Life downstairs

There are a million things to play with downstairs, which is especially nice for the rainy days we've been having lately.

We spent a whole hour this morning cleaning it up--mostly sorting the toys and putting them back in their places. Ever think you have too many toys?





The kids are actually getting better at working...and their list of chores seems to get longer every week. (Soon they'll catch on and stop working so that they don't get such long lists. ;) )

Rainy day art work

Matthews:

The other day Matthew made three pictures for his friend, and gave them to him on Sunday. It wasn't quite as exciting as mailing something (which his sister did a couple weeks ago) but he compromised by making three pictures instead of just one.

Melanie's:

She says"This is a girl wearing a party hat. She has curly hair, you can see it poking out under her hat. That's a string tied under her chin." Melanie first made it on the doodle pad, but since Daniel and Matthew were threatening to ruin it, she thought copying it over to paper would be better.

Nathan's:

Nathan just did this one quietly and didn't show me, so no story. He'll probably save that for his Daddy when he gets home.

Helpers and Projects

Matthew and Daniel helped me grate cheese for dinner. They both did a lovely job, AND stayed nicely out of trouble for a while too! Even Daniel managed to grate the cheese--which all fell onto the chair he was sitting on. In the end, he decided eating it was less wasteful. Matthew did a very careful job, but got tired and pleaded for me to help him. He was so concerned that the job should be taken over!


The latest project of Phil's (though I get to help if I behave) is making a playset for the kids outside. I thought, baby coming and all, that this would be the summer I'd be going out less. So having the playset this year, instead of next was high on my priority list. (Isn't it lovely how it gets higher up on my husband's then too? ;) ) It's built right about the sand box, if you look carefully you can just see the lid (which is on and shut). It looks rather imposing, and perhaps a little too close to the house after all...but once the posts get trimmed, etc. hopefully the overall look is good.

And how is my less exciting old project going? (Curtains, you mean?) Coming along ever so slowly. Even slower like when I make mistakes like cutting it 7 inches too short. Funny thing is I measured it about 5 times, and was very sure on it. But unfortunately I cut it at the first marking I had made, not the second important one. Fortunately, after a bit of work, I think the material will be salvageable, only it'll hang an inch higher off the floor than initially planned. Too bad!

Story time

Everyone enjoys the bedtime routine. (Which will soon be enhanced by extra rigorous brushing, and possibly some flossing, since the (first ever!) dentist visit this morning showed a need for extra prevention.)


Melanie is quite captivated by the story, despite the slow pace of the reader. Who knows, maybe
she's trying to follow the words on the page...either that or the pictures are lovely.


Not fast enough for Daniel though, but he prefers storytime cuddling with me instead. And occasionally asking to come up to Dad again, and swatting at the book for a while.


Matthew prefers to read two at a time. That way he can catch up with his older siblings faster.


Nathan offered to read. "Daddy if I read a 40 or 50 page book will you read this book for me?" And he displays a 40+ page book for Daddy to see.

As a side note,

Have you ever noticed how quickly kids grow up these days!
Peach fuzz at age three already!
Must be a result of those strange things we make our kids eat.

Bits of today

Would you believe we had no naptime today (with the exception of Daniel), and didn't even have any major breakdowns as a result (me included!)?


Matthew helped me make pizza crusts today. When I asked him how the flour got on the floor he immediately says "I didn't do anything!"
(Little liar!)


Melanie is practicing her balancing on the edge of the sandbox while watching (and sometimes helping) her brother build in it.

Behold the master builder and his creation! Nathan managed a pretty lovely city here (the lumps are all cars made from a mold). The cars are all parked on the sides of the road because there is no parking lot.

Wamth!

The weather was lovely the past few days, and we were (not today anymore, mind you) able to enjoy the outdoors without coats on! Quite a change from a month ago!

The kids were pleased to finally be allowed to play in the sandbox. I had opened it up a few weeks ago, only to find a rodent residing in there. It was a bit of mess. The lids kept the cats out all year--but made a lovely shelter all winter. Anyways, we consider it to be moderately clean now (though not perfect) after some scooping, and several rain showers. Hopefully it's good enough! We kept the lids off for a few weeks (cleaning up after cats is a lot simpler (and probably healthier!) than cleaning up after a rodent) and we think he won't be back anymore.

Nathan loves having the sandbox available again. He's made a subway station, with sidewalk going down to it.

Just don't anybody wreck it!

Melanie enjoys a change of scenery more than the sandbox specifically.

She made me a lovely cake with 4 candles on for my fourth birthday though. With chocolate candies on it! (They were pretend candies, nothing gross!)

Matthew loves playing outside, and would love it even more if part of the sandbox wasn't considered off limits by his big brother!

He doesn't usually make anything, just has fun and gets good and dirty!

Daniel loves going outside too! After all, who wants to be left out of all the fun? Compared to last year he actually is pretty good with keeping the sand in the box, and out of his mouth. (Maybe he just knows that ESPECIALLY AFTER WHAT JUST HAPPENED his momma ain't gonna let him get away with anything!)

He likes scooping dirt around, and mainly copying what Matthew is doing. But if a noisy truck comes down the road and I'm not right there, he'll come running! (I guess the chain link fence doesn't look trustworthy enough. ;) )

Time at home

Driving me up the wall

Some days the kids just drive me up the wall. They whine, they cry, they fight, they yell. I whine, I yell...and the day just goes on forever.

Or when they're not fighting, Daniel is trying to distract me from school time, cooking time, or cleaning time, picking up the books off the table and giving them to me, asking for this, asking for that, opening up cupboards and drawers that he shouldn't...and just generally, getting in the way.

So I listened in while some ladies talked about what they did to keep their youngsters out of trouble, and the bean idea was what I took home: Beans and spoons and cups equals hours of good behaviour. Well, this worked the first time, for an hour. The second time was less successful. (It's my fault, since I'm sure if I cared less about them being spilled all OVER the floor it would be more enjoyable for me. ;) )


In contrast to the aforementioned behaviour--this evening I felt like the kids were angelic. Phil was gone for dinner and bedtime routine. This is usually recipe enough for disaster. But today the kids ate their dinner nicely (granted, I did make something they all like ;) ) put their pjs on promptly, and played ever so peacefully together for an entire hour with no intervention from me!!!!
Wow, what a treat!
Just like having my birthday all over again.
(But I better not raise my expectations any for next time.)

The Pied Piper

Maybe with a bit of practice I can get him to pipe all the mice out of my life. And the other bugs. Actually, he'll have to practice on bugs 'cause we're out of mice--at least, I THINK we're out of mice.