Friday mornings, about 10 a.m., we girls head over to Nathan and Melanie’s to clean. This has become a weekly tradition for the last several months.
Melanie is still hanging in there. Thank you so much for praying. She’s now 8 weeks out from her due date.
Come along as we clean their house. Nieces add such a sweet spark to an ordinary task!
To begin with, Abby wanted to put a flower Daddy gave her in a vase.
Time to take the rug out with Aunt Anna, and oops, watch your step.
Bethie likes to help “MayMay” dust. MayMay is another word for Mary, in Bethie’s vocabulary.
Taking the chairs out of the dining room to prepare it for a good cleaning.
But, you really can’t have chairs in the living room without a game of train. Bethany is the conductor here.
She still maintains the conductor’s spot, but it looks like Abby has moved to the sleeper car.
Trash time! I did hear talk at one point, by a certain niece of mine, about being a Moody character. That girl loves the Moody books!
It was too hard to get a good “in action” picture, so we opted for a posed one.
Sweeping.
Whoops! Something is on Abby’s foot.
No worries. A washcloth takes care of it.
Bethany brings in a little treat for Abby, two little pieces of candy. Bethie is potty-training, and when she is dry, not only does she get two pieces, she wants to bring two pieces to Abby. Sounds like a good deal to me.
Bethie entertains herself.
Sweeping up time!
Soon enough, she wanted a job. Anna gave her a wet rag, and Bethany “cleaned” the freezer.
Sweet Anna.
Bethie went downstairs to Nate’s office. It is such a joy for Nathan to be able to work from home several days a week with ITonRamp. His latest class for Computer Essentials just started Tuesday, and he has an awesome group! Anyway, back to where we were. “Knock knock,” Bethany said in her half-way baby voice, before proceeding to ask if she could come in. Permission was happily given, and she trucked into her little corner of the office. There resides an old keyboard, positioned on a pair of old speakers, and a phone. What happy times for a little girl as she pretends to be busy.
Bethany loves to vacuum with Mary.
So precious.
Aunt Sarah did most of her cleaning early, so she could take pictures.
Here is Abby’s ChorePack. She already did hers before we came over. Abby’s CP is an everyday morning one. Hmmm. Maybe we need to add on a Friday morning ChorePack? What do you think, Mommy?
“A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.”
–Proverbs 17:22
It is awesome that Melanie has her family close enough to help out. I know she greatly appreciates it. The little ones are so cute helping out. Praise God that Melanie is doing so well.
The cleaning is such a blessing! I had high hopes of doing it on my own — we all know how often that would have happened. You guys do great and it’s super having your around for a part of the morning. Thank you for including the girls.
What cute cute pictures. You look like you you have worked very hard judging how clean the house looks! I bet you need a vacation after all your efforts!
I know he is very busy with ITonRamp, but does Nate not do some housework? My husband loves a good going over with the vacuum, but hates dusting.
Thanks again for posting those cute cute pictures,
love Joyengvall
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ITonRamp and his work has taken a lot of extra time. Nathan is willing to help on the housework, but the Aunties would rather help so he doesn’t take family time to clean house.
I so love that these girls are learning to love being helpful. I came home yesterday to a mowed yard and a cleaned kitchen before getting ready for photos (and they were ready for those when I got home too). It was such a blessing after working all day! My son was so proud and wanted to do more (he did not get the weed-eating done), but the thunder and lightening signaling arriving storms (more…*sigh*) made him stop in time to get the mower and stuff put away in time. My daughter is a machine when it comes to helping out inside (and outside when needed). It certainly does a parent’s heart good to see the “fruitfulness” of early labors pay off as their kids get older.
As good of a help as Abby is, she will zip through a Friday ChorePack in no time!!
Love,
Lori
Thank you so much for sharing your day with all of us. My children and I have been praying for both Melanie and Anna Marie. What a happy time in their lives.
Bethany has grown so much, I mistook her for Abby before I read the captions.
Abigail and Bethany are SO delightful!
I loved the photo where Bethany is screwing up her nose like I remember in a photo of Abigail. Both have grown so much!
Lots of cute photos, and so lovely to see the little girls wanting to help!
We didn’t get to see “mommy to be” resting;0) How is Chris’s wife doing? We would love an update.
Love the pictures. What great sister-in-laws you all are for helping out. We love the Moody’s too.
This is a post I was hoping would come soon. Thanks for sharing it. It’s great to see both the little girls cheerfully working and wanting to help.
So kind of you all to help Nathan and Melanie. I like the girls’ outfits. I like the colors on Bethany’s.
Abby’s looking like an older big sister. That’s great that Bethany likes to give candy to her big sister.
