Welcome to the Alfrato Cafe

All the kidlets have been home all week for winter break.  There has been no school, and no preschool.  There has been a lot of cooped up “self entertainment,” and a lot of squabbling.  Just as we’re getting the hang of making things function smoothly with everyone home, the week is ending and we’ll be back to our regularly scheduled chaos, instead of vacation chaos.

On Tuesday the big kidlets spend most of the day creating a French restaurant.  This involved making marketing materials, designing children’s menus, adult menus, and creating a whole monetary system with which to sell their goods.  There was much writing, much cutting, and a lot duct tape involved.  (My, how duct tape just never gets old around here.)  Who was I to stop such a glorious mess, even if it did entail half the house?  At least it wasn’t the half I was teaching piano lessons in, and I have the feeling the babysitters that afternoon did a great deal of ordering and munching on unusual French cuisine.  The play food was cooked in the play kitchen and served in the formal dining area.  Polite servers dressed in large aprons with enormous pockets took care of all the costumers’ needs, writing down orders and receipts on some real restaurant supplies The Banana received for Christmas,  and I think the restaurant did well.  They certainly should have made a great deal of money, since a pretend class of organic skim milk cost $8.00.  The regular glass of milk was only 50 cents.  Hmmmm.