The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!
-To a Mouse by Robert Burns-
I am very experienced in mislaid plans... perhaps because mine are always too big, too grand, too many for the time I actually have. Yesterday is a good example of mislaid plans which somehow -- thank heavens -- though they went a bit awry, still came out looking something like successful.
The plans began because my eldest son was invited to a birthday party. Knowing that my younger son, Xander, would feel left out, I suggested to James' mother that James' little sister,Grace, and Xander's very best friend, should come to our house for their very own party. In preparation for that visit, I began to plan. Halloween is just a few days off and the children all have been clamouring for Halloween preparations and I decided that this would be a wonderful opportunity to do just that. I had seen recipes for Melting Witch Pudding Cups
Since I was going to be collecting Grace at noon, I figured that we would start with lunch -- Mummy Hotdogs (A simple variation of 'Pigs in the blanket' with the hot dogs sliced into skeletons then wrapped in croissant rolls and baked) followed by our cooking adventures. In my idealized day, these domestic moments would be followed by a trip into the October sunshine where we would do a Scavenger hunt. When they had hunted to their hearts' content, I would leave them to continue building their civilization while I returned to clean up the mess I had no doubt we would have left behind.
My plans went south as soon as I mentioned them to my youngest. I said 'We will make...' and he piped up "A CHOCOLATE GRAVEYARD!"
I blinked. "What?"
"A Chocolate Graveyard!"
Being Xander, he already KNEW everything that was involved. Having lived with him for eight years, I knew enough to go with the flow.
"Okay, we can make a Chocolate Graveyard too." I conceded.
"One for us and One for them" he clarified. "Grace can make one to take home."
"Okay" The death-nell to best laid plans had sounded.
We dropped Jason off and collected Grace then the three of us went shopping at the dollar store and Grocery store. We bought gummy skeletons, candy eyeballs, chocolate wrapped eyeballs (for rocks), black decorative icing, eight large bars of Hershey's chocolate (for the base of the graveyards), two disposable cookie tins, mini-marshmallows, gummy worms, oreo cookies in chocolate (dirt) and vanilla (sand), and plastic bags of crushing cookies.
By the time we got home, both children were hungry -- "FOR CHOCOLATE!" Grace told me longingly. I was gently firm 'Real food first or your tummies will hurt.' She was as good as her name. "Yes, my tummy would probably hurt. What will we eat?' I was all ready for that. "Well, I was thinking... Mummy Hot dogs?' I waited eagerly for smiling faces... Instead they both looked at me solemnly, these two children who are so alike that they might be twins. No. Okay. So... Sigh. What do you want? Grace decided on a 'regular' hot dog while Xander opted for a Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwich. They had the same reason for their choices: the simpler their food choices, the sooner they could begin building their graveyards.
I have my faults but I am extremely easy going about other peoples' creative endevours. The 'graveyards' were not 'graveyards' as I might have made them but the children had an absolutely wonderful time making them. I lost count of the number of times they jumped up to go wash off their hands (Hands, it seems, are the preferred tool for creating chocolate grave yards. They are most useful for 'ripping up skeletons', 'moulding' -- spelling deliberate -- chocolate and arranging eyeballs).
When the two of them emerged from their graveyard creations, they noticed the sunlight glinting in through the backyard window:
and set off with the scavenger hunt sheets before I had even realized that they were done. With silence descended, I decided to begin the cleaning process. Periodically I would catch glimpses of golden brown heads as the two of them flitted past my windows then suddenly the front door slammed.
"What now?" they chimed.
They spotted the Melting Witch Cups and asked "Can we eat those?"
"Sure" I agreed, handing them each a cup and a spoon, "Why don't you take these out to the front porch?"
Off they went. Silence again. Then the door.
"Are you done already?"
"I've eaten my Witch." Xander announced. The pudding was untouched.
"You don't like the pudding?"
"No."
"Well, I am eating the Witch's guts! I think they are DELICIOUS!"
Xander went off to use the restroom and Grace explained that they had been discussing religion. She allowed as how she was rather puzzled by the idea that God was everywhere... but that she thought the idea of heaven was rather cool and that she was looking forward to getting her very own rainbow dog. I blinked. Rainbow do?
'"Yes" she said, "In heaven, you have the things you like best. I like rainbows and dogs."
Ah.
We talked a bit more when Xander returned and it was agreed by both children that they really were tired of people telling them that they shouldn't be sad when someone died.
"My friend Grace died and I still cry cause I miss her." Grace informed me. "I think it is stupid to tell someone not to cry."
I agreed but suggested that perhaps when people said things like that they were telling it to themselves as much as to other people -- "Adults do sometimes talk out loud to themselves, you know. Sometimes they tell you things as much to make themselves feel better as to help you feel better." The children considered that and decided that they could live with that. Off they went to continue their discussion on the nature of God, Heaven and the Universe at large.
When witch guts were eaten and deep philosophical conversations had been concluded, Xander and Grace went off into the far beyond of the backyard to explore. What precisely they had gone to seek, I did not know. They returned in great excitement because they had heard 'A NOISE'!
'A loud NOISE'
'A loud noise?'
'A loud NOISE'
'Show me.'
We walked out the door and up the driveway. As we walked they took turns demonstrating the nature of the 'NOISE'. Was it mechanical? No. Was it animal? Yes. Was it a dog barking? No. We headed down the road toward the wild space between yards. As we passed our next door neighbor's house, what did we spot but our neighbor, a neighbor's shepard dog, Sadie, our dog, Lincoln, and two rambunctious orange tabby kittens. The 'NOISE' was forgotten.
Children and kittens ran everywhere. Shrieks and rescues and dodging and petting and yelps later, the children decided to rename the kittens (who belong to a neighbor farther up the road but were being babysy Mr. Marion at that time) Fangblade and Zorroette. The kittens, of course, were oblivious. When we walked back to the house (Grace's mother had called to let me know that the party was over) the kittens followed, evidently unwilling to surrender their new playmates. We returned them to Mr. Marion, our neighbor, and bundled into the car.
'I like Fangblade' Grace announced wistfully.
'Zorroette is really cute' Xander agreed at a tangent.
I waited.
'I really want a kitten.' Grace concluded.
'How many cats do we have, Mommy?' Xander asked.
'Four' I replied, knowing what was coming.
'I think if those people don't want to keep her, I am going to want Fangblade for my kitten.' Grace decided
'I think we need another kitten.' Xander agreed.
' They are in and out cats.' I noted. 'Maybe the neighbors will let you pet and share the kittens... so you can 'kind of ' have them.'
Neither child was satisfied, of course. But then, the best laid plans...
P.S. The 'NOISE' it turns out was probably a bear...
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