the playhouse

have i mentioned the playhouse?

the guy who built the house we moved into, built his dream home for his family.  he was/is a landscaper, a general contractor and a dreamer.

we have benefited from it all.

one of the benefits, is that he built a playhouse for his little girl.

a two-story/covered front porch/upstairs balcony/wired with electricity type of playhouse.  it's pretty sweet.  he even took out a permit with the city to get it built (i guess the neighbors complained that the kids would be able to spy on them??).

anyhow, the kids were super excited when we first moved in, and then the excitement died down.  the only time they'd play in it was when friends would come over.  then it got hot.  really hot.  and the red ants like to come out and play in their thousands of hills in our backyard when it gets hot.  so it was abandoned.

well the weather has cooled off, and the playhouse has been discovered again.

the kids have gone out and played in it every day this week.  we swept it out, vacuumed the carpets, moved out the play kitchen, table and chairs.  the kids packed up their play food and pretend pots and pans.

and then i moved out a chair for me on the front porch.  to read on.  (as much as they love that it's hidden and "their" house, they prefer me to be out there too...but as you can see from the pictures, my book and chair were swiped...i didn't get much reading in)

as i sat and watched them play this afternoon, i felt so blessed. 

 i always feel blessed.  but i felt especially blessed.  

it reminded me slightly of what it was like when we grew up as kids.  we'd run around outside, playing in the dirt, building things out of twigs, making mud pies (we don't have mud here, but they make a lot of "salad" out of the green leaves), get startled by bugs when we'd flip over a log, etc.  i loved it.  

today my kids had dirty little hands and feet.

they were exploring.  

doing the things kids should be doing.

i felt so blessed.