Messes

Scene: A lovely bucolic Sunday afternoon. A little drizzly out, but the kids have been civilized most of the day, and the adults have had their caffeine, and altogether it's been much better than yesterday, the day of cranky-sleepy-wild children and cranky-shouty adults. We're getting ready for lunch, and as the older two are outside and it is drizzly, I'm doing the classic grilled-cheese-and-tomato-soup bit. They're due in at twelve-thirty.

And then Abby (9) and Kiki (10) come bursting in the door at 12:15. Because Leanna is "stuck in the mud up to here" (indicating mid-thigh - is that mid-thigh on Leanna, who nearly a foot taller than Abby? Or mid-thigh on Abby, which is about knee-high to Leanna?) Either way, Laston goes flying to the rescue and I hold down the fort. And they come back, and yeah, her socks are a dead loss (why is it always the socks?) and her shoes will have to dry out before their fate can be determined (and they're *new* - the ones she wore to save the new ones got wet yesterday), and Laston has little cuts all over his ankles where the sticker-bushes bit him (parents have this tendency to go dashing to help their kids heedless of sticker-bushes). 

And there are muddy footprints on the carpet and muddy handprints on the walls and oh-for-crying-out-loud really, kids? What were you thinking?

The only answer of course is that they weren't thinking. Rather like yesterday's sandpaper-on-the-walls incident.

Silver linings:

Nobody is seriously hurt.

Both Abby and Leanna may think twice about playing that close to the creek again.

Arrrggghhh!