Abigail Runs the Household

Several times, before Deborah and I left for Anchorage, I chided Abigail that it wasn't going to be easy with both Deborah and I gone. She let me know that it wasn't going to be any big deal. She was right, she was awesome! She ran the household with great efficiency. In addition to taking care of the seven brothers and sisters and one Dad who remained at home with her, she finished planting the garden and got more than caught up on all of the laundry!

The laundry was a story in itself. Just before Paul and the older kids left for Aniak our front loading washing machine died. Paul took it apart, cleaned it up as good as new and determined he could fix it. But, of course he had to order parts which took about three weeks. We have another washer in the basement that we bought with the house. We normally do three loads a day, but while all my older kids were gone to Aniak I only got a couple of loads done. I told myself that with half the family gone we didn't need to do so much. It did kind of pile up though and by the time Deborah and I left for Anchorage the washing machine parts still weren't in and we were still way behind on the washing!

Abigail worked hard while I was gone and got all of the washing caught up. My mechanic husband did an awesome job as usual on the repair and the day before we got back from Anchorage he put the new bearings, seal, pump and shock absorbers put in the front loader, all while helping Abigail run the household (it helps a lot when you're 15 to have your Dad right there encouraging the little kids to do their chores). The replacement parts were much sturdier than the original so it's better than new and should be ready go another seven years and over 6,000 loads!
The little kids and I didn't get much washing done while the big kids were gone to Aniak, but we stayed pretty busy. The little kids were quite eager to take over all of the big kids chores. The first thing we did was scrub the front door. It was getting pretty bad.

The little boys were especially eager to cook. Caleb did a great job cooking potatoes all by himself.

Sarah and Benjamin thoroughly enjoyed soaking and scrubbing the dishes and handing them to me all washed (or was that ready for me to wash?).