Wish I had a picture...

...of Alice and Robert coated in compost so rich that it stained their legs brown. I scrubbed a lot of it off, but they are now soaking in their own "compost tea" bubble bath to get the rest. Camera batteries were dead :(

We had a GREAT time on "the farm" today. Our farm :) I'm still working on distributing that pile of compost on our driveway. I mowed the front lawn, spread a thin layer of compost on top, and watered it thoroughly. It took me 2.5 hours. The kids spent that time mucking about on the compost pile and helping me throw dirt all over the grass. This was the first time I had let them play on the compost pile at all...hence, their excitement. I like projects where I can work uninterrupted next to my kids playing uninterrupted. I also enjoy freakishly messy play every once in a while :)

Robert called it a "mountain" and dug through it with his hands. He laid on his tummy and used his feet to kick compost down the sides. He turned his hands into imaginary spiders that were playing on the muck...one was a Daddy spider and one was a baby spider. Then he found a worm and cupped it in his hands to come show me. He did lose the worm again in the pile, but he had discovered a stick by then and proceeded to poke, prod, dig, bury, smack, and twirl the stick into the pile until it freaked out Alice.

Alice attacked the pile barefooted. She immediately began her fantasy play involving the most recent cartoon princess she's seen: Ariel's daughter, Melody. She fought off bad guys with dirt clods, discovered her true mermaid princess nature, and used magic to bring peace to the sea. Then she helped me chuck compost all over the grass. Her throwing method was actually PERFECT for distributing a fine, even layer of compost over a specific area. I praised her technique and she shared a few tips that cut my work time by 25%. No kidding. 

Then I pulled out the hose to water all that good compost deep into the soil. Robert took a shower in the spray. Crazy, funny, awesome little kid. Alice liked her turn with the showering wand, but only as long as Buddy was accepting showers. Buddy's turn with the wand consisted of filling up a leaky bucket over and over again.

When my work was done, I offered them a bath and they came scrambling indoors. Buddy got a hose-down, Alice got a hose down and a pre-scrub, then into the bubble bath they flew. Delighted. 

Now to tackle the backyard.

In other news, I've been feeling the baby move a little. No emotional analysis to accompany that development, oddly enough. I am eagerly anticipating the ultrasound in June, thinking that will somehow stir me into realizing this baby is really going to happen. I can see and accept the birth/newborn transition in my future. That's something I have accepted since the pregnancy test was positive. It's the rest of my life that's hazy after October 5th. How on earth do I fit the newborn reality into the life I will have then? I haven't given that a lick of thought. That's the grey area that worries me a bit now and I do hope I will have time to ponder that before he/she arrives ;)