He thought this sounded like a good deal. The first time went well.

When the second round came (roughly every six weeks), the doormail guy asked Jack if he would consider doing 300 houses. Jack quickly did the math and with $45 in his mind he quickly said 'yes'.
Although after some brief reflection, he asked if I would help him. I told him that I would drive him to the right neighborhood but that I thought he should do the bulk of the work by himself. I told him that if he thought he wanted help he could consider hiring Theo to help. He very quickly said, 'Yah, but he is going to want to get paid too!'

After I explained that it was only appropriate that Jack pay anyone who helped him with his deliveries, Jack did decided to ask Theo to help. He went downstairs to negotiate. He came back up and said that Theo would help. I was pleased with this result and asked what they had agreed. Jack said he had told Theo he would pay him $10 to help for an hour.

I then gently told Jack that paying someone by the hour when you are getting paid per item is a dangerous agreement. I asked Jack what he would do if Theo only delivered 20 things in that hour. His eyes got really big when he realized that he may have just struck a bad deal. He then said, 'I don't think Theo would do that, do you?'  I laughed to myself. And then Jack went and agreed to split the route with Theo. Jack would do one side of the road and Theo would do the other and each would get 50% of the pay. Deal done!

Eliot gets even

We were really excited today when Grandad called and asked us to go to lunch with him. It was a fun surprise because we didn't even know he was in town. We decided to meet at Culvers. It was a great time. The kids enjoyed their fizzy drinks, their cheese curds, and their custard. What's not to like?

Well after Grandad had to leave, we were getting ready to leave when Addie did something that made Eliot mad. In his retaliation, he very angrily said, 'Stop it Addie unless I am never gonna play house with you again!'

Too funny. Although in Eliot's defense, this would be a really sad consequence for Addie because she loves it when Eliot goes along with her house shenanigans!

Second Banana

A few days ago we had quite a few things scheduled for the day so we wanted to get a good start on school work. The kids really woke up with some drive. Charles returned home from the gym to find them sitting around the kitchen working. Here is the conversation that transpired:

Addie: Dad, I'm already on my third subject.
Theo: Yeah, I'm already on my second subject.
Eliot (without missing a beat): I'm on my second banana.

Addie's Baseball Knowledge

The other day I was impressed by Addie's knowledge of baseball so I decided I would kind of quiz her on more. So I asked, 'Addie how many innings are in a baseball game?'

She answered, 'I don't know.' I was prepared to be underwhelmed and admit that she didn't know much when she piped up with more...

'You see it depends. There are nine innings but if the score is 5-5 at the end then you keep going until the score is 6-5. It the score is 6-5 at the end of nine innings you stop. If the scored is 6-5 at the end of eight innings you keep going because you have to play at least nine innings.'

Well said Addie. Well said.

Addie, the DH

Addie has really gotten into baseball because she has quickly learned that it is something that allows her to play with her brothers and be fully included. The other day I heard Addie and Theo making up baseball line-ups.

And this is what I overheard:

Theo: Addie you can be DH.
Addie: What is DH?
Theo: It stands for Designated Hitter.
Addie: Okay, I'll be DH.
Theo: Yes, Addie I think you are well suited for it. You don't have to have great speed or anything you just have to hit the ball.

Hilarious - a great backhanded compliment.