The Party's at GoodHome!!!

This is the first week of summer and for some reason, it just hasn’t been a great week for me. I have little motivation to do much of anything. The kids are driving me crazy, I don’t feel like exercising despite the fact that our beach vacation is just 5 weeks away, trying to work has been unproductive, Facebook is slow, and Pinterest only reminds me of all the things I could or should be doing besides looking at the internet. Honestly, I would love to pull the covers over my head and sleep for the rest of the afternoon. So, I decided I needed to update this here blog. It doesn’t take an enormous amount of effort and I will be getting something done, right?

Earlier this spring, we bought the kids a playset for the backyard. Back in the fall, we requested that our family members contribute towards the set for the girls’ birthday and Christmas presents rather than buying toys. I really did not need more stuff to pick up off the floor, and this is a toy they will use for years and remember forever. Plus, at their age, they did not notice fewer gifts under the tree. Mom and Jack, Dana and Jacob, Pam and Kevin, and Charlie all sent a check instead of a package (how’s that for saving on postage?) Their contributions paid for about half of the total cost. Yay!!! And thank you, everyone!!!! We waited until the weather got warm to buy, and decided to purchase a set built by local Mennonites. They delivered and assembled it. I wish now that I had taken some pictures of it being put together. We are so pleased with it. It has an 8-foot slide, monkey bars, a sandbox and room for up to three swings or a trapeze bar/rings. It is solidly constructed and looks good in the yard. Oh, and the kids LOVE it. Before it was even finished, there were two neighbor kids hanging out waiting for its completion. Looks like the party is at our house this summer! Within a week, both Leighton and Brandeis had figured out how to climb the ladder without assistance. 

That Leighton is going to be trouble. She had only started walking two weeks before. Now, she’s climbing 6-foot ladders by herself! I was outside with the girls one afternoon, doing some yard work while they played. I went inside our storage shed to retrieve my trowel and when I came out, I discovered Leighton up in the fort. Just a few seconds before, she had been playing quietly in the sandbox. 

She is a stealthy one and has no fear....of anything.

Even Kathleen's dolls are having a blast swinging!

We also bought a steering wheel for the fort and a baby swing for Leighton. 

I think I'd like to add a climbing wall to the backside, underneath the monkey bars.

Why didn't they have these things when I was a kid?

Oh, and I just have to add this picture of Brandeis patiently waiting for his turn to climb the ladder.

What a good boy!!!!

And up he goes!