All week long I've been hearing calls for shoes for PE. I can only handle buying one set of shoes at a time for each child and this seemed to be early. But as you will see in the pictures the weather has changed quickly and fall is here. I was thankful when I heard there was an opportunity to work moving onions. This seemed to be a job most any kid could do. I headed over to the field Tuesday night with a condensed crew. This is what we found. Lots of big onions needing to go back on the bed. You can see on the left and right clean rows. This night we did not take tools as I didn't think it was really worth the cost.
I soon realized that bending down for each onion was HARD on the back and legs. Kicking them up sometimes worked. Grabbing handfuls of tops also sometimes worked... but mostly it was one onion at a time. We didn't get far that night. Bruce, Livy, and Afton enjoyed gathering seeder tops and playing swords. I did not let them bring them home in the cab of the pickup. They smell strongly of onion. Phew!
We went back en masse on Friday. Alia had gotten new/old clothes to fit her ever-growing body. She had a great time watching the onions be moved.
The kids were much more efficient this day using rakes, hoes, and shovels. It was still a lot of trips up and down the field.
The kids loved playing with grandma's toys on her beautiful different from home yard. Tux the dog was very polite and did not lick faces or rough house. He virtually ignored Lia and Bruce who were very nervous about such a big animal.
Bruce discovered or had time to appreciate the pedal tractors. They were "His" according to him. Actually, I think this one dates back to my childhood and the other one is rumored to be from my dad's boyhood! But it was enjoyable to watch the kids figure out how to maneuver and pedal the tractors.
And the crew still at work. They developed a system and better control with their individual tools and eventually got the field done. 4 acres of 40 complete. They did another 3 today. These big projects are so good at developing resilience and the inner belief that hard jobs taken row by row or piece by piece can be accomplished. These kids have learned this lesson contiually from Grandma Saunders. Now it's up to them and me to teach it to the younger ones. The ones that went back to playing... try try again is the mantra of motherhood.
Life is good and we will learn to work and to overcome. We are thankful for opportunities to learn and grow. And added bonus was all the time enjoying the outdoors, our cousin Megan and grandma's fun toys.
No comments:
Post a Comment