MUD, but no pies!

Daniel has a little "friend" in the neighborhood. Actually, she's the neighborhood's friend. She'd stay all night if we didn't shoo her away. The fact that she's not above helping herself to food is a little more than irritating for me. So I often say NO when she shows up at the door looking to play. On the bright side, there's a neighborhood full of kids she can play with, so I'm not the only one gritting my teeth and guarding my snack cupboard. PLUS, she has two older brothers who roam the area as well. I should be grateful they are too old for us.

Anyway, I relented to her playing yesterday afternoon, on the condition that they play outside. I figure that this way, I don't have to hear her trying to get the boys to ask for snacks or complain about something or other. Plus, she doesn't like our overly friendly dog so sometimes we let him out. We're horrible, I know. But I've gotten off track again.

Saturday, she and Daniel were outside playing and in a way only 6 year olds can, they got muddy. Not, "wash your hands before dinner" muddy. Not, "throw your shoes in the washer muddy" (I wish it was only that bad). Not, "we're making one hundred mudpies for our new bakery" muddy. It was more like, "turn the garden into a mud pool, sling it across the fence to the neighbor boys, cover the just-dried laundry on the line with mud splatters so Mommy can have two extra loads of laundry, speckle the outside of the house, turn your clothes (including underwear) so brown that no other color is visible, and leave foot and hand prints of smeared mud well into the house muddy." Of course, our little friend went home (probably filthy).

Less than two hours later, she was back in new clothes, asking if Daniel could play. She doesn't like the dog, but is more that willing to cover herself in mud. I said they could play, OUTSIDE, but don't get muddy.

I think Daniel had mud in his ears. Apparently he thought I said that they SHOULD play in the mud. I had to take a moment to gather my wits about me and then question him. Didn't he think that sounded a little strange? No. He was being obedient (for once). So we got that stopped before anything more than Nathan having mud thrown at him happened. We sent our friend home at dinnertime (before she could ask to eat with us) and later that evening Daniel found her flip flops in the backyard (caked with mud - no surprise)...who forgets to wear their shoes home???