Muck and Mud and Guck

We have a large section of our backyard reserved for a garden. That means that this time of year we have a large section of our backyard reserved for a mudbox. "What is a mudbox," you may ask? Well, it is a section of the backyard reserved for playing in the mud. Similar to the sandbox. Only with a sandbox, kids sit and play in the sand with toys and their friends and dig to China, then go on about their other outdoor play. They wash hands and need to brush off when done.
However, with a mudbox, the kids go out and sit and play with toys in the mud and dig islands and moats and ditches and riversand dams. They also dig pits and roads and bridges and make more mud factories. But then, they cannot go on with their outdoor play. They need mom, NOW! to help them remove their muck-muck boots and every stitch of clothing in the garage. Then it all needs to be carted to the laundry room and put IN THE MACHINE NOT ON THE FLOOR DON'T TAKE IT UP TO YOUR ROOM WHAT DID I TELL YOU?! Then they need to get to the bathtub without touching the walls and be completely washed head to toe, yes even the hair even if we hate washing hair. How they get that much mud up there I am sure I never really want to know. Then they need a towel and clean clothes. We still have to remember to return the towel to the bathroom to be hung up on the towel rack.
For some reason, mom still is the one who gets to wash all the clothes and remember to put it all in the dryer. This goes relatively smoothly as long as there isn't another load of laundry in the machine when they come inside. Chances of success are also improved if there are no tears about being told to come inside due to dinner time or hitting neighbor kids with shovels.
And I ask myself again, "do I really want to live on acreage?"

Here is my new diaper design. It worked pretty well. WooHoo!
It is an all-in-one, which means it works like a disposable where I can just put it on G and we're done. But washable so I don't have to use icky chemicals or fill up a landfill. And it is cute. The inside flannel is Blue's Clues. I used 2 layers of fleece and 2 layers of flannel for the body. The soaker is attatched only in the back, middle third. It is 3 layers of flannel and serged on the edges. The whole thing fastens with Aplix. I intended to put laundry tabs on, but I haven't gotten that far yet. We were running late.
Guess I'll finish that later.

Bunches of pictures to try to catch up

Here's one more snow photo. I forgot to put it up earlier. It was our first Oregon snowperson!



Now that the weather is back to normal-ish, we get out to ride our bikes and such. G loves his trike and zooms around making "vroom-vroom" sounds.


Here's that pantry photo I promised earlier. I am proud to report that it still looks pretty much the same.


The three of us in the big cozy chair.



We had a great trip to Idaho. The boys were disappointed that there was no snow, but oh well.
I'd write more, but baby is sooo fussy.