Hamburger helper.

Life can be pretty boring around here. I'm not going to lie. It's too hot to go outside for any long period of time. Ryan's work schedule has been ridiculous, causing the kids to have parental choices of me or me. Last week Oliver told me, I'd rather go to school 5 days a week than stay home w you bc you're mean. He wasn't angry when he said it, he wasn't throwing a fit, crying or even whining. It was just a statement of fact. School is fun, I am mean, staying home sucks. Part of this is due to the fact that Oliver's idea of a great day is cartoons, followed by computer games, followed by his Leapster, some more cartoons & then maybe a movie. To me, that is unacceptable. Heaven forbid he be forced to actually 'play' with 'toys'. That command alone can send him straight to tears. So his alternative is to irritate & fight w Mimi, thus causing me to turn into said, mean mom. He is going to school MWF & I can send him T/TH but I don't want to. I like him to be around.
Thursdays his school does cooking so since he doesn't go that day I decided he could help me cook dinners. Of course both the kids love helping in the kitchen. I don't even really have to ask, they are already around, looking for any opportunity to stick their hands into something. The night bf this, I had Oliver help me make Jalapeno Lime chicken. Which was great, until the chicken juice started flying & then I had 3 sets of hands (& FEET!) to sanitize as well as half my kitchen utensils, the counters, the floor, the sink, the stool... I was very happy when we all woke up the next morning, having avoided salmonella. There was a point when I lost it. I ordered everyone out of the kitchen, for I was surely about to lose my mind. No one was listening, there was a mess, Elliot was crying! Ah! What was I thinking, I wasn't even about to get my camera out! But after the kitchen was cleaned up, I let them all back in to help me finish. We made an awesome dinner Oliver was so proud of & they all ate every last bite of chicken.
The next day I was feeling like spaghetti & decided meatballs would be the perfect project for little hands. Oliver couldn't believe you used your hands for making the meatballs! ha! Here he is making our dinner.

Again, I was happy to report, the dinner was great. Delish meatballs eaten by everyone & again, no food poisoning the next day. That's what I call success.