The Stringer's Stories: Family Days and Working for Fish

This weekend was a GREAT weekend! One of the best we've had in a while. It was crazy-busy and not much relaxing...but GREAT! Why you ask? Well...read on!

It all started Friday when I was late picking the boys up from school (thanks to getting stuck behind a wreck) so Nathan was literally the last kid there and sitting in the Director's office. We get in the car and he tells me he wants a fish like Monty. Monty is the school's unofficial mascot if you will and he's a Beta fish.. and sits in the office. (Monty....the Montessori fish..get it?!). I've actually been thinking of getting him a fish for a while...but I realized this would be a good time to get him to learn if you want something hard enough, you have to work for the money for it. So, I told him that if he helped Mommy and Daddy do our chores this weekend, we would give him some money...and if he helped enough weeks he could get enough to buy the fish himself... Well...that's all he needed to hear and talked the rest of the way home about what he would call his fish.

Come Saturday morning, he woke up and was excited about doing chores. He was also SO excited that he was getting to stay home with both mommy and daddy...a "Family Day" as he called Saturday and Sunday since we were all home... Anyhow, he remembered that if he helped do chores...he would get money. So....he went with Jason to Lowes (aka the "Boy Store") to get boards for our planter box while I took Ryan to Walmart. We all met for lunch and then went to the Garden Shop to get some plants and some loads of dirt. While Jason and Nathan had the dirt loaded, I took Ryan home for a nap. Jason brings the first load of dirt and we start to unload it......and realize we have no shovels!! Well...we unload it with buckets.....can you say full body workout?! Once that is done, I put Nathan down for a nap and Jason goes to town to storage to find our shovels and to get another load of dirt. While he's in town and the boys take naps, I wash clothes, clean the bathrooms and vacuum. About 4:30, we all go back outside. I clean off the patio and plant some plants in pots while Jason cuts wood and builds our planter box. During this time, I also prep and BBQ dinner. About 8:15 after dinner and bath, we put Ryan down while Nathan comes back outside with me and Jason as we try to finish building the planter box. It's dark so we have the headlights from Jason's truck on. About 9:15..we are THIS.CLOSE to finishing and realize we don't have enough screws....and all we needed was one more...... Well...we had to call it quits around 9:30 pm and wait till Lowe's opened on Sunday.

Sunday morning, Nathan was in our bed about 7 all excited for another Family Day and to do more chores. Well, Jason and Nathan went to Lowes go get the last screw we needed and Ryan and I did a few chores around the house. After they got back, we finished the planter box, ate lunch, and planted our plants. We had too much dirt, so during the boy's nap, Jason and I unloaded about a load into a low-lying area in our yard. (Side note - in the past 2 days, I have unloaded 5 loads of dirt......UM...SORE!). After nap, Jason took Nathan to the golf course for a while and Ryan and I stayed home and cooked dinner for a few nights.

Needless to say - I don't think we ever really sat down this weekend except to eat or sleep.... But I LOVED getting things done, checking things off my list and feeling accomplished. And I'm so glad that Nathan had such a blast. He was THRILLED to get his $10 for all his hard work this weekend!

Hoping next weekend is a little more relaxed.....but already planning our next work weekend in a few weeks.... Curtains to be hung and China to FINALLY come out of storage.....

Here's our weekend in pictures: