Our family is hobbling around today due to cramped hands, splinters, sore backs, and aching leg muscles ~ all from yard work! It was time to get the yard cleaned up before winter arrives in full force, and our only obligation yesterday was Kayla’s mid-morning dance class. We started prepping the kids early in the week ~ “Saturday is going to be family workday guys, so prepare your hearts and minds. Okay? There will be raking, and cleaning of gutters, taking down the garden fence, pulling out the old plants, cleaning out the chicken coop and MORE!”
We started at around 9:30 in the morning. The first order of business was the cleaning out of the gutters. Robert and Kory did that. Everyone was doing outside chores except for this little girl below whose room was a complete wreck. I know it’s hard to believe from this picture, but when she woke up there was hardly a place for her to put a foot down out of her bed. She’s had a few rounds of playdates this week which called for just about every toy, stuffed animal, article of clothing that she owned to be pulled out. Amazingly, in just about two hours she completely turned it around and even rearranged her furniture and wall-hangings!
Even Buddy got in on the action! When he saw Kory digging a trench for an underground gutter, he simply could not resist jumping in and taking over that job! I mean, that is one of his spiritual gifts ~ digging holes. It is second only to his gift of snatching little girls’ winter hats and gloves, running far away and then chewing them to bits.
Robert got the most unpleasant job of the day ~ cleaning out the coop. It required a shovel and SEVERAL loads of poop to the compost pile. Really stinky and gross, and this for chickens that have all but stopped laying eggs for the winter. We’ve gone from upwards of 10 a day to just 1 or even none. So sad. Store bought eggs just do not compare!
We worked from 9:30 until dark with a lunch break and a hot chocolate ~ coffee ~ popcorn break at 3pm. I thought I was in pretty good shape, but this kind of work is exhausting. Most of it was raking leaves and pulling weeds and plants out of the garden which just seems to work muscles that you never knew you had! I was SO proud of the kids, though. They stayed with the work ALL DAY with hardly a complaint, and I don’t know what we would have done without them.
After dinner I saw Robert popping a couple of ibuprofen tablets and decided to join him. They hardly put a dent in the soreness, and when the alarm went off for church this morning at 6am, we weren’t sure if we’d be able to pull ourselves out of bed ~ even with the extra hour!
As I write this, Kayla has an apple crisp in the oven, but we are out of ice cream to go with it. I asked the boys if they would walk to the store (one block away) to get us some, and was met with groans of fatigue and soreness. Wow! Usually the purchase of ice cream is a major motivator for a grocery trip for mom. Not today! They did go to the store anyway, but probably won’t be happy about it until they get home and consume it with their sister’s yummy dessert.
Hope your fall leaf-raking is going well and that you’ll reward yourself with some delicious fall treats as well!
I hope to be back soon and post about a fabulous fashion show that Kayla and I attended on Friday night ~ so much fun!
Have a good week!