~ rhythm of the home giveaway ~

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A quick note......
The new Spring edition of Rhythm of the Home is out!

It's a great issue....lots of wonderful articles to read and crafts to make.
The surprise yarn eggs is one of my favorites, but I'm still reading through them all!

Over at the ROTH blog they're having an incredible giveaway.
Please visit the giveaway post, and enter to win one of the many lovely gifts.
I put my name in the hat for the Backwoods Mama Spring Sew Camp!

~ sand play ~

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Our sandbox has been a favorite place to play recently.

Thanks to Daddy adding a few bags of fresh sand!

(Doesn't that always make a difference? Freshening up a spot?)

Lela created this magical land.

She commented, "the darker sand works best, the lighter sand won't stick together".

Of course, I had to ask why (for my own insecure self, not for the sake of education),

and she said "because the darker sand is wet"

with an ever-so-slight hint of annoyance in her voice.

Duh, mom.........

I made up for my mistake by sitting down and playing with her,

setting up scenes, adding decorations and listening to her.

This little bouquet of flowers, she tells me,

is what the puppy uses to mark his territory.

She wanted me to take a picture of the puppy under the bridge.

She posed her little daddy faery in his room.

~ photograph by lela ~ 

~ photograph by lela ~ 

Laurel makes a soup.

For anyone interested,

our sandbox is a lovely hexagon, created by my awesome man!

It's 6 Bradford pear stumps (from a tree we cut down)

and 12 short logs of cedar that was scavenged. 

Also a side note - the bare feet, arms and legs?

Because it was in the mid-70s here on March 1st when I took these pictures!

~carrie~

~ follow through ~

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The box that the girls' bathroom light 

was left under the sink.

Lela found it and whilst in the bathroom,

broke the styrofoam into pieces.

Tiny balls almost lighter than air rolled and blew over the floor.

I didn't follow through with having her clean it up,

and they moved to the bedroom,

where they created a snowy day for their dollhouse inhabitants.

Once again, I didn't follow through with telling them to stop their mess,

and the snowy day turned to a blizzard.

It got much worse than these pictures.....

Far, far worse......

The tiny little bits of styrofoam clung to everything.

Every stuffed animal in the room.....

In between the sheets......

On the walls.....

In our hair......

I admit that I lost my patience more than a couple times,

with three little girls who were having more fun rolling on the floor

than helping vacuum and shake tiny balls out of everything.

After emptying the vacuum canister about a dozen times,

and unclogging the motor filter nearly as often,

shaking out all the sheets, 

brushing off each toy,

we declared the room almost clean.

Now there are only about 3 million little balls of foam hiding and sticking in unlikely places.

Down from 3 billion.....I don't exaggerate. 

I don't feel particularly good about my temper flaring with them,

though I admit that I don't mind them seeing me (rightfully) upset.

I have had a couple apologies - 

for not listening and disobeying and for doing something wrong in the first place.

I've also issued a couple apologies - 

for yelling, and for not seeing that they followed through.

Live and learn.....
Lela's consequence is picking up 25 balls once, twice or three times a day, until they are gone,
(the little ones are at 20).
My consequence is having to enforce the aforementioned consequence......and follow through...

These are small children.

Small children are not small adults.

Small children make messes.

Small children should not be expected to control their impulses all the time.

Small children can learn a lot by having a (relatively) grounded parent,

helping them wade through the consequences of their actions.

And it seems like I have to relearn this every day.

~carrie~