Weekly Wrap Up - Worker Bees

On Sunday, Olivia's graduating homeschool class had a work day at a local non-profit camp for special needs children.  The camp does a Christmas Wonderland event as a fundraiser, and our kids spent the afternoon helping out.  Out of our 11 graduates, only 5 showed up, but we still had a great time.  We spread mulch and gravel, strung crazy amounts of lights, painted decorations and worked
on Santa's Workshop.

 

On Sunday evenings, both girls get paid to provide childcare for a local church for their Sunday evening service.   Typically, they have 15-20 kids, sometimes more, rarely less.   Olivia's not as big of a fan of babysitting, but she's good at it, and this church pays really well.

Monday was a pretty typical school day.  In the afternoon the girls went down the street to help one of the neighbors pack up after 57 years in their current home.  In the evening, Lindsey had another paid babysitting gig at our church.

Tuesday was election day, so the local schools were closed.   Lindsey had yet another babysitting job.  She got up super early to work on schoolwork before her charge of the day arrived.  Olivia had a big test in her college class.    In the late afternoon, Lindsey had play practice at the museum, so Olivia and I took Lindsey's charge with us and walked around the museum while she was working on the play.  It was a beautiful day to be outside.   I did take photos of the child, but since she's not mine, I've not included her here.

Wednesday I met my gal pal Yvette for our monthly lunch date.  The girls worked on their academics until 1, then they headed back over to the neighbor lady to help her with more packing for a few hours.  In the evening, Lindsey worked on her little sewing industry.

Thursday morning we had chiropractor appointments.  Olivia's hip was once again out of place, and as I suspected, Lindsey's shoulder came out of socket during her last volleyball game.  The look on her face when Doc said "I'm just going to pop this back in place" was priceless.  We stopped at a discount grocery outlet to stock up on canned goods, grabbed some fresh homemade donuts from THE best donut shop ever and headed on home.   The girls were still able to get all their school work done fairly early and then from 2-4 they were again packing boxes at the neighbors house.

Friday morning was much colder that usual.  Thankfully, neither girl was scheduled to work today, so everyone got to work on their lessons in the comfort of a warm home.  We originally had a sports awards ceremony scheduled at the school where the girls played, but that got rescheduled to the week before Thanksgiving.   I made a library and grocery store run while everyone finished their school week. In the afternoon the girls were scheduled to go pack more boxes.

As you can see, a strong work ethic is something I've worked to instill in both girls.  Even at their young age, people trust and rely on them, and they've built quite a clientele.   Some of their work is for pay, some is volunteer, and each is done with the same level of integrity.  One thing I've had to watch is not allowing them to be taken advantage of in the "volunteer" realm, especially in the church, and teaching them that it is ok to say no.   Volunteering and "voluntold" are not the same thing.

I hope you all have had a great week, and here's to having a great weekend!