Aftermath

Every family with small children is familiar with the minor catastrophies that come along with parenting.
Our families most recent disaster occured a few weeks ago when the snow had melted, the ground was wet, and the kids were...being kids.

I let Jackson and Jessica play outside on the side of our house with their friend, John. They put on their snowpants, coats, boots, hats, and mittens and asked if they could go out and play on the snowhill. Having a house full of three sleeping children, I was not able to join them, but felt comfortable knowing I could see them from my kitchen window or the back deck.

All was good. I was busy cleaning the kitchen and getting afternoon snacks ready for the kids, and the three amigos were happily playing outside. I had cracked the dining room window and was able to hear all the laughter and giggles going on outside, so I knew things were going well...or so I thought...

As I was heading down the hallway to get my first waking napper, I hear Jackson's voice calling to me from the garage door.
Jackson: "Mom, we have a little problem here."
Me: "What's going on?"
Jackson: "We had an accident."
Me: "Well, take your boots off and come upstairs to talk to me. I have to go get Cooper from his nap."
Jackson: "Um, can't do that..."

So, I leave my nappers in their beds/cribs and walk downstairs to find my two older kids and their friend, John, completely covered in mud! COMPLETELY!! Jackson's red coat and black snowpants were all mud, from his front to back, he looked like a strawberry dipped in chocolate. Only his face was free of mud. Likewise, Jessica's purple coat and pink snowpants were full of mud from top to bottom -even her ponytail was black!
John's mom met us outside to take her son home for cleaning. I had my two mud monsters take off all their outside gear out on our driveway, and then come in for a bath. Because I had two daycare boys and Lia to take care of (and because I was so angry at the whole situation), Jackson and Jessica were forced to take care of the mess on their own. Jackson did a nice job helping Jess take off her snowpants and boots outside and then he helped his sister wash off her muddy ponytail in the bath tub. The two of them worked together to clean up the mud in the garage with a bucket of water and sponge, and then place their muddy snowgear in a large container of water and rinse off some of the mud in hopes not to completely cause an overload of mud to wreck our washing machine!

After a lot of work, we were able to save most all of the kids' snowgear. With the exeption of Jackson's boots, which were on the verge of being thrown out anyway because of a large hole on the top of his boot...

PHEW! Long, difficult, ugly process Jason and I could definitely go the rest of our lives without repeating and not miss at all!

Although I did not think at the time to take a picture of the kids covered in mud--not sure why? could it have been my mind was being over-run with other thoughts and emotions at the time:) --I was able to think clearly enough to attempt to capture the aftermath.
This is the two of them trying to dip their muddy snowgear in water the next morning.
Check out the heeping pile of mud covered snowgear in the background.