Breaking the Rules

This morning Wesley made a blueberry smoothie for breakfast. Melodie, who was finishing her homework by the computer in the study, asked Wes if she could have some. Though it was against the family rule, I, the enforcer of the "no food out of the kitchen" rule, took a cup of the shake outside of the kitchen and gave it to her in the study. I handed it to her and told her to be careful. I assumed she ate it, she finished her homework, and then they got in the car and I took them to school. I returned home again and carried on with my day. This afternoon, shortly after Daniel woke up from his nap, I was in the kitchen milling wheat into flour (using food storage). The kids were walking around the main floor playing with toys and bouncing little balls and doing whatever it is that toddlers do. I was left uninterrupted for over 15 minutes, which should have been a warning in itself. And then Daniel toddled in to the kitchen to greet me. He had blueberry on his face, his feet, his hands.... Oh drat. I grabbed him in a way that he couldn't touch me with his mess. I walked to the study to survey where the damage was and what was the cause. Ah! It was Mel's blueberry smoothie! Up to the tub Daniel goes. I gathered my supplies so I could begin clean up after Hyrum was home to help watch the kids. So that is fun. I shared a polo video of this with my family. My mom and sisters were all worried that the shake had been spilled on the computer, so they were relieved that it was just the carpet. And I wasn't too bad to clean it up. I'm not finished yet, but it looks pretty good considering it's dark purple juice on a cream colored carpet. I'll give it another scrub in a bit after I vacuum the messy room... cause the study is Mel's job and she's a bit overbooked with her time, so it hasn't been getting done. Daniel helping me scrub after he got out of the tub...

No, actually he came with freeze dried blueberry slobber on his chin to remind me what he's capable of, then he took my scrub brush and fled the scene.

Cute little guy. One more thing, this morning was able to go to study group. Owen and Daniel and Natalie were all being noisy in the room, so after trying to take them into the nursery several times, I eventually gave up and went into the nursery with them, where they nicely played. A good friend, who knows the details on most of our business drama, came in to offer to watch the kids so I could go in to the discussion, which was so nice. Instead the two of us talked for a bit and I got some perspective and ideas for how we can best go forward. We continue to search and pray to hopefully, somehow, get ourselves to the mainland and "rest of the blissful shore", whether that's by abandoning this sinking ship or if we're able to somehow make it seaworthy. We'll see. Hope we get something figured out before Christmas or we're gonna be having a repeat of Chile. ...which wasn't bad by the way. The kids' Chile wish list, Chile Tree, Chile Christmas Eve, Santa at work, and Christmas morning  ... That is probably one of their more memorable Christmases. It's all about creating low expectations, ha, which should be pretty easy for us right now.