Order of daily events & fishin'. Dino fishin', that is...

We have developed quite the comfortable order of events lately as we've settled into life at our new place. I haven't really been paying attention to times, per say, but more so paying attention to what has to happen first before the next thing can happen.

In case you are interested, our mornings generally go as follows:
-Wake up
-Breakfast
-Free time for boys while I do laundry, check email, dishes, etc.
-Blanket time for boys while I finish up the above and take a shower
-Jurisdictions (more on that in another post)
-Hunter's school time at the kitchen table while Nathanael watches Flipper on the Wii
-Nathanael's school time in the playroom while Hunter watches Flipper on the Wii
-Free time while mommy makes lunch
-Lunch
-Free time while mommy cleans up after lunch

After that, naps have been optional. Nathanael is approaching his 3rd birthday and has been doing okay with not taking a nap at all a few times a week. We find that he goes to bed MUCH easier and earlier if we skip this nap, but the trade-off is a very crabby boy towards the end of the day.

Hunter, on the other hand, has only been napping once or twice a week for the past year. But, he always obliges me with going down for a nap with his brother and waiting until Nathanael falls asleep until he comes out to hang with me for the afternoon.

BUT, that's not really what I wanted to post about.

I wanted to post about the adventures that quickly ensue during the boys' free time.

I absolutely LOVE to allow for the boys to have imaginative play time. I also absolutely LOVE the stuff they come up with when left to their own devices and creativity!!


Today it was fishing with dinosaur bait. Hunter got this set of GEARS as a Christmas gift from Grandma a few years back. It has been great to see how it's been used to make every kind of weapon, animal, vehicle, and implement under the sun except for what the directions said to do with it.

Today, as you can see, the gears became fishing poles. The boys decided that they just had to go fishing and Hunter quickly whipped up a pole for himself and his brother.
I decided that they needed a line and something to hang on the end, so we fished (pun intended) out some plastic dinosaur bookmarks left over from Hunter's 5th birthday party and tied them gingerly around the dinosaur necks. The boys were told that they had to stay on the porch and be quiet so as not to disturb the classes that were happening just a little ways away behind the shuttered windows. I always try to keep outdoor fun to a minimum during a school day. I'm thankful that I was once a teacher and remember how distracting things can be when there's a lot of action happening outside a window. And I am training the boys to be mindful of this as well. Thankfully the boys realized it was safer to stay on the porch as that was their "boat" and there were sharks in the water to contend with as they fished.Although there were tangled lines, rod malfunctions, and it ended with an unfortunate bonk on the head with the pole of one brother to the other, the shrieks of delight from the large fish that were caught and the 20 or so minutes of quiet time in the house were well worth it.