The job

Oh my, what a job. A ton of water in our basement from the recent storms have left us with a very big job: Demolish the hearth of the basement fireplace, take down the wall paneling, look for the crack, repair the crack, extend the sump pump, repair the wall and flooring. Today was step one - Demolish. We have found something our children are very good at: We have a 2x3 inch gouge out of our wall in our family room, our new piano has a big chip out of the front of it, the bathroom paint job has been peeled right in front of the toilet, the basement railing is missing a spindle, the wooden kitchen air conditioner vent has been crushed, our wooden floors are scratched to heck, our new dining table has fork scrape marks on it, the leather sofa has scissor scrapes on it, the basement carpet has stains, the sod job in the back courtyard has been dug up to make purposeful mud puddles, most of our walls have "artwork" directly drawn or painted on them. So, we have found something our kids are good at, demolition. Therefore, when the basement fireplace and hearth needed to be demolished, my husband called in the crew - the 11, 9, 6, and 4 yr old crew. All day long the kids banged, busted, crushed, hammered and split wood, bricks and mortar. All day long they carried the remnants up and out of the house. They LOVED it. It was a job well done and I couldn't have been prouder as I watched my 9-yr-old sit and play his guitar and sing for his grandpas while wearing dirt and soot all over his singing little face. They should all sleep well tonight, and right now I'm trying to think of other exhausting jobs that they might "enjoy" completing this summer, to keep them busy while my husband and I repair the kitchen floors, fix the vent, repair the leather sofa, put in a new spindle...