But sometimes I want my kids to myself. I like them.
Sometimes I just want my children to play with each other, which they generally do well. (Except when one of them has a friend over and starts to excludes the others.)
Occasionally, I will get my kids and make them hunker down in the basement with me (away from the front door and big windows upstairs) to play a game or just have mommy/sibling time. Since the neighborhood kids can see my van out front, the doorbell rings incessantly during these times. It actually works better to take a little field trip.
With the beginning of the new school year upon us, I was really having feelings of wanting my children around me. I call that a "Mother Hen Day"--named after the scriptures in the New Testament where it describes Christ saying how he often tried to gather his covenant people together "as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings." I've always loved that image of a mother hen lifting her wings, collecting her babies beneath them and keeping them next to her heart.
So, I was having my mother hen-type feelings and decided to take my kids to The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
We had a great day visiting the animals and enjoying each other. Highlights of the day include:
* This mother hen gathering her children together
* My children demanding I take their photo while sticking their heads through approximately 276 wooden pict-o-signs--my made-up term for one of these:
* Teensy really enjoying her ice cream treat as evidenced by her face here:
* Buddy trying to ride a tractor that is made for a child half his size
* Kenna happily squatting down to brush a goat
* Maia desperately trying to fit in the turtle shells
* All the children feeding a 16.5' tall giraffe
* A rare acquisition indeed: a photo of Mommy with her kids (thanks to the camera's self-timer and a well-placed fence)
5 comments:
What a sweet day.
I may have told you about this idea before... but http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/jaminacema/712885/ check it out... it's a good one.. train up those neighbor kids. :-)
Fun times! You are a great mom wanting her kids to yourself is great! We have NO neighbor kids who come by. Sometimes it is lonely, but most of the time it is nice.
This is a good post friend, I love it :)
Seriously Maia each day looks more and more like you. She even tilts her head a certain way you do.
What a good day. I can imagine the need to get away from all of the neighborhood madness. I've seen the craziness in Joel and Kim's neighborhood. It's enough to make me want to live in the middle of nowhere.
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