Because I Believe in Transparency. . .

. . .or at least mostly.  And because I don't want to be thought of as someone who just shares the picture perfect life is great moments, I bring you the scene from our kitchen this afternoon.

Isn't she just perfectly proud of the mess she made?  Can't you just picture the powdered sugar foot prints that are now trailing all through the house? Can't you just see the look on Alan's face when he sees the floor he just mopped the other day?  Can't you just see her older brother who is standing in the corner for his role in this escapade because we are always finding the child with his hand in the cereal, in the craisins, in the bread, in anything he thinks he can snatch (but oddly he never snatches chocolate chips)?  Yup, just another day in the Hitchings' house where we try to put out fires and clean up messes faster than you'd think was humanly possible and on some small level truly look forward to bedtime every night.  And not because the kids look so darn cute when they are sleeping.

The Cleaning of the LEGO Area

Yes, we have a "LEGO area" in the house. It is our sad attempt to keep from stepping on these plastic toys and finding them in the mouths of small children.  The area is contained in the hall in the basement between the older boys' bedroom and the school room.  Today the older children were sent downstairs to clean this area because, well, we no longer had a rug in the hallway. We had a LEGO floor.  While they were cleaning, they were singing these two songs.  The combo just cracked me up.  Their father would be proud.