Good, Clean Fun

The other day as I was wiping the kitchen counter clean, I used a tad too much dish soap. A sudsy white canvas appeared, begging for little hands to come and create. Aidan and Avery were nearby, and eagerly tested this new activity. Their fingers swirled and circled while tongues peeked from their mouths -- a true sign of concentration. It was a hit.

Yesterday afternoon, I again invited the girls to have a go. It was a true Pacific Northwest spring break day -- gray and oh-so wet. The boys were at their cousins', and we girls needed a diversion. I had suggested shopping, but the girls declined (I quickly felt foreheads for signs of fever.) When I grasped at straws and finally suggested counter art, their eyebrows shot up and they raced to the kitchen. Pleased that they were eager for something so simple (and much easier on the budget), I bubbled the formica.

This time we added music and silicone brushes to complete the artistic effect. After a while, feet became involved (it always fascinates me the way kids think outside the box). At first, timid footprints were pressed into the suds. But before long, Little Miss Avery Kate was skating across my mother's kitchen island, shimmying to Dean Martin and the Beach Boys. It was a sight to behold.

The boys came home that afternoon to find me innocently wiping the counter clean. The girls were looking quietly at books. And their hands and feet were remarkably clean.