"Keep in good repair and beautify your homes, your yards, farms, and businesses. Repair the fences. Clean up and paint where needed. Keep your lawns and your gardens well-groomed. Whatever your circumstance, let your premises reflect orderliness, beauty, and happiness. Plan well and carry out your plan in an orderly and systematic manner."
Spencer W Kimball, Family Preparedness, 4-1976
I must admit I get a little jealous of all the work that my family does elsewhere. Last week I called a time out and we spent a few hours working on weeds and debris at our house. All those lovely still living mother's day flowers needed some more dirt to expand in and we had weeds galore. My super-duper workers worked miracles on our untidy domicile.
Afton looked like a little ewok all bundled up. She loves to be in the thick of things and is very upset if she is left inside or out of the action.
Aliza and Reed cleaning up the piles of seeds that had blown from the trees. Hate those seeds, but in our hard soil very few trees will survive so we are thankful for the shade and green and put up with their yearly attempts at making a forest out of our yard.
I love how the big kids interact with the little kids. Anna was instructing the little girls on how to glean rocks from our flower beds. Livy and Millie remind me a lot of Anna and Aliza at that age. Livy and Anna are more dreamy while Aliza and Millie are more prone to stick to a job. Yet Anna has grown into a powerful worker who excells at hard jobs. Although her artist flair shows through and her favorite thing to do is color and draw when she has a spare moment.
I did weed this night, I wasn't merely watching. I took a moment to hold Afton and survey what all was happening. Greg had the boys help him restore a high fort that is a real treasure here. He also cut down many sucker trees and ended the night high up in the bucket of the loader tractor removing a branch that has been dusting our roof for too many years. Alas the sun went down and we were forced to quit and go to bed. So much for lots of rest for school the next day.
It has been nice to enjoy a more orderly yard for a few days anyway we need a few more work nights and some better habits and our yard will look much more groomed or much less lived in. Good times working together and enjoying creating spaces of beauty. I'm so thankful for all these kiddos have learned from patient knowledgeable teachers like grandma and sister page. They knew exactly how to tackle the projects.
Unfortunately, after all that good work and the nice finished product, I forgot to have Reed water all the transplanted marigolds and I think they all died. I just can't win. The girls are not sad. They were lamenting the lack of pretty variety and the gross smell from marigolds. I told them that's all my mom planted when she was busy raising kids. Marigolds add some color and are pretty hardy. Well it was the effort that counts I guess and dirt looks better than weeds any day. Oh well.
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