Laundry and laughter

We often get the kids to help us deal with the mountain of clean laundry that accumulates over a week (it gets washed and dried pretty much daily but the folding and ironing is rather more erratic). Everybody comes downstairs and we chuck all the clothes on Adam's and my bed and then spend 20 minutes yelling at the kids to stop throwing themselves on top of the pile and actually fold the bloody clothes. It's a lot quicker than if one person has to stand there and slog their way through the whole pile themselves.

Tonight, just as Adam was beginning to prod everyone in the direction of Mt Washmore, Tom picked up Midnite and asked for the next chapter. Adam insisted on laundry folding, the kids begged for story time and in the end a compromise was reached. Adam suggested I could lie on the bed and read while they folded the clothes around me (what an excellent idea!).

And so it was. I propped myself up in one corner of the bed, baskets of washing were dumped on my legs and I read aloud chapter 4, which was about Midnite's first trial, incarceration, and escape from gaol, while the huge pile of washing magically disappeared into each child's basket. (Mine's all in a big pile in the corner of the room to be dealt with before I go to bed.) The only problem was the kids ended up so entranced they were forgetting to fold and laughing so much I was driven to ask if they could actually hear what I was reading.

I think we should do the laundry this way all the time.

Especially if I'm the one that gets to do the reading!