First Fire!

A couple weeks ago I had to break up a shouting match outside with the neighbor kids. Long story short....Owen and Donald found a lighter in the neighbors yard and were trying to set dried up Hydrangeas on fire. The older boys were arguing because one was trying to get the lighter away from them and I think one was wanting to tell on them and I don't know it's still a bit confusing to me. The point is we needed to have a talk about the danger of fire and how important it is to find an adult if someone is going to do something dangerous. 

I also explained that if they are curious about something...ahem...FIRE! They should talk to us and we will be happy to let them explore in a safe manner! I also talked to Michael and we agreed that we need to try to say yes to the kids more in regards to this. Owen especially is always asking to have a fire in the fire pit and frankly it's annoying. Michael is tired after work and it's just not something he wants to do, but if it means that he won't go exploring this sort of thing on his own and he'll feel comfortable coming to us with his curiosity than it's worth it.  

So the very next night we had a fire! The neighbor kids that were involved also came over so it was a good teaching moment for them as well. 

Even though it has been warmer the backyard is on the east side so there wasn't any sun on that side and it was getting chilly. I decided to make hot cocoa for everyone to help keep their insides warm. 

The kids had fun getting out their camp chairs. It's crazy how much bigger they are then when they first got them. Click here to see the blog when they first got them. 

This girl would probably have ran around in a swimsuit all day if I let her. She's so nuts! I think towards the end when it was completely dark out she did go and get a coat on. 

Daddy let Owen help him start the fire. 

He was a happy boy! He also enjoyed lighting sticks on fire and swirling them around in the air to see the smoke. 

Dominic was not interested in pictures! :) 

Donald cracks me up...he's from California so you'd think he'd be freezing up here, but I constantly see him in shorts. He does wear a coat almost all the time though so maybe he's just one of those people that as long as he has his top half warm he's okay. 

We were outside for quite a while....like I said it was totally dark out. It was fun for the kids and hopefully they have learned that it's okay to be curious as long as it's with an adult present. In fact I know they did learn that they have to bring lighters to me because a couple days later Donald and Jack came running back from the bus stop to give me a lighter they found on the ground. Seriously why are there so many lighters just hanging around on the ground in my neighborhood?!?!?!