Never underestimate the power of the random

The girls have coughs. *Sigh*, *Groan*, *Eye roll* and *Growl.* I hate having sick children. First and most important I feel so helpless and my heart aches for them. Even smart as a whip Grace does not understand why she feels terrible when she feels terrible. Second, living in Arizona I spend more than my fair share of time hiding indoors. We've been in the 110-115 degree heat range for a few weeks now and it's no-fun. So I especially hate being trapped in the house with sick kiddos when we had something to do or an excuse to leave the house. Mondays are swim lessons and we were unable to participate today. Beside the fact that I am bored and trapped and frustrated, the girls are used to doing something fun or hanging with Rylan. Now on to the task of entertaining them as best as I can...


I can only let the girls watch so much TV before I cannot stand the fact that they are rotting their little brains away. Grace, while she has learned a lot from Dora and Kai-Lan, needs to be creative and not sedentary. Even as happy as she seems vegging out in front of the tube, if she doesn't "do" something she goes crazy or at least she acts crazy. A few shows, a movie, ask about Rylan & Monica, paints, crayons, play-doh, ask about Rylan, puzzles, story time, songs, blocks, more paints, re-read library books, ask about Rylan for the millionth time, Grace tries to teach Lily her shapes, Grace tries to teach Lily to clap, Little People, busy bee band, more stories, there were some naps in there, more Little People, a lot more asking about Rylan and a lot of talking back and frustration over being kept inside and away from Rylan.



When 'the boys' (Rory and Sean) and I were kids, there was something about a bed sheet for a hammock that was more fun than the hammock in the yard; A bunch of plywood up in a tree that was more fun than out play set in the yard; A mattress on the floor that was more fun than the beds we slept in nightly; A refrigerator box that was way more fun than all the toys we owned combined and a big bucket of water beat out the slip n' slide, pool and sprinkler any day. Random, right? The girls and I had gone through most of the obvious things to play with today. It's 5:30pm, Brian is out the door for his weekly softball game with the other husbands from the neighborhood and I am at a loss... So I give in and put a movie in - It does not work.



((Light-bulb!))



Out to the garage and I grab the air mattress. This thing is great! Plug it in, push the button and in less than a minute you have a bounce house, a bed, part of a fort, something to belly flop on, a way to entertain a sick child who is not sick enough to rest quietly, but too sick to go for our evening swim... Why didn't I think of this sooner??? This is amazing!! Lily's laughing, Grace is laughing, there has not been laughter in this house for hours!! Maybe tomorrow if the kids are still under the weather I'll pull a big cardboard box out of the garage and we'll figure out what we can do with that... I'm only 33, I was a kid not all that long ago...How could I forget how much fun the random stuff is?



Here is what happens when you turn your back on the kids in my house...
All I did was walk out to the garage to get the air mattress...