Final day of housewife training: cooking and a field trip!

Although we have lots of chores to do tomorrow to prepare for this weekend, I'm declaring today the final day of our housewife training because I won't have time to take pics tomorrow. :) Also, I didn't take any pics today of our typical cleaning routine (vacuuming, picking up toys and organizing dress up clothes) but here are a few shots of the girls cooking and going on a "field trip" with me.

First chore for Ella - helping mommy make cinnamon streusel muffins for breakfast.

Eden had a rough night of coughing so she slept pretty late this morning. I must admit that it was kind of nice to only instruct one!

A little after 11am we left Baby David at home with daddy and headed out to Sienna Salon & Spa where my favorite wax lady in all of the world (Patricia Gebing) showed my girls the importance of eyebrow maintenance! :) Although not a typical house chore, it is important to look good for our man!! On that note, if you're ever looking for an awesome massage, facial or waxing....Patricia is the woman to go to! PROMISE!

When we got home Eden helped me make a Pinterest recipe for soft pretzel bites for Auntie Ashley. I'd post a picture of the final product but they in no way turned out like the picture on Pinterest. Sigh....

It's been a challenging, but extremely productive week of housewife training with the girls. I appreciate ALL of the positive feedback and words of encouragement because it wasn't easy. I made the decision to turn off the TV (in the daytime), turn on worship music and let the girls help me with any chore that needed to be done. I started to get discouraged because we had a few tantrums and meltdowns along the way, but my Aunt Elizabeth made a comment last night that really made me feel good about not giving up. She said that most women don't take the time to teach their kids how to cook and clean because it's a whole lot easier to just let them watch TV while you do it. SOOOOO true!!! However, my girls have asked me every single night what chores they would GET to do the next morning so I know I made the right decision. It won't be long before we have fights over who HAS to do the chores! :)

day three of housewife training: cooking, laundry, vacuuming and toilet paper duty!

It was a busy day at the Crandall house. We started the day by making daddy some chocolate chip waffles - yum!

My girls are ALL about the "pouring" steps in a recipe. It's where we have to practice taking turns the most :)

I was a little nervous that Eden's turn fell during the milk pouring step, but she did it without spilling!

Once breakfast was all cleaned up we moved on to our dinner prep work. One thing I am super passionate about is teaching my kids (the girls and David....once he is old enough) the importance of caring for others when life seems a bit challenging and they need support from friends and family. My gift of support always comes through food! When a friend has a baby or is recovering from an illness or surgery, I like to bring over a meal or two. Tonight we volunteered to take dinner over to my grandparent's house since my Memaw recently had a stroke and is still taking it easy. I decided on crockpot BBQ chicken sandwiches, baked potatoes and fruit salad.

The girls are getting the BBQ sauce ready for the crockpot

Say cheese!

One last stir before we poured it over the chicken

All done! Now on to the next chore....

LAUNDRY!!! Please do not judge me. I know this looks like a ridiculously huge pile of dirty clothes, but to be real honest, it's only one of the three piles that need to be addressed!

No laundry shoot in this house so the best part of doing laundry is tossing it down the stairs :)

Now on to vacuuming! My mother-in-law and my mom have both blessed us with vacuum cleaners over the years so both girls got to vacuum at the same time. They actually like to vacuum (like their momma!) so this was more of a "fun" chore than it was a learning experience.

Even daddy took a turn at training today! He showed Ella how to hold the cord so that she wouldn't roll over it every single time.

And the final chore of the day....and the most important....STOCKING TOILET PAPER IN ALL OF THE BATHROOMS! :)

Took a little help from Pinterest and made my Memaw a healthy snack! "You are the apple of my eye," "We go bananas for you" and "You are pearfect!" :) She loved them!

day two of housewife training: Unloading/loading the dishwasher and feeding brother

We hit the ground running today! Ella was at preschool all day so it was just me and good old Eden - but she didn't miss a beat!

First chore = unloading the silverware from the dishwasher

The day she's been waiting for....PERMISSION TO PLAY IN THE SOAPY DISH WATER!

She loved every minute of it!

The foot stools that David bought them for their bathroom have come in very handy!

After about 20 minutes of scrubbing the same bowl, she finally loaded it into the dishwasher :)

Putting a box top into our special ziplock bag. We've been clipping them for months now. I probably only have 30 or 40, but my wax lady's son collects them for school so I thought we might be able to help!

Love this picture :) Final chore of the day was helping me feed David.

Yep - not a day goes by that poor David doesn't have to play dress up with the girls :)

Silly kiddos....

day one of housewife training: scrubbing bathrooms

That's right folks! This week I am teaching my 3 and 4 year old what it means (and takes!) to be a good housewife! Day one of training was how to scrub the bathroom.....in our bathing suits of course! It may have taken us two and a half hours to scrub two bathrooms upstairs, but we survived and they did GREAT!

First we started on the blinds, and I must say, they did a fantastic job! :)

Next we moved to the huge tub in my bathroom.

Eden thought she was such a big girl :)

They then scrubbed the shower while I scrubbed the toilet.

They cleaned the outside of the shower door for like 20 minutes. Now Baby David can stand up and try to eat it any time he wants! (He tries to eat everything.....)

We then moved to their bathroom.

They each scrubbed their own sink....

....and then they worked on their tub while I scrubbed the toilet.

ALL DONE!!!! Their reward = play time on the top bunk! :)