Vacation - Day Two

Cement, Gingerbread Men and Sanity

We did another craft today. This is Daddy's "Big Present" from the kiddos. He wanted a sundial, but the kids didn't want to clutter their beautiful design with numbers and a stick, so he's getting a very colorful stepping stone instead. They had a load of fun decorating it together, as you can see. The only problem arose at the end of the project when I caught Daphne licking her fingers off and saying "mmmmmmm, cookie!". Oh well, I'm sure she's ingested worse.

Anyhow, the kit had some templates for various designs you could make. Can you tell what ours is?

That's right. It's an airplane.

We also made gingerbread cookies today. That's always a load of fun. Here's how that went down...

The cookies are quite tasty and it was actually less messy than last year:

Apparently, it was less dangerous too, as Ethan felt secure enough to skip the safety goggles this time around.

We've also watched Frosty the Snowman (twice) and played Candyland about 1,000,000,001 times. Maybe more.

But they will only be young once. I have only so many years of them wanting to do these things. Before I know it, they will no longer think it's fun to play in dirt, have flour fights, eat cookies till you puke, and play board games that only require knowledge of seven colors and various sweets. Or at least, they'll no longer think it's fun to do these things with me.

Now, lest you begin to think I'm June Cleaver or Mary Poppins, let me assure you I am not. By 2:00 pm my left eye is twitchy and I'm starting to wish I had a pack of cigarettes hidden somewhere. Not because my kids are annoying, but because they are toddlers. They are demanding of my time, messy as hell and don't get the concept of wiping either their noses or their butts.

And so, every day at 2pm sharp, I take an hour of guilty indulgence and actually make them sit on the couch and watch a movie - sans Mommy. Not because I believe the television should be used as a babysitter, but because Mommy needs some time to regroup. To sit around and be accountable to no one but me. At 3pm I'll be back on snot-wiping duty, but for now I can read my email, update my blog or just surf the internet.

Now if the dog would just make up her mind about which side of the friggin door she wants to be on, maybe I could relax!!!