the afternoon.

there's a corner in the garage... you know the one, where everything gets dumped and eventually drives you mad? well, not you dad, but most people... anyway, that corner kept growing and was taking over and making me crazy. I figured it wouldn't be so difficult to get it cleaned out this afternoon while the kids were playing outside. what on earth was I thinking? seneca thinks standing on the edge of the street waving and yelling "hi!" to everyone passing by is a great past time. that and carrying around my bags of garbage and watering anything and everything in sight. cooper was a racer on various biking devices zooming in and out of my dirt piles and once beckham woke up, it was a race to sweep before he waddled through my mess. we did get the entire garage swept and put back together, and in the process found some flower seed packets.

yes, we had to plant them. again, what was I thinking? i think we ended up with more dirt on the sidewalk, hands, faces, knees and in hair than in the pots, but cooper enjoyed poking his little finger in the dirt to make a hole for the seeds. bex enjoyed splashing in the water and tasting the dirt and senny kept trying to dig up our efforts. I finally corralled them in the backyard so i could move dutch back into the shade of the garage. you'd think taking them away from the dirt and mess was absolute torture. if you happen to be my neighbors and heard wailing and gnashing of teeth, it was just my children stuck behind the gate, poor poor children. we played in the backyard for a while then came in to eat. the grass is so green and soft right now, I'm loving it outside.

after dinner cooper put on some music because it was time to dance. it happens to be christmas music tonight and somehow I ended up wearing a headlamp on my head trying to get the light to follow him as he danced so he could have a spotlight. I swear this is all his idea. gratefully senny wanted a turn with the "spotlight." I'm grateful my children enjoy music. cooper is awfully creative and it's fun to watch what he comes up with and then to see senny try to imitate him. beckham just laughs, claps his hands and bounces around when he hears music. he thinks his siblings are hilarious.

this weather is fantastic and everyone is enjoying being outside as much as possible, but at the end of the day, they all stink like little puppies! it will be nice when the pool is thrown into the mix, there will be less laundry and less puppy smell! we're off to the bathtub and hope that dad makes it home before bedtime!