helping dad.

Yesterday we finally decided to do some leaf clean-up (we weren't really putting it off, since fall came late this year.) We had an amazing amount of leaves in our yard for not having any trees actually on our property. (Blowing them back into our neighbor's yard did come to mind, but they were out raking too.)

So Greg got to use one of his favorite outdoor appliances, the leaf blower. Not only does our leaf blower "blow", it also "sucks" like a vacuum. And yesterday it really sucked because it broke, which left Greg to use his least-favorite tool, the rake. And for the short time that it was working, Henry would stand in front of it with all the blowing leaves, running through the leaf piles, hindering progress and having a whole lot of fun.

After all was done, a sense of accomplishment was reached. Then we enjoyed a family trip to the grocery store to shop for dinner which Maddie picked out of an Emeril cookbook that Greg got at the library for her. Since she's been fickle about dinner lately, we suggested that SHE choose some recipes that she would like to try and help cook them. She chose Chicken Parmesan and a Cinnamon-walnut Shortbread for dessert. Both were easy to make and were delicious. She declared that she LOVED them, even though she "doesn't like" cheese or nuts. Naturally, if I had made Chicken Parmesan, we would have heard "ick". Small victory for us, since sometimes dinner can be a battle.