Spring Break on a Budget - Day 4

Today.  Oh, today!  Today did not go as planned.  We were going to use gift cards to go to Dairy Queen for lunch, and then go the the Bloomington Public Library for a Lego party. The boys were looking forward to it.  But when Silas woke up and saw that it had rained, he wanted to go collect worms.  I've let them do this before, but today I didn't want them getting messy before leaving the house.  So I told him that if he did disobey and go collect worms, we wouldn't go to the Lego party.
Everything was going well - Levi was in the living room playing with trains, and Silas was in his room creating art.  I happily took the opportunity to jump in the shower.  My heart was so proud that for two days in a row I could take a shower without putting them in front of the TV to keep them out of trouble.  Boy, was I wrong.

When I emerged into a too quiet living room, I looked out the window to see both my boys collecting worms, and putting them in a thermos bottle that up until today has been designated for drinking water.  I knocked on the glass door and just glared at them.  Levi said, "We finding worms.  I wearing slippers."  I just shook my head, thinking, yep, you sure are.  Of course they are soaked, and so are your socks and pants.  At least Silas thought ahead and wore his rain boots.

Sometimes I really hate following through!  But we've learned that we HAVE to be consistent and once I say something, I have to stick with it.  The boys put themselves in time-out (amazing, right?) and I came in and said, "What's going to happen since you went outside and collected worms?"  Silas replied, "No Lego party."  I was so bummed.  A few minutes later Silas said about picking up worms, "but it was fun."  And then it was easier to stick with my decision!

So what did we do today?  First we watched it rain.

Then I remembered that there were still worms in the thermos so I told Silas to dump them outside. He promptly dumped them on our mat.  When I said, "You dumped them on our mat?!?" he replied, "You didn't tell me where!"  Well I guess I didn't!

Ok...I was feeling a little flustered and wanted to get my hair out of my face so I went to the bathroom to grab my hair clip.  That's when I saw this...and promptly plucked it out. Friends, this is definitely not the first or last white hair that I've pulled out of my head!

That was enough.  Time for the kids to watch "Magic School Bus" episodes.  I went to the office to work on paperwork. Which led to this great fun...

The most exciting thing we did today was make black bean brownies.  They might just be the yummiest, most moist gluten free brownies I've ever had.  After today, they were exactly what I needed.  We did have a lot of fun making them.  And right now I think I'll go eat another one!

  

  
They are pretty cute, aren't they?