Dirty Days

Yesterday, Jeremy worked hard in the yard all afternoon.  After the kids woke up, we joined him in the garden.  We are a bit late, but it needed to be de-weeded and tilled for the summer.  He had already done the hard work, so the girls joined him and helped him pick out the rest of the weeds. 

I love to have dirty kids!  I just do.  I think that to many children watch tv all day (mine watch TV...I'm not saying they don't) and just sit around playing video games (yes...mine already have video games they play too).  But I love to see children playing outside and I especially like to see them dirty.  My girls were Dirty Dirty yesterday and it was a blast!

They both plopped down in the dirt and started digging.  Nicole's imagination has really taken off, so she was busy making forts or castles or something.  Poor Hannah tries, but she can't quite keep up with Nicole in this area yet.  They were both making each other crazy, but they were also having fun.  Hannah kept destroying the "tower" and Nicole kept yelling at her for it:-)

When we were almost all done, Nicole asked me to come over and see something, she wanted to know what it was.  She took me to her "mountain" and there was a tiny little head poking.  Just the fact that Nicole wasn't screaming and running in fear was amazing.  We very bravely watched the tiny animal come out of her mountain and by that time, Nicole was hooked!

She made friends with a caterpillar!

She thought it was really cute and even said, "Awe...mommy, I love my caterpillar". 

Shocking from the girl who freaks out when there is a gnat in the car because "it might eat me".  Anyway...she spent the next 10 or 15 minutes playing with her new friend.  She named him "eggy". 

She totally hung out with the caterpillar, touched it, picked it up, and observed it while it crawled around on a stick.  I don't know what kind it was, but Jeremy touched it first and nothing happened, so I am assuming it was not poisonous (after more research today, I still can't figure out what it was...but I'm certain it wasn't a poisonous kind).

Nicole built a little home for him (out of a leaf) and tucked him in when it was time to go inside.  She went out today and briefly looked for him, but we didn't get in the garden to look to hard.  I'm hoping she sort of forgets about him so she's not sad he's not still under her leaf....but I'm sure she won't forget.

Hannah had fun in the garden too...and I simply love her sweet little self in that white and pink dress covered in dirt!

Hannah also kept getting in trouble for picking our unripe strawberries and tomatoes!  She's so excited to pick food and eat it right off the plant...she simply can't keep herself from picking them.  It's actually quite sweet.

I can't wait to take the girls out there later this week and plant some sweet potatoes, sweet peppers and maybe just some flowers too.