Hunter's "Fort Tent" and Other Stuff

Recently, I made a deal with myself that I am not going to be so consumed with keeping my house spotless...well, spotless in my standards, anyway...and have fun with my kids (with the exception of the kitchen, as I HATE having a dirty kitchen and having dishes littering my sink and counter tops).  When someone walks in through my living room, you can definitely tell I have kids, because there are usually books out, puzzles on the floor, or toys scattered.


On Thursday, this is what you would have found had you come to my front door:

Hunter has one of those tents that you twist and turn and it folds up in a nice little circle...he wanted to get that tent out.  I asked him if he wanted to "build a fort out of blankets and the couches".  His little face completely lit up, he was so excited!  I asked him to go downstairs and get the blankets out of my cedar chest, and some extra pillows we keep in the family room.  He had an absolute BLAST helping me build the fort.  He now asks to build "a fort tent" every day, which we usually do.


Later in the day on Thursday, after we had cleaned up the fort up, he wanted to get his Thomas the Train tracks out my brother Mike gave him for Christmas...he had something else in mind for the tracks:

Yep, the train tracks made an excellent racetrack!  This boy of mine amazes me with his imagination and the things he comes up with!  I often tell Zane our boy is a genius...I know, I'm kind of prejudiced about that.  :)


Obviously, Hunter isn't the ONLY one who gets to make messes and have fun!  Paizlei is my BIG mess maker!  This girl knows how to make a mess!  However, she doesn't really have toys with a bazillion pieces like Hunter, mainly because she still puts everything in her mouth.  So, she likes to play with Hunter's toys, but he usually won't let her play with them when he is home, so we have to sneak them out when he is at school or with Daddy.

At first, when I made this goal with myself, I think my kids were a little unsure as to why Mom was letting them make messes in places in the house, that I usually don't let them, as it's usually the room everyone sees when they come to my house.  Now, they LOVE it and they know it's okay to make a mess, as long as they help clean it up.  And, I have come to the conclusion that I like having a home that looks like we live in it, instead of one that is so spotless (remember, spotless to my standards).  And now, I don't mind people coming in and seeing the toys, fort tents, books, etc out, because I know my kids are having fun!!!


PS...Don't you LOVE Paizlei's tongue?  She gets that tongue-sticking-out-during-serious-concentration from her Dad.