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Rainy Days

 I may have mentioned once or twice before that our kids are...active.  They have a very large...zest for life.  Sometimes the house cannot contain their energy.  It has rained a lot in the last ten days, and I cannot contain their energy.  

By day two, I encouraged the boys to go outside.  It wasn't raining that hard.  That was all they needed to hear; they were out the door in a flash.  The girls...well, it would mean I'd have to go out with them, and I just wasn't built for cold-weather playground duty.  I'm happy to be in the weather doing stuff, but supervising in the cold is not my cup of tea.  

The girls were not thrilled with my choice.  

The boys, however, took full advantage and dug a pond.  Each.  Each boy dug a pond.  Because we need more holes in places.  When they "struck water!" they came to me with as much enthusiasm as if it had been oil.  I couldn't be mad.  

I was a little mad though when they used their boots to try and bail the water out.  I was also a little mad when they wore those boots in the house, and when they decided to wade barefoot in their ponds, and when they came barefoot into the house after wading in their ponds.  So there is that.   

At one point, they came in for swimsuits.  It was 46 degrees out.  I said no to the swimsuits which made them mad.  So we were even.  But I think I still lost because I ended up having to wash at least two sets of clothes from each of them.  Oh well, at least they were getting some fresh air.  

The girls weren't getting fresh air.  They were sneaking into my baking cabinet and mixing the flour with the sugar and the sugar with the flour.  Never, never turn your back on a quiet toddler.  

At the end of weeks like this, I need just a minute to recoup.  So, I recently started sneaking over to a neighbor's farm just for an hour to pull weeds or dig trenches.  Ross says it sounds boring.  I say it doesn't sound at all, and that's why it's so magical.         

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