Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Susie Homemakers

Anyone else feeling hard-pressed and harried or is that just me? As it happens I have a lot going on in real life this month, so the A-Z is kinda kicking my keester.  My theme this year has centered around photos I've neglected. The kind of photos I once held in my hand before carelessly tossing them into a brown paper bag beside my good intentions.

Do they even make brown paper bags anymore?

I'm using this challenge as a way to file, scan, organize, and blog if the photo subject matter warrants. Or if the picture is less than stellar, but fits the letter of the day.

Like today~H is for helpful.

H is also for helpless, and if you're a parent you're likely well acquainted with both terms.  For now I'm going to stick with helpful, because I think my little girl looks so cute brushing egg wash on those crescent rolls circa 1992.


Great shot, isn't it?
How about we view this scene from another angle?


I'm beginning to see now why I tossed some of these photos into a bag. I blame my inattention to detail and my lack of focus on my then 19 month old.

Yes, her.

Oh my stars, she was too adorable for words, but insuring we both made it to her 2nd birthday required ninja like reflexes on my part, and at least one eyeball on her every waking moment. In 1992 her waking moments were approximately 20 hours out of every 24, so we're lucky there's a picture at all.


Washing dishes is way more fun when you're allowed to stand in a chair, don't you think?

My girls are helpful. In the dictionary of motherhood, the word helpful is defined as doing what needs to be done without complaining, because all mothers know that complaining dulls the shine of a freshly mopped floor. I think its human nature for children to complain when they're asked/told to do something they don't want to do, but as I like to say,

'that's why we call it work....if it were fun we'd call it leisure.'  

Kids love it when you say that. Ha! Did you have chores when you were a kid, because I did. A list every Saturday morning that included cleaning our bathroom, some dusting and straightening, and the dreaded job of vacuuming the stairs. 

Those jobs were never done perfectly and I think that's sometimes where we mothers drop the ball. We like things to be done a certain way, and for the most part a nine year old is not going to do it the way a 49-year old would...that needs to be okay.  


My girls were by no means overworked, but they did have responsibilities appropriate to their age and ability, as they were growing up.  Of course they were always more eager to cook with mom than clean their rooms, but we've had some of our best talks working side by side in the kitchen so I don't mind.

These days we share recipes and a love of kitchen gadgets.  It warms my heart to see my daughters automatically get up and clear the table after a big family dinner. The kind where you're left with a mountain of good china needing to be washed by hand, and every pot, pan, and utensil within reach needs washing, drying and putting away too...they just get to it. What was once a dreaded chore is now habit.

And if they've cooked the meal besides?


Well, that's just icing on the proverbial cake.

17 comments:

  1. I love reading your stories. Reminds me do much of my family. We had chores that rotated and every week we did a "room to room" where we all picked up each room together.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lovely post, your girls were and still are certainly helpful.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this post and the pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Love those old photos - awesome post !

    ReplyDelete
  5. Can't tell you how much I am enjoying these posts! Cute pics!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I look very serious about the dish washing. hehe. Love seeing all these long lost pictures and the words you put with them! Now that's icing on the cake!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I hope you're enjoying writing these as much as we love reading them!

    ReplyDelete
  8. love this--i always taught my kids to help too and most of the time they enjoyed helping with the cooking, not so much the clean up---cute post :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Another fantastic post about your family. Love the old photos and all those smiles in them. Great job.

    ReplyDelete
  10. How blessed you were/are to have daughters who enjoy being in the kitchen with you! My daughter never did--and still doesn't. She hated the kitchen then, and, for the most part, still does today. I guess I failed miserably in that department... Cute pictures, and another good post!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Loved the age progression! From little skills grow big skills, little girls to women...Love it.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Cleaning up after is kind of fun. (okay, I'm kind of weird!)

    ReplyDelete
  13. Joyce, what a fun post! Your really a good blogger :) I love seeing the pictures and such a great scrapbook for future generations.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Kitchens are bonding places. Looks like you succeeded in raising a couple of gals any man would appreciate. I am so blessed that my sons have chosen "Susie Homemakers" and that
    my daughter is "home on the range" too. Such a blessing. But I didn't impart the automatic-let's-do-the-dishes thing. Still waiting.

    ReplyDelete
  15. This is great! Enjoying your posts and pictures. I guess I need to get on to the Hodgepodge. I had actually forgotten about it. Sorry!
    until next time... nel

    ReplyDelete
  16. Gosh you had a lot of great help there. sandie

    ReplyDelete
  17. i love playing Skipbo! :) Cute photos too!

    ReplyDelete