A Day With A Three Year Old

Today I kept my sister's grand daughter, Hope. My sister was sick and unable to watch her. I have kept her many times but never for more than an hour or two ~~ little did I know what an adventure this was going to turn in to....
I got her home around 9 this morning and parked her in front of cartoons long enough to clean the kitchen and warm the milk for the baby goats. In that 20 minutes my living room looked like a war zone. Blankets, pillows and toys were scattered EVERYWHERE. Next we headed to the barn to feed the babies. That went really well. Getting her back to the house, not so much. I told her I had to run a couple of errands and when we got back we would play outside all day. Hope does not like to run errands. She hid behind every tree in the back yard. Getting her back to the house and in the truck took another 30 minutes. Getting her in her car seat, well I think strapping in a boa constrictor may have been easier. Mom appeared and said she thought I may need some reinforcements. Thank God. My first stop was the little store where I work to pick up some Cokes for sis. (We are the only place around that sell Coke with real sugar.) That cost me a Moon Pie and a collard leaf. Yes, she wandered around eating both. After another wrestling match, she was back in her car seat. Next stop was the grocery store for laundry detergent. Thankfully, Mom offered to stay in the truck with her. We had just gotten back home when I got a phone call that my pork was ready to pick up. This was the last butchering of the season and I wanted to stock up until November. I promised this was the last errand. Hope ran out the door, past the truck and just kept going. I was starting to feel very tired. It was only 1....
After we got back home, Mom bowed out. We headed to the barn. She helped with all the chores. Feeding the babies, gently gathering the eggs and helped haul hay. We discovered a new baby lamb. I got quite an education during all of this. I learned that porcupines climb in your bed at night and give you a cold. I learned that Honey is a ridiculous name for a cow and that I was just kidding when I told her we were going to eat the baby chicks in the barn. I learned that she was undecided as to whether she was gonna be a girl farmer or an animal doctor. We had a lot of fun.

When her dad arrived to pick her up at 5:30, we were sitting on the back steps eating popcorn. We were both filthy and tired. We had enjoyed a wonderful day and I am so much smarter than I was 8 1/2 hours ago....