Tales from Tuesday

Lincoln has been asking to water the flowers each time we play outside lately.  I keep explaining that we don't have any flowers because it's winter.  He's kind of tired of that excuse because of the warmer weather of the last few days.  "Let's go buy some already," he says.  I popped dinner in the oven after school and outside we went.  He asked again to water, so I let them take turns spraying the fence, the table and chairs, the swings, the rocks, whatever they wanted.  Of course, Lincoln had to spray the one dead plant left from fall. 

Beau wanted to fill the buckets and worked hard.  One of them had a leak, and he really had to study that.  They carried the (leaky) buckets to the slide and washed it.   I should point out that I'm not really one for messy, dirty, watery play, but we could just change clothes and wash up later so nothing to worry about.  I was actually enjoying watching them get all wet. 

Because I'm so chill, I watched them fill up this dirty (but technically empty) planter with a smile.  They stirred it with their shovels and attempted to transfer the water to the other buckets.  This is fun!  All of a sudden, Lincoln screams, "Mommy, Beau is drinking the water from his shovel!"  Heart attack happening for this Mom!  He said he only had a little drink, but it was good and hot like ravioli?!?!  Dying.   Once I assure myself that probably every other little boy in the world probably drinks a little dirty outside water with no serious repercussions, we go back inside to get cleaned up. 

So we probably won't be filling up dirty planters with water anymore - at least without explicit instructions that we don't drink the water!  The pork tenderloin is ready in the oven, and it's time to get ready for dinner.  Lincoln's class eats meals family style, and the kids take turns setting the table, helping serve the food, etc.  He totally doesn't eat school food, but he loves the idea (while he's eating his yummy food from his lunchbox)!  He asked if we could do that at home, so we did.  I am guilty of preparing the food, cutting it into bite sized pieces, taking the plates to the table, providing the utensils and napkins, and cleaning it all up after dinner (with Daddy's help of course).  It was so exciting for him to help!  He set out the napkins, plates, cups, and silverware.  I put the food into bowls that he could carry to the table so we could serve ourselves.  They had so much fun!  Orange honey habanero pork tenderloin, steamed broccoli, fruit salad (green salad for Mommy), and wheat toast with jelly was a delicious and nutritious dinner!   

We cleaned our plates for sure, and I love that Lincoln really liked being the helper.  Beau told me that tomorrow is his turn to be the helper!  It seemed like a great night to make chocolate chip cookies, but after getting out all of the ingredients we discovered that we were low on flour.  It seemed too late to go to the store, so Oreos had to suffice.  Maybe tomorrow night!  I got a few really sweet hugs before bed, and we are ready for Hump Day.  There is never a dull moment around here!