Praying for Melanie and baby and Anna Marie and her baby.
God bless! Rebecca K.
Awww, that is to precious seeing all of you working together! 😀 I think that is so special – the big girls and the little girls working right beside each other. You ladies are sweet for helping Melanie every week. I am sure that is much appreciated. 🙂 My sister and I had a joyous time cleaning up at my grandmother’s with my aunt last week – there is just something about cleaning together that makes it so enjoyable.
Abby and Bethany are too cute for words! 😀 What big helpers they are! I’m sure their mommy is quite proud. 😉
Glad to hear Melanie and baby are doing well! Continuing to keep them in my prayers!
God’s blessings to you all!
~Miss Rachel~
Very sweet! Another fun addition for the little girls corner in their daddy’s office would be on eof those older adding machines with the paper that comes out of it. Andrew used to love playing with one that we found at his granma’s house.
Thanks for sharing the story of house cleaning! Great job girls! 🙂
Hello Maxwell family!
We enjoy reading your blog so much.
I thought it was neat to see the pictures of you girls and your nieces enjoying riding the “train” in the living room. I remember riding the “living room train” everytime Mom mopped the kitchen! We taught our younger brothers to enjoy the “train” and they, in turn, taught their little cousins to ride the “train”. What fun memories your little nieces are storing up to someday teach their little ones!
Warmly,
Kelsey
How sweet! My daughter’s nickname has been MayMay since she was a baby, too. Many prayers being said for Melanie, baby, and entire family.
Karen N.
Thank you so much for this post and all the pictures! We don’t happen to have any little people living in our home but often have some visit. My dd and I have been discussing how much they all love to help her in the kitchen and how simply allowing them to help teaches them to enjoy work. It only takes a little practice and gentle direction to have a child who can be a real help to mom if she just puts forth the effort and takes the time to train her little ones. That was beautifully illustrated in your post. Thanks again.
I loved this post, as well as your other “day in the life” posts, so I hope you keep them coming. They are very inspirational and encourage me to in my role as mother and wife.
So sweet to see the little ones helping. Thanks to your chore packs my little ones have learned to help as well! My favorite is the living room “train”…my children love a good living room “train”. Fun times to remember! Praying for both Melanie & Anna Marie!
Many Blessings!
Love the photos of everyone working together and of course those two little girls are just precious. I had totally forgotten that we used to play “train”, too, when the chairs were all moved out of the kitchen for the washing of floors. What a great memory and such a good way to use imaginative play (no blinking lights or electronic sounds!). What a blessing you are to help keep Baby Max growing strong and not arriving too early!
Lovely post! It was a really good to see, the blessing of family to serve & help each other in times of need. Our children are REALLY excited as we start the new MOODY’s book.
Enjoyed this post so much–thank you for sharing! 🙂 Abby and Bethany are so precious, and how wonderful they’re learning to help while they’re still so young. Anna, Mary and Sarah are so kind to help out Melanie–what blessings you young ladies are! ~ Continued prayers for Melanie (and Anna Marie too) as they approach baby arrival dates! 🙂
What a blessing and joy to be able to serve and I know it is a blessing for Melanie. Being on bedrest with my pregnancies and so far just strictly limited activity with my current one, I know how our wonderful husbands have much to help out with in terms of added responsibilites and working. I am thankful that my older children ages 13-10 are able to do all our housekeeping. My husband would have wonderful intentions but I know he is grateful for the children’s work. When our children were younger, we had to have hired help for cleaning since we don’t have extended family nearby. I often get the comment that people don’t know how I can homeschool and have these high risk pregnancies at the same time. I have no idea how I would do it with them gone all day! Praying for Melanie in these final months….Yeah!!!! Praying also for Anna Marie….. Kinda like twins for the Moody books with the cousins going to be so close in age. 🙂 Blessings!!!
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Praying for your pregnancy. Please keep us updated.
Such precious girls. I loved working with my own when they were younger. It’s nice to see how a family can pull together if they live close to each other. You Aunties might have to be prepared to manage all on your own one day as that’s the reality most of us face. Memories of moving house alone with our many young ones in tow and those dreadful times when both parents were taken out with a stomach bug at the same time are tough ones. This post brought those times to mind. I’m glad you all have each other.
I am so glad Melanie is doing well. I do pray for her and even though I have never met any of you, your books and CDs and blog have helped me stay on track so often that I feel as though I kind of know you! Melanie is in my heart and I look forward to hearing news of baby when he or she comes!
God bless you all
Anne
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Thank you.
Thanks for posting these precious pics of cleaning with God’s little homemakers-in-training!
With love and prayers from NJ
The K Family