Yesterday afternoon, the kids were starting to bounce off the walls. After John told them they couldn’t jump on the couch, they took the cushions off and hurled their bodies at them. I suggested we all go weed the garden (Kathleen has started snickering now), so off we went to the backyard.

We recently seeded our yard with ecoturf which means we have lovely white flowers growing in the play area. It also means we have those same lovely white flowers menacing the tulips and roses in the rest of the garden. That’s what I had the kids attack. Loose soil, easy grabbing stalks—it was going really well. So, I thought why not get a digging stick and go for the dandelions.

1 digging stick + 4 children = problems

Actually, David was the only problem, refusing to share. The others soon got distracted by climbing the lavender bush and getting stuck by the rose thorns. Once the rain started pelting down, they retreated to the house, but David I got a real rhythm going with the dandelions. I told him to find the bright yellow flowers, and pretty soon he was dandelion spotting all over the garden. He let me hold the stick with him and we had our own little chant “push and lean!”

He had so much fun that I lured him home this morning with the promise of more weeding.