As a mother of a crew of boys, it's quite often I'll walk into one of the rooms and find something random like this. A sheet of baking paper splattered with Maple syrup straight from Canada. At $10 per bottle, you would understand my gasp at viewing what I quickly found out was a, "fly trapping station". Of course, it is.
You'll notice the family house flyer below promises $1 per fly caught. I'm sure the station will eventually work and yield profits. It's day 2. Not a single one caught yet.
We neglect this blog. We admit it. Between the shopping and eating, the salvation of our real life gets lost. So after a few meetings of the minds, it has been decided that we will commit to daily bits of salvation. Coincidentally that's our Twitter handle: @bitsofsalvation so be sure to follow us there, too. Whether it's a photo, quote, current topic or rant, it'll be a daily thing that inspires us and we'll share it with you. Today it's the dawn of spring. The sun was out so the kids uncurled themselves from the winter couch and stepped outside. They chose to delve into soap concoctions and potions. Good old soap and water mixed with whatever nature has to offer was on the ingredient list. Half a dozen various reusable containers, spoons and a few tea towels made the creativity all happen. Fitting for a day that had seemingly been magically transformed from dark to light in a matter of hours. The children played and created with the sun above. Enough cannot be said for the powers of Vitamin D and these photos are proof positive that the sun rays energize the body, mind, and spirit.
A few tips...
Set a limit on soap. The fun can last for hours but there is not an endless supply.
Soap play can become a safety hazard with spilt bottles and containers. Have plenty of towels and always put soap lids back on.
This is definitely an outside activity. Enough said.
This morning we walked into the playroom and this is what we saw. The children made us guess for a long time and we eventually did. It's a lava pit. Didn't guess on the white bits (Kleenex) which are supposed to be melting things. We posted this photo below on Instagram as a puzzler because this is a real situation that happens quite a bit in our lives and oftentimes, as adults, we are puzzled. They create something in their little world that makes complete sense. It's so much fun for them to be free and let the creative juices flow. I'm such a nervous nelly and worry, "What if they fall off the side and hurt a body part?!" What if they do? They did and they are fine. After about a decade of learning to parent, we've let go and all of us have never been happier. Children will fall and get hurt and of course parents are always there but it's good for them in many ways. It happens to all of us and it's the only way to learn to get back up in life. Sometimes you have to try again to build a better "lava pit".
Now sliding into a pit of lava seems dark and would have serious repercussions in real life but we give them an A+ for brilliant little imaginations. "Avoid real lava," is what our 8 year old just said over my shoulder.
