An Odd Week...Playing, Washing & Swimming...

OK, so it was an odd week for us. Since returning from Mt. Shasta, I have not been able to get into the groove. Luckily, the girls have grown up with lots of unstructured playtime, so they are often off exploring and creating on their own, which gives me the time off when I need it. Sure, our house looks like a tornado blew through it and despite my intentions of establishing rhythm and routine in the clean-up sector, my consistency leaves something to be desired...

But here is a recap of some highlights of this past week. For the girls 6th birthday, their grandparents bought them a LOVELY wooden stable which they decided to turn into a "circus" using some colored cloths. The animals went on parade all around it and hours later, I was delighted to see the fruits of their playing when I walked into the family room (not that I hadn't been in the room for hours, but I hadn't really looked around at their set up.)


Another fun thing they did this week was to wash their own clothes and hang them to dry on the line. Last Christmas, they received wash boards, but I never bought the tubs because I couldn't justify forking out more for shipping them than the actual cost of the tubs themselves. I have been unsuccessful at finding them locally, though I should look again now that it is springtime. For now, they will use our water table, which has been everything from a pool/sea/pond, desert (full of sand), cauldron, mud pie vat, and now laundry tub...worth every bit of the $35 we paid for it 5 years ago!

I can't find my laundry line, so we used their daddy's old Cub Scout rope and I nailed it to our lanai posts. It worked! Make shift, but does the job!

We had to help my dad out this weekend, but in between, we enjoyed his pool. The girls have a blast and have become quite the little fishies. Dad and I ran out with "C" and grabbed some more floaties, as the ones we had through the years eventually gave out. Dad splurged and bought them a huge sea serpent, which we call "Lochie" - short for Loch Ness baby monster. And he bought them a boat with some oars. All the cousins are going to have a blast when they come to visit this summer! Here are some fun shots of our time there:

And a little video, for a change, of my dad, Tony, and the girls enjoying a day at Grandfathers :)

The odd week has continued into this week and I'm afraid I am just having one of those mom moments, which I refuse to term "depression". Just a funk that will give way soon, I hope. These hormones... I don't know...I think I need to get my butt out for a hike and those endorphins will chase the blues away :)

I am excited because this weekend, we'll finally be meeting the owners of the Syrendell site (the Tan family)! They will be at a fiber arts retreat not too far from our house and on Sunday we will be joining them and picking up a bunch of goodies we purchased from their etsy site. I will be sure to bring my camera and am excited to meet this wonderful, creative family :)

Thank you for reading and if you have any silly stories or poems to uplift my spirits, I'd love to hear them :) Whenever I have times like this, I am very humbled. I know we all go through them & there is a reason for them, but I'm not quite sure what that reason is...a lesson in strength, patience, and tolerance perhaps?!?