1m2aSandbox

On Sunday morning, my plan was to sleep until I absolutely had to wake up, jump in the shower and get ready for church. I’d heard Brian get up a bit earlier and was snuggled down under the covers, half-asleep and enjoying the fact that it was almost 8 a.m. and I was still in bed.

At which point I felt a tap on my shoulder and opened one eye to see my husband looking at me sympathetically. “I’m so sorry to wake you before your alarm, but this is just too darn cute so you need to roll over to see it.”

I obligingly rolled over and opened the other eye, and there was my five-year-old with a huge grin on her face, holding a breakfast tray.

In an extravagant fit of sheer awesomeness, my mother just gave me a Vita-Mix blender as an early Mother’s Day gift. I’ve been eyeing one for a couple of years and we really thought this was the year, but a few household repairs came up and . . . you know how it goes.

But I suddenly find myself with this Lamborghini of blenders at my disposal, and there is no stopping me now.

My first day with Frieda (my highly efficient new friend, on constant call, ready to whip up any drink I might want with Teutonic efficiency) I used it Five. Times. Yes, five. For one round with the girls, I peeled four clementines and threw them in there –seeds and pith and all – with a peeled banana and some yogurt and some vanilla extract. Sheer heaven. Frieda (my new best friend) will take any fruit and pulverize it to a smooth, un-pulp-y liquid. I have high hopes that she will help me get more whole fruits and veggies down Cora’s throat – Cora is my Texture Nazi.

Last Friday I pulled the girls out of school early to go strawberry picking, an annual event we always look forward to. We’re lucky to have an organic strawberry farm just north of us here, and we pack a picnic and make a day of it. The strawberries are EXCELLENT and the prices below grocery store, so we always pick plenty to bring home and freeze for canning and smoothies.

This year we may have over-reached a bit.

Maddie and Cora were able to really participate this year and did a great job filling up a few buckets with very ripe strawberries, while my mom and I worked diligently to pick as much as we could. I kept remembering how we ran out of the thirty pounds we picked last May by mid-July, and I was determined to pick more this year. I sent the girls back to the farmer for extra buckets a few times, and we ended with quite a haul.

Sixty-eight pounds, to be exact.

Yesterday was Maddie’s turn at the talent show, and she seemed much more relaxed and ready for it than Cora had been the previous day; after all, Maddie is a two-year veteran by now, and was performing with her friend that she’s done the talent show with since kindergarten.

So I was not expecting it when I received a call from a friend of mine within the school, hissing, “I’m not sure what’s going to happen here! The girls are fighting. I repeat the girls are fighting.”

I still don’t know what went down, but I understand Maddie sat rigid with fury while her gal-pal and partner-in-talent dripped miserably over the lunch table. For quite a while. When it was pointed out that perhaps their feud was due at least partly to nerves, the messenger was promptly shot, uniting the two girls at least momentarily.