{pretty, happy, funny, real}

 

 

{pretty}

 Since my dear husband is out of town for two weeks, and since I didn't want to bring all three of my children to my doctor's appointment today I went ahead and hired a babysitter.  And then I went ahead and hired her for the whole morning.  After my appointment, I went over to Home Goods "just to look" and found these for $2 each:

 

I think they are technically kitchen towels.  They are a nice linen and the print is so pretty that I don't think they will just be relegated to kitchen duty.  I thought I could maybe make them into cloth napkins.  Or...well I don't know yet, but they are pretty.

{happy}

 

A few weeks ago, while we were out looking at yard sales we came across an in-home day-care that was foreclosing.  We saw a very small sign posted on the garage advertising that their play structure was for sale.  We were not necessarily looking for one right this moment, seeing as the sprinkler system has not yet been installed and the grass has not yet been planted.  But my dear husband went to look at it anyway and when the guy told him that he would take $200, what could we do but say "Sold!"

 

Because it is so large, and because Dan was leaving for his trip so soon, and because the sellers were foreclosing, time was against us and we had to hire someone to move it.  This raised the cost some, but not much and in the end, we have a very fun play structure in our backyard for much, much less than we would have otherwise paid.  

 

Fritter and Ladybug have spent most of their waking moments playing on it.  This makes them (and me) very happy. 

{funny}

 

We are a relatively low tech family as I think I may have mentioned before.  We do not own smart phones and our children do not play video games.  So when we go to a doctor's office or somewhere requiring patience on the part of the littles, we pack a bag with crayons and stickers and coloring and reading books. 

 

Yesterday Ladybug had her Little Gym dance class and while waiting Fritter and Sunflower were entertaining themselves very well.  Another little boy came over, curious about the story Fritter was making up as he colored in his pirates coloring book, and the two of them sat and made up stories together.  They were both being quiet and well behaved and it was fun to listen to their imagination.

 

And then the little boy's mother came over, and for whatever reason handed the boy her iPhone and the boy proceeded to go into lala land while Angry Birds took his attention.  The noise of the game attracted Fritter's attention and he stood in awe watching as the little boy...did whatever you do in the Angry Birds game.  I tried to draw Fritter's attention back to his book, but to a six year old boy the flashing lights proved much more interesting. 

 

Today, during Fritter's quiet time, I saw he had built this:

 

When I asked him what it was, he told me he was playing Angry Birds, and that the towers were the city and the animals were the egg stealers, the cars were the bird's spaceships and the building was the jail.

I'm sure this was much more entertaining than an iPhone could have been.  And a much better use of the imagination.

{real}

 

With Dan gone I'm doing my best to keep busy in the evenings.  This includes pulling out all the cloth diapers and making sure they are washed up and fixed up for the new baby.

Unfortunately, our BumGenius diapers all need replacement elastic and velcro tabs.  I ordered the kits when Sunflower was a baby and never got around to fixing them.  This is high on my "must be done before baby gets here" list this time around.



A diaper with the elastic fixed and the tabs off.


The yellow diaper is completely fixed and the green one is yet to be touched.

 

The diapers all have a slight odor to them as well, so I think I need to strip them when I'm done fixing them.   

 

And because my husband is gone (did I mention my husband is gone and two weeks seems like such a long time?) we haven't been eating dinner at the dining room table.  It has become my catch-all for miscellaneous projects and the dumping ground for my purse and coffee and water cups.  This is one thing that will be cleaned up before Dan gets home.

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