Child Labor

Here are a few more posts from the Two Year Home anniversary. Natalie and Liam were great cupcake baking helpers. As soon as she heard we were making cupcakes, Natalie jumped up and ran upstairs saying, "Wait! I need to get my chef hat!" I do love that hat. It must have helped, too, because the cupcakes were good! Though watching Liam and Natalie fill those little cups with batter is a bit like watching paint dry....not quick, I'll leave it at that. Owen loved his cupcakes so much, he was put out with me when the next day I took them to a baseball team pool party and they were all gobbled up. It was for the best. I have noticed a definite, repeat definite, link between sugar consumption and craziness. Don't let the sweet face fool you. One cupcake can be like crack for this 3 year old.

A little joke, adding the photos of the kids cleaning out the trash cans. I laughed to myself that those would not be part of the photos to give to the social worker for his report back to Russia. We really don't work him that hard. It was just a little brilliant parenting on my part (if I do say so myself), offering to pay them each a dollar for every can they cleaned. It was probably 102 that day, and they got one another totally soaked with the hose, and had a blast with the broom and some dish soap. The cans were, well, marginally cleaner than before. The kids had to change everything down to their underwear. And a good time was had by all. Next I think I will have them clean the windows on the patio. I figure they couldn't look any worse than they do now, and there is a slight chance they will even look cleaner.