Green beans and yard work

It's been another weekend of hard labor out in the yard thanks to the grace of Amy Tokash who loaned me Jenna again on Saturday.

The girls kept each other entertained while Jeff and I scraped the last leaves from the flower beds, gave the shrubs a way overdue haircut and bagged all the debris. I even climbed up on the roof to get to the tops of the scraggly fir trees.

Jenna and Ali were playing on the brick wall when Jenna noticed me on high. Her eyes got huge and she said, "Ali! Look at your mom." Alison was less impressed. "Yeah, we're good climbers," she said. "Tag! You're it!"

Jeff, who hates yard work, even planted some mint in the backyard. It's a transplant from John Vielee's yard and their pet project. They're determined to have enough mint to keep us in Swampwater and Mohitos through the summer.

So my back is aching but the neighbors may hold off on calling the Mayor's Action Line to report us.

By the time we'd finished cleaning up, neither Jeff nor I was interested in cooking. So we forced the girls to tear themselves away from the TV and headed off to the Super China Buffet. I took the girls for their first round and all was right with the world. Then came seconds and Mr. Reed took charge, insisting that Sleepover Rules or no, vegetables would be eaten.

Jenna had six green beans on her plate, which doesn't seem like many. But Jenna doesn't really like green beans. She and Mr. Reed have a history with dinner time rules, with vegetables playing a big role.

In 2003, she hoarded a bite of cheeseburger in her cheek for nearly an hour after he'd insisted on her finishing her plate. In 2006, it was The Great Asparagus Incident of 2006. It's a wonder she'll have meals here.

To cut the story short, he wanted her to eat all six beans. She got five down but the sixth one came back up. That was the end of dinner and the Dairy Queen dessert that had been dangled. While she claimed an upset stomach, it was gone before the DQ sign had disappeared from the rear-view mirror and all was good again.

At about 1:30 that morning, Jenna woke up and had an unusual bout of homesickness. Jeff, the night owl, took pity on her and snuggled a bit on the couch. She'd forgotten all about the green beans and was back to bed pretty quickly.

We made pancakes this morning, took our walk to the newspaper stand and ended up at the park. They sang made up songs while they swung and ended up deep in the sandbox.

"We took off our shoes!" said a proud Jenna, like Ali, still wearing her socks.

Amy snatched Jenna back this afternoon and Ali hit the friend jackpot when Team Ogden came over and Karin and I snuck out for pedicures.

All in all, it's been a great weekend. I'm not anxious for Monday to dawn.