I am constantly inspired in so many ways by weather that is not cold. I have always loved Summer and I feel like i do my best work professionally during the summer months, I also tend to keep the house up a little better. But for all the inspiration that I draw from nature and the warm weather there is also something else that inspires me to get creative....these crazy, bored, whiney, annoying children of mine.
Our kids love to play outside and would probably stay outside for the majority of the day if they could stand the heat for more than a few hours. Today it is wet and muddy and muggy outside. I don't even want to be out there. I was kind of hoping to get a lot done today, so I was not thrilled at all with the bleak outlook for our day filled with fights, tantrums, toy trails all through the house and non stop request for snacks(because when they are bored, they think they are hungry). we had a day like this a few weeks ago too. I kept encouraging the kids to make up a game or activity to play together but all of Cate's ideas fell flat---I mean, who knew the boys wouldn't want to be the crowd watching Cate have a dance recital? Frustrated and on the brink of a nervous breakdown, I set up a make-shift pet store in the hallway. It was composed of a laundry basket, a rotary phone, a chalk board, a blind panel, and lots of stuffed animals. The kids found some aprons and decorated their store and played for HOURS. It was awesome.
So seeing that today could possibly be rescued much the same way, I feverishly searched the house for something that would give me some kind of inspiration. Enter...a picnic basket. Filled with cups and forks and a blanket. Indoor picnic! And a tent. And I will serve them lunch. But if you are camping, you gotta have a fire. Crepe paper. I knew I had some red, but I was thrilled when I found a roll of orange and yellow as well. Tossing my crepe paper fire in one of my wooden salad bowls, Cate brought me a roll of white crepe paper and asked if I needed that as well. why yes, yes I do. Marshmellows...taped onto sticks from the yard. I served the kids some sandwiches and let their imaginations run as wild as they could. who knew a baby big foot would wander into their camp site after getting lost from his mother and that they would have to fill their back packs up with supplies for the dangerous trek through the dark spooky forrest to find mama big foot. (and FYI, nerf bullets can bring down a bear)
And if you are asking yourself why we have a big foot stuffed animal, I have to ask you...Do you even know our family? Of course we have a big foot. (if you look behind Cate in the pet shop picture, you can see a glimpse of baby big foot)
I hope all of you are enjoying your summer and staying sane with those kids out of school!
2 comments:
Those are GREAT ideas!!!! When my kids are bored, they always want to go swimming, but that means I won't be able to get anything done in the house. I wish I (or my kids) had some of your creativity.
Plus, you can't swim on rainy days anyway. I have to force myself to be creative about coming up with stuff for them. After the years of them being fascinated by just a blanket thrown over some chairs slowly faded away, I had no choice but to start doing other stuff. However, I wish I could find a way to get creative that didn't always leave such a huge mess to clean up! The kids agreed that we'll be saving our crepe fire and maybe tonight we'll put a little flash light or something under it so it will be a little more fun. Thankfully today once the fun wore off the sun came out so they are outside playing pirates on the picnic table now! Yeah, quiet house!
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