I remember the time my sister and I decided to make chocolate milk.
Our ingredients were dirt and water.
Unlike other older sisters who wisely have their younger sibling sample the fare for them, I indulged right alongside.
We both ended up with a mouthful of mud—and vivid memories.
So when Middlest came into the house with her pail of dirt and asked for some water so that she could make a cake, you bet I cringed. But then, I also couldn’t resist. After all, every child needs a mud memory, right?
I was surprised when Oldest, my neat-freak OCD child, decided to join in the fun.
And though I tried to just set them loose on their mud escapades, I soon realized that my daughter needed a little instruction in the art of mud-caking. I had to empty her pail of rocks, bark, and leaves and help her add dirt to the right consistency. She couldn’t make up her mind at first what to make. First, it was cake; then it was tea; back to chocolate cake; and finally a batch of cookies.
Oldest wanted to make a cake and keep it in his pail until it had “baked” in the sun. Then he emptied his creation into his wheelbarrow for minimal mess. But I was proud when I saw his hands caked with dirt.
Then, Oldest suggested some music. Last summer we had a Handel’s Water Music party; this summer, it’s Bach and mud cakes! And after all that hard work making decadence you can’t eat, there’s got to be some refreshment.
(By the way, the popsicles were made from instant pudding! Make the pudding according to box directions, pour into molds, and freeze! So simple and so delicious!)
