Daniel likes to clean toilets. More specifically, he likes to swish the toilet brush around inside the toilet. Whether any grime is removed is of little importance. He is also apt to lift the brush out of the toilet to point to something in the room, so constant supervision and reminders to "keep the brush down in the toilet" are required.

It is surely easier to accomplish this task without his "help" but perhaps these early lessons will pay dividends later. I already have him trained as the one and only "toilet facing" member of the family to alert me when a ring starts to form. Should I notice this myself--perhaps? Should I be on a more regular cleaning schedule so that said ring never has a chance to form in the first place--certainly. But these are the realities of my life.

This week I did my best Tom Sawyer to prep the kids for Saturday morning bathroom cleaning. Daniel was ready for toilet and mirror duty and Ed was prepped on sinks and counters. They were so well primed that when John came down to breakfast they greeted him with a breathless, "Daddy--guess what we're doing this morning?" He could not fathom what could be so exciting at 8 a.m. "Cleaning the bathrooms!!!"

By 9 a.m. we had three clean bathrooms and no toilet brush mishaps, so I counted it as a success. What will we tackle next Saturday? Stay tuned.

After that early accomplishment, the boys and I ventured out to pick raspberries. They were enthusiastic about the opportunity, having missed blueberry picking this summer due to our wacky spring weather. At the farm, the proprietors encouraged us to "eat as much as you want" as we picked. The boys took them up on their offer, eating every single berry they picked as well as some of mine that they coaxed me into sharing "because our boxes are so empty!" I forgot the camera in the car and so couldn't get any picking pictures until the crabby end of our foray through the berry bushes.


Their enthusiasm returned when they discovered the bounce house and free ice pops that rounded out the visit. 

 And as long as were talking treats, tonight after dinner I gave the boys the pudding bowl to lick, primarily for the photo op, as of course it would be nothing so dainty as a single finger run along the edge of the bowl.

This was followed immediate by bath time.

I should also mention that the matching shirts were from the 5K we all walked this morning. In the rain. It took 63 minutes, but we made it. Well, Daniel and I crossed the finish line. John and Edward stopped a bit short as we had to walk through the parking lot on the way to the finish line and Ed's feet were quite sore. We got his shoes with a little room to grow and I think they might slip a bit when he walks, which would be quite uncomfortable with wet feet. Maybe it was a little silly to head out when we knew it would be raining (certainly, MANY others made the opposite choice as the crowd was quite sparse) but the boys had been looking forward to it all week--especially Daniel who kept asking me "when is the K-5?" I wanted them to know that they COULD walk that far. In truth, they probably walked farther in the April March for Babies, but they each got a bit of rest in the stroller along that route. We agreed that we were proud of our accomplishment, but would not do it again if it was raining.