Water sports, food bribery, floral disobedience

Happy Cinco de Mayo! As far as holidays that have nothing to do with me personally go, it's a pretty good one. Of course, the traditional rituals (drinking Mexican beer, drinking more Mexican beer) are beyond me this year, so I guess I'll just celebrate by consulting Wikipedia as to what exactly the French were doing in Mexico anyway.

Last weekend we got Anna a picnic/water/sand table to play with outdoors. So far her favorite activities are (1) slowly removing all the water cupful by cupful as though it is a sinking boat in a cartoon, and...

(2) drowning her sidewalk chalk.

This is actually preferable to her previous theory on how the chalk should be devoured used.

I like to think she just figured out that wet chalk makes darker lines and is therefore more fun to draw with. She's pretty into her art lately.

The creative process is, like, really deep, man.

I managed to convince myself to eat this pile of beets by placing it next to a sandwich. The sandwich's desirability radiates outward to a small extent, allowing me to stomach things that would be far more difficult with no bread on the plate.

Dan should just be happy I didn't try to put them on top of a pizza.

I also (brilliantly) determined that the best thing to do with some slightly wilty, unwanted bok choy is mix it with spinach and turn it into curry. I also wanted Adam and Sarah to associate babysitting Anna with eating Indian food so that it will seem like an appealing activity in the future.

Brainwash curry.

Anna was really, really excited about this avocado toast.

Until she wasn't.

Finally, home and gardening: in a neighborhood with a "Lawn of the Month" contest, this little patch of wildflowers is my husband's bold cry of nonconformity.

No HOA can contain us.