WEEKEND WORK

For the past 1 1/2 years I have been blessed to only work on the weekends.  It's been an amazing job!!  Truly amazing!!  I work 2 10-hour days and get full benefits with healthcare - AND I LOVE my coworkers.  They are awesome and make it so much fun to be at work - so much fun!

So how do Chris and the kids spend the weekend??  During school we had a sitter on Saturdays so that Chris could get school work done but Sundays are:

FUN DAY, SUNDAY, DADDY DAYS!!!

He started this when the kids were 3 years old and it's much easier now for him since they're more independent, but they've made it every weekend with great team work!!  With a few rules, it runs smoothly:

1.  They wear only clothes that they can get on and off themselves (this includes shoes).  This isn't a big deal now, but believe me, when they were 3 we really had to enforce this!

2.  Jackets and outside toys are within reach for the kids (only jackets that they could get on themselves.  Alethia learned how to do zippers first, so she would zip Caleb's zipper for him until he learned how to do it)

3.  Mommy packs enough food and drinks for the day for all 3 of them.

4.  We left all favorite toys within their reach so that they could access them themselves, and we re-arranged craft supplies so that they could reach everything they'd want for the weekend. 

 (food for the day for Chris and the kids)

 (drinks for the kids)

(drinks for Chris)

The kids have learned to do so much in order to use teamwork with Daddy to do the things they want.  At age 3 they learned how to work the DVD player and they helped each other cut open wrappers to snacks that they wanted.  They stand on Chris' feet and he tilts his wheelchair back to raise his feet so that they can reach things that are too high.  

I think it's been great for all 3 of them.  Chris runs a tight-ship!  They even clean up the whole house before I get home!  They listen to Daddy better than ever - honestly, better than they listen to me!  He used to herd them like cattle with his footplates, when they were little, in order to make them go where he was telling them.  He'd box them in with his wheelchair in time-out when needed - and it worked!  They listen on the first time to Daddy almost every time!