Mommy & Me Art

One of Riley's favorite questions is "Will you________ with me?"

Whatever it is she is doing, she likes to have a friend join in- usually-and most almost all of the time, that friend is me. 

For this I am grateful. 

It is nice to needed in such a way. 

I plan to enjoy it while it lasts. 

On this particular day -a while back now, but it could have been any day, given her chosen activity- Riley wanted me to paint with her. Riley asks to paint every single day. 

Rye determining which shade to tint her mostly murky colored painting. 

Of course I joined her. (I LOVE painting too!)

I came up with a few clouds. Perhaps that is the ocean underneath...I'll never know how it turned out, this was as far as I got before she claimed it and began to add her own touches. 

We were low on paper for painting, so I pulled out a stack of paper sacks. 

Some of my brown bag masterpieces:

When I painted this rainbow, I thought Riley would love it- and she did. However she offered a critique:

"All it needs is some love and sunshine"

So I kept painting...

I then painted her a sandcastle and a beach ball... I was feeling kind of proud of my little painting... which meant I was doomed... what with pride always preceding a tumble: 

Princess Clay

Rye has her daddy wrapped around that pretty little pinky... 

Hot Tropics Tomato Soup

Ideally, I would have picked the tomatoes for this soup and stewed them down on a low simmer. I would have caught & plucked the chicken used for broth and set that on another low simmer. Not neglecting to milk my pet cow and a few coconuts too, I would have made sour cream, cocount milk and even the Cheeze-It ™ crackers from scratch. Eventually, finally, bringing it all together in a savory combination in one pot. 

This is not an ideal world. 

I have four children. (who all want something different for lunch, mind you)

I homeschool. (so I know about the dangers of using canned foods, I know!) 

I kill plants. (No tomatoes would have likely made it to the picking stage under my care)

I don't know that the cow would be that much safer. 

If I were close enough to a coconut tree to climb it, I wouldn't be rushing back to the house to make soup... (or climbing it either...but that is another story about how long it has been since I've been in the beloved Keys...and if I tell you THAT story, it will mostly sound like whining and I will become listless in my longing and neglect the reality of Everyone's Laundry...) 

Therefore: 

One can of coconut milk + One can of Harvest Orange Tomato + 1/2 Can of chicken stock= Tropical Tomato Soup

But, you can improve on this if you have the right ingredients.

(which I did, thanks to Chinese New Year)

Tropical Tomato Soup + Sriacha = Warm Tropics Tomato Soup...or Hot Tropics if you add a lot... Sun Burnt Tropics if you add half the bottle... and so forth. 

This was my lunch... and it was tasty.

 All of a sudden, my children decided they didn't want chicken fingers. 

They wanted soup too. 

So

I

 was 

 forced 

 to 

 share!

Don't you hate it when all those lessons about doing the right thing come back and steal your lunch?