We woke up late yesterday morning. Kiddo had a headache and sore throat, so I let her sleep even longer- past the time to get up for church. I guess we were bedside Baptists...
The day was mostly sunny and warmish. It was time to plant the flower boxes.
We headed out to Home Depot, stopping at Supercuts first for both of us.
We chose red petunias and white pansies for the front and marigolds for the back- yellow and orange.
This year, kiddo helped a lot with the planting.
I really appreciated all that help- she sure wasn't afraid to get her hands dirty! (Ok, she had new work gloves- what better way to break them in?!)
The ones in front needed very little prep, but the barrels in back were really weedy. It took her quite awhile to get all the weeds out so we could put in the marigolds. I put them in around the circumference- the inside part will hold carrots, radishes, and little pumpkins.
After doing all the yard improvement, I thought it would be fun to roast hot dogs for dinner. I told her she could invite the neighbor boys over as well. This was a big hit and soon our yard was overflowing with hundreds of bouncy, exuberant beings from another planet. Ok, ok, there were only four of them, but it sure seemed like more.
Siblings F, M, J and step-bro C are 12, 9, 7, and 8 years old. They are funny and nice, and very very enthusiastic about free food. They didn't care that we had no paper plates and we were eating from tupperware bowls. They didn't care that we only had mustard and ketchup for the dogs. They didn't care that the Schoodle dog followed them around hoping for a hot dog to slide out of the bun into his watering mouth.
They didn't care that the marshmallows were about 9 months old. They didn't care that there were enough chairs for everyone- they just ate standing up.
Here is J getting creative with my hammock. (Notice the shoes all over the place.) He didn't rip the fabric, he just twisted himself up into it and then twirled it until he was hanging upside down. I must admit my kiddo sometimes comes up with weird uses for things, but she has never tried this! Of course, they all had to try it after that- even pretended to be butterflies coming out of cocoons.
The nice thing about impromptu picnics with children is that you don't have to clean house or present all the food options on beautiful platters. And I didn't have to clean up afterwards because kiddo took it upon herself to take everything into the house and stick it in the sink.
All in all, it was a wonderfully relaxing day. I think I am ready for summer vacation.
