My experiment with some natural dyes have led me to want to experiment more. I found some information on using spent daffodil blooms for yellow, so we get to accomplish two things at once – remove the shriveled blossoms so the gardens look prettier, and collect the shriveled blossoms so I can try some dyeing experiments. 
Emma loved the idea, and declared every day that she had work to do, and collecting blossoms is the perfect job for this girl who loves to be by my side in the gardens.
We’re also going back to extremely limited screen time for the Littles. I had gotten rather lax on monitoring how much screen time they had, and I was using it as an easy way to get other things done. Bad mom! So, a fast began the other day.
Day 1 – Silas woke up and asked to watch a movie. First thing in the morning. Oh, we really need to break that habit! I said no. He asked to play the Wii. I said no. His voice escalated an octave and he asked to have my ipad. I said no. He sobbed. He cried. He shouted (oh, yes, he did). I said no. Let’s just say that day 1 was exhausting. And it was perfect evidence as to why we needed to break the screen habit.
Day 2 – Silas brought me a book to read first thing in the morning. We read it together, and Sophie joined us when she woke up. All was well until about 8:30. Then Silas asked for a movie. I said no. He said please. I said no. He told Sophie to ask if they could play the Wii. I said no. 🙂 He cried a little, then moved on to playing. Periodically throughout the day, he or Sophie would ask for a movie or the Wii, but they were much less persistent and we got through the day.
Day 3 (yesterday) – No one asked for any screen time, until about 1:30 in the afternoon, when Si was rather tired and just wanted to … sit and watch a movie. Oh, I feel so bad that I let him get to the point of asking for easy entertainment when he was tired. Distraction was easy, and all the Littles went outside to swing and pick flowers (which they then proceeded to copy onto little pages, and then glue into their own little books, oh, creativity, I missed you!).
Husband and I had to run to town last night, and the Middles volunteered to watch the Littles for us. Sadly, part of that time was spent watching an episode or two of a favorite show on Netflix. I’m a little concerned about how adding screen time back in so early will affect them.