T'WAS THE NIGHT BEFORE SCHOOL AND CADEN GOT MR. CROUSE. WE ALMOST HAD DISASTER WHEN MOM PRACTICALLY BURNT DOWN THE HOUSE!

Undoubtedly I have aged at least 5 years this week! The kids wanted to have a special treat the night before school started and so we figured what better way to say good-bye to summer than with some gooey homemade s'mores. I was trying to be helpful and get the fire started on my own (note ; I was not a boy scout and have practically no experience with fire of any kind other than the one I flip on with a switch in my family room) Anyway....I lit the can of gel cooking fuel and didn't realize I needed to put it into this larger metal cup until it was already on fire. I remember thinking to myself "hmmm..this is going to be tricky and hey, this is a really big flame I got going on here". I have no idea why I didn't listen to those little "promptings" but I didn't and I went ahead and tried to tip the can of fuel sideways and into the metal holder. Well....when I did this the flame crawled up my hand and I DROPPED the can on the table (keep in mind all three of my children are seated around said table) and then out of instinct I BLEW on the table and the can HUGE MISTAKE ! Don't EVER blow on a can of lit gel cooking fuel. It went everywhere in little flaming balls. The table was on fire and so was one of the chairs. I realized this was getting out of hand and so did Ryan, who was by this time at my side and taking over. All the boys were crying and I shouted at them to get out of the house. Ryan got the fire on the table out and took the placemat outside which was a total loss to let it burn out. I meanwhile doused the chair fire with baking soda and tended to the kids who had minor burns and Jack had one whole side of his hair singed. I am SO thankful that the cooking fuel did not burn very hot or we would very likely have had a disaster on our hands. Once we took care of the drama, we made our s'mores and had a family home evening about fire safety (It seemed like an appropriate topic) The boys still enjoyed, but were very skittish when their marshmallows caught on fire. I felt like I had been hit by a truck and ended up sleeping like a baby that night. What a fiasco!