Pure Trouble

Does anyone else dread 5pm as much as I do? It gives me anxiety. It's that crazy time when you have to figure out what to make for dinner with the random assortment of food in the refrigerator, the kids are tired, cranky, bored or all of the above, and you realize you are out of tricks to keep them out of the kitchen. If I don't come up with any alternative, Allison will ultimately pull out every piece of tupperware and make a little city in the middle of the kitchen floor, and Jane either tries to "help" or cries out for fruit snacks until you think she will die from a coronary. Dinner time is rough for me. Half the time, I stick them both in Jane's room with the door closed and listen for large falling objects or frantic crying - otherwise they are on their own for entertainment. Sometimes, though, they sneak out. And here, dear friends, is what happens when one child sneaks out and I have my back turned while I work at the stove and talk to my husband on the phone.


Here is Allison making her own dinner. You can't really see the mountain of oatmeal in the cupboard, nor can you see the dog's water spilled nearby that mixes nicely with the flour to make a lovely paste-like coating for the floor. She was in the midst of making snowballs out of the flour. I think she is probably doing a better job of figuring out what to do with her ingredients then I was of mine at the time. I mean who doesn't love bean and oatmeal.....cake with couscous filling and a light dusting of powdered sugar. Mmm, mmm, tasty. Hee hee. It made me giggle - especially because she is such a cute little bit of trouble.

So there you have one of the many daily struggles in the Woolley household. That's what I get for trying to make dinner.....