We got seven-tenths of rain this past week.  It was desperately needed and we are greatly thankful for it.

The kids had (almost) too much fun in the resulting puddles.  When the skies cleared and it warmed up sufficiently, I opened the door for some fresh air.  The big kids put on rain boots and headed out in search of puddles and I got distracted cleaning the play room.

Last I knew, the baby was playing on the front step.

 

Next I knew, she was ankle-deep in a puddle wearing her footie pajamas.

I mean, aren’t footie pajamas ideal puddle-jumping gear?

The whole thing is, Baby Marsi believes that if her big brother and sister can do it, she can too.

While I was busy not noticing that the baby had escaped the front step and wandered into a mud puddle, I completely forgot to realize that the 3-year-old had taken my best broom out of the house.

It was meant to be a snake-killing weapon, I believe.  As you can see, Asher is wielding the water snake (a stock whip) and Emi is wielding the weapon.

Clearly we are in need of a grown-up around here.  Someone needs to put a stop to all this nonsense.

In lieu of a real grown-up, there was just me.  And at some point they became so messy that I decided there was no need to do anything but enjoy the moment.

Then, about the time the baby got cold and had to go inside to a warm bath… the big kids decided to kick it up a notch and completely strip down:

While I was busy scrubbing the baby inside, they were busy scrubbing each other outside… with mud:

Finally they’d had their fill.  I had no choice but to let them back in the house, because they are my little children and it’s my job to not let them freeze to death and to clean them when they are dirty.

Which they were, very.  It took a total of four baths to get everyone clean:

1) baby rinse

2) baby wash

3) big kids rinse

4) big kids wash

Beau is in charge of taking the bathtub drain apart to get all the mucky gook out.  Good thing we always come up with something for him to do… he’d really hate to kick his feet up and relax!

© Tami Blake