Who would have thought?

At our house Saturday is the dreaded day--for the boys--because they have to do their Saturday jobs. Each boy has their own list of jobs which might include: trashes, sweeping, dishes, bathroom sink, toilet or tub, vacumn, bedrooms or whatever else I think needs to be cleaned. Whenever I ask someone to do a job the typical reply is, "IS it Saturday?" So needless to say they HATE doing their Saturday jobs and I think that I could get the whole house just as clean if I told them that they didnt have to do their "Saturday Jobs" just to clean the house. Anyway, Today I needed to made cookies for my in-laws missionary homecoming tomorrow and I was getting help from each of them adding ingredients and mixing stuff. Everyone was totally happy. I said to them, "I will be making tons of cookies today and after each one of your Saturday Jobs you can have a cookie." You would have thought that I had just told the kids they were going to Disneyland! They thought that I was super mom and I was the best mom ever! Luke even said "Mom, I love you" in front of all of his brothers. So I went on baking away my quadruple batch of chocolate chip cookies and the house is the cleanest it has been in a long time. through out the evening all I had to do was say, "If you do _____________ you can have a cookie." Who would have thought that making homemade cookies would result in a clean house and no whining about Saturday Jobs. Why has it taken me 12 years to figure this out?