It was another beautiful fall day in our part of the world, and I was determined that it would not be another Saturday spent in front of screens (no matter how much Mommy might like college football). I may or may not have cheated with a movie at 6 o'clock this morning when Sawyer decided to get up for the day. But Mommy doesn't do 6 o'clock, certainly not on Saturdays.
The rest of the day was spent playing. We spent a few hours in the play room rediscovering toys. My first trick was to clean up a little and figure out what might interest the boys. They are pretty much incapable of finding anything on their own. Apparently organizing toys into bins means that they disappear. But I digress ... I pulled the trusty Hot Wheels track from the bottom of one of the toy boxes and spent some time reassembling all of the pieces. And then I had to get more batteries. Would it be incredibly wrong to ask people just to get the boys batteries for Christmas? Because that's really all they need to make their old toys seem new, and Mommy may or may not change them very often.
But anyway, new batteries were installed. And this is where the three of them quickly migrated, to the newly assembled and operational Hot Wheels track. They spent hours testing out cars, seeing which ones still had four functioning wheels and which ones could go the fastest while still staying on the track. Xander may or may not have enjoyed spending most of his time blocking or crashing cars. Connor and Sawyer were content to watch them go and go really fast.
And lest the picture above be too deceiving that the boys were playing harmoniously for hours, I feel the need to show you the following, which is more typical of their interactions ...
Next up in our day was to enjoy the gorgeous weather while it lasts. We moved outside for the next few hours. There was a lot of swinging, a lot of bouncing on the trampoline, and quite a bit of chalk coloring on the patio and on the wooden play set. There were attempts at tennis (don't ask) and fetch with the puppy (he's good at retrieving it once, but then he likes to just chew on it). We had icees and took lots of pictures of the afternoon.
And then it was time for dinner, a little more playing in the sun room while I cleaned up from dinner, then baths and bed.
And Mommy may or may not have turned the television back on for some college football (LSU at Alabama, that's pretty much a championship game that requires viewing). I also may or may not have gotten out the laptop to upload pictures and blog. Ahem.
The good news is the kids had a single movie of screen time (all at the crack of dawn when sane people are still asleep). And that was it. All day long. They played (albeit with some help and prodding and refereeing), both with toys in their play room and outside in the back yard.
And we all survived. My back might be a little more sore than normal. But I have a feeling this is probably my new normal, what with my having back surgery a few months ago and all.
Just another day in the life ...