Bridget, I'm glad you asked . . .

So, how did he reach the upper eschelons of our kitchen?

A chair. :)

I made him promise me that he wouldn't jump up onto the countertops, because I figured he'd try to do the climbing whilst holding said plates and glasses. In all honesty, I don't remember, because I was also upstairs with Katie, my "household helper" this week, while my "kitchen helper" was unloading. I do know that for the second load we did this morning (I was sick this weekend, and man, am I behind!) I put away the upper things, while he took care of the silverware and kid stuff, which I keep in a drawer on the island for easy access for the kiddos.

Now, before you get all jealous and think I'm all that in the chores dept here, They staged a coup around 2pm and it went downhill from there. I got a few direct refusals when I called for my helpers, and when I called to the boys for a hand in the kitchen, James replied with, "um, we're playing."

I wasn't amused.

However, when I found myself elbow deep in raw meat (I'll get to that in a second) and needed a bowl of diced veggies from the fridge, I knew how to get what I needed. All I had to do was say I needed a really strong guy to get something heavy from the fridge for me.

In pops Alex: "Then I'm your man!" I kid you not!

So, raw meat, diced veggies-- any guesses?

Nine Loaves of Meatloaf.

Jon said he liked this recipe, and so I bought in bulk at BJ's. After we're done with this, I may never make meatloaf again. I really hope it turned out well, because that much of not so good dinner, well, that would really suck.