Saturday Shenanigans

-Pancake and Sausage breakfast at the rink, hangin' with the town's folk at 8:30 something in the morning, very endearing.

-Move from the breakfast tables to find a seat and watch the guys play hockey, friends on both teams, but of course we still had a "favorite"... they were winning 3-1 with 10 minutes play remanining when we;

-came home to put The Rugrat down for his nap and plan an early lunch so we could;

-get outside and enjoy the FIRST day of mud! Oh joy. And I really mean that. I am *not* being sarcastic. It was with GREAT JOY we saw mud!!!

-kids dug and planted imaginary "who-knows-what" under the dining room window on the south side of the house, the location of our future (hopefully not too distant future) patio.

-Prairie Guy and I worked happily away piling up the trailer for the monthly dump trip while;

-The Rugrat (19 months) sat with the utmost satisfaction on the nearest parked item boasting handlebars or a steering wheel. Bummer I didn't think to get the camera because that would have made a great scrapbooking spread, from tractor, to lawn mower, to atv, to snow mobile to boat.... the little munchkin was completely in his element.

-Trailer loaded, Prairie Guy heads off to get his wallet and keys and discovers how much fun kids have been having in mud. He is less than thrilled.

-Prairie Chick seeks to convince him that mud is therapeutic, especially after 4 months of (give or take) 20 below zero (celcius) weather. He's not that easy to convince.

-The plot thickens when Prairie Guy enters house and discovers trail of mud leading from front door, through entry, dining room, kitchen, to back bathroom (um, they could have used the kitchen entry and spared the entry and dining room, but I digress)...

-Prairie Chick decides maybe a diversion from the mud might not be such a bad idea at this point and helps kids peel off snow pants and jackets coated in wet brown accents.

-Mud traipsing culprit (Prairie Girl 8) is sent to wipe up her trail of testimony, seeing as she happens to be the oldest, who should know better.... while The Poppet is sent on a treasure hunt to track down our read alouds and bring them to the south step.

-Meanwhile Prairie Guy takes off with the trailer to the dump and I note that there are two cats sticking their heads out of the garbage pile on his way out the drive, one of them being a rare and valuable female flame point rag doll. I try to flag Prairie Guy down, but breathe a sigh of relief as Banjo jumps the trailer as it slows to round the bend. Mr. Farmcat who will remain nameless on the other hand was not so courageous and heaven only knows where he sleeps tonight....

-What bliss, in sweaters and socks we sit on the south stoop and feel the warm rays on our heads as we read from The Wizard of Oz and trace Paddle's journey to the sea.

-Energized by the ultimate energizer, we return to the house, leaving doors and windows open and delving into some mid afternoon spring cleaning with great gusto.

-Make some good down-home supper, take a good after supper snooze on the living room couch as the evening rays spill in over the leather couch and hardwood floors

-Get kids washed up, sing favourite hymms and say prayers while tucking tuckered out kids into bed

-pull out my scrapbooking from my night out with the girlfriends last night and do some last page touch ups, captions and journaling while listening to Fernando Ortega and having quiet discussion with Prairie Guy as he studies for his discipleship class.

-Could life get any better than this?