Speaking in Tongues

It's 7:40 in the evening (and boy, I should NOT have looked at the clock - who knew dust could accumulate on the hands!?) and I am wiped out.

I look forward to the new school year starting about the second week of summer vacation.  The kids are always so bored at home.  But then school starts and I'm in agony.  I think it's like anything that is painful (i.e. childbirth) - you forget the bad parts.

Like getting up early and fighting with kids to get them out the door on time... or running 3 different places between 4:30 and 5:15 just to make sure everyone is where they are supposed to be... or having to make sure dinner is on the table by 6:15 so baths or showers or forgotten homework can be done before bed.

It is with this harried attitude that I set three steaming bowls of Italian Stew in front of three skeptical children tonight.  It is not the first time I've made this, but the people who enjoy it the most are certainly not the children.

"What is this green thing?," was a common question.  Or, "Do I have to eat the beans?"

(sigh)

But we made it through without too much weeping and gnashing of teeth (on their part and mine) - as long as Mom only asked for a trial run on the butter beans and no one had to eat their Lima beans.

And milk was spilled only once.

The real joy is always dessert.  Who doesn't like dessert?!  And since I am the biggest dessert person I know (although some evenings my dessert might be another glass of wine), the kids get it every night.  (Isn't it really the small things that get us through life?)

Ella and Wren chose from their "candy bags" - candy that has been in this house since probably last Halloween.  I wouldn't eat it, but they seem to enjoy it.  Ella is a grab-n-go kind of girl, and within about a minute, she had picked a Snicker fart (bite-size Snicker... and yes, I know "Snicker fart" is not the right terminology, but it's so fitting), a peppermint, and a Jolly Rancher.  Wren is more choosy.  It took forrreeevvvveeeeeerrrrrrrr for her to choose a pixie stick.  Do you remember pixie sticks?  Pure sugar - yum.

And the result?  One blue tongue (pixie stick) and one VERY red tongue (cherry Jolly Rancher).  It truly amuses me how excited my kids get when their tongues turn a strange color.

All four of us were giggling and sticking out our tongues.

And Abby (who choose Peanut Butter Filled Keebler Cookies - yum again!) said, "Maybe I should have another dessert that's green so I can have a green tongue!"

Good try...