Day Thirty-Four: A Sunny Day to Build A Floor

This morning started with a snuggle in my bed with William. He climbed under the covers and proceeded to try to lick his own eye. He said he wished he were a gecko so he could accomplish this. Like I've said - they are going to go back to school with so much random information in their heads. Since it was a chilly morning, William stayed in bed and watched The Magic School Bus while I made breakfast. I had promised to make a special breakfast for our Saturday morning, and so I baked a batch of pumpkin scones, delivering warm scones to the two children as they watched their morning shows. They don't even know how good they have it.

I chopped up veggies and got a pot of oyster mushroom, veggie and barley soup on to simmer for lunch. While I was chopping and cooking, Jeremy and the kids drew different ideas for the playhouse we've promised to build them. They decided on a combination between a cottage and a castle. I think a draw bridge will be involved, and certainly a tower with turrets. And no ghosts. William was very specific about no ghosts.

Leaving the soup to simmer on low, I ventured into the great outdoors. It was cool but sunny, so I just needed my work jacket. Daisy was ecstatic, and we had a good snuggle before we went for a stroll through the gardens. Jeremy and I often have the problem that we plant all our beds with early spring stuff, like garlic and potatoes, and then have no room left for the next round of veggies. I found a few scraps of cedar and screwed together a 3' x 3' square raised bed. Now I just have to decide where I'm going to put it, and find soil to fill it with. I was quite pleased with my little construction project! I'm planning on planting it with kale first.

Taiya was playing in the way-back of the car, and she asked to have a tray with lunch on it brought out to her. I'm not sure what she game was playing, but it was a creative way to get alone time.

Jeremy decided to get started on the playhouse now that we had a plan(ish), and he got the posts planted and the floor framed in. I carried over the cedar boards for the decking, and we tag-teamed to get them all screwed down square. The kids played on their swing set while we worked, and it was a beautiful way to spend the afternoon, hearing their chatter, working smoothly on a family project with my husband. I'm grateful for the sunshine and the feeling of accomplishment.

It is my big brother Jared's birthday today, and I spent a lot of time thinking about our life together. I have so many memories of him making me laugh, him helping me through hard times, working with him at Parker Restoration, and getting to have fun with him as adults with our own kids playing together. I hope he felt all the love I was sending his way throughout this beautiful, sunny Saturday.

Once we got the deck of the playhouse finished, the kids and I played a rousing game of charades, where the person who was "it" was on the platform "stage." We didn't have cards to draw, so we just thought up whatever we wanted to act out. I was quite amazed with how much my kids know about animals. We would have to do verbal cues now and then, like when William would give us the hint, "I'm an extinct animal, bigger than an African Elephant! And I eat plants!" or Taiya humming while she flapped her arms really fast (a hummingbird), or me, telling them I was an animal that lived on a coral reef (it's hard to act out an anemone). I've been overhearing some of their shows, so I was able to give them the hint: "I'm an invasive species that can really hurt a kelp forest." And they immediately shouted out, "Orange sea star!" However, they did take a terribly long time to guess that I was a skier. They thought my convincing tuck was a rocket ship. Southern babies, for sure.

Testing out the floor.

William and Daisy approve.

William was a good helper!

The finished product! Now it's time for walls, a door, windows,
cute curtains, a mail box, a draw bridge, and a turret. And maybe
a moat? ;-)

After completing the playhouse floor it was late afternoon and the kids needed baths. I found four
ticks crawling on Taiya and several on me when we were getting our work clothes off, and so we did a thorough tick-check (we do this multiple times a day anyway, living in our ticky woods), filled up the tubs, and they had a good soak while I got dinner ready and Jeremy did afternoon chores. I baked russet potatoes and sweet potatoes, heated up some of the pinto beans from the other night, sauteed the last of our latest flush of oyster mushrooms with soy sauce and sesame oil, sauteed green beans, grated cheese, and got out the cabbage slaw I made a few nights ago to have on the side. (This is a non-mayo slaw that just has cabbage, onion, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, salt, and cumin. Grated carrots are good in it too, though I made it without this time and it was still so good.) Each of us configured our plates differently. William only had sweet potatoes, butter, and cheese. Taiya had a white potato, butter, cheese, beans, and green beans. I had it all, and Jeremy had it all but with hot sauce on top. We ate out on the porch in the evening sun, Daisy sniffing around our ankles for dropped bites. It was a lovely meal. The kids got the last two chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

They were ready to watch The Magic School Bus some more, so they went upstairs and snuggled their clean selves down to relax for some shows before stories and bed. During stories, Anne learned she was going to get to stay at Green Gables, and William and I read The Day the Goose Got Loose, and Come On, Rain!, which is one of my favorite children's books. Such beautiful writing: "tending beds of drooping lupines" is a line I love to say over and over.

Day thirty-four was a beauty, a sparkling day that left my shoulders aching, my belly happy, and my heart brimming.