The No-Backyard Backyard

We moved to a condo this summer, and so lost our backyard. Now, we gained so many other things in this move that you shouldn't be sad for us about that, but it did leave me with the puzzle: how do my kids play outside now?

Well, eventually, I think that answer is going to involve going to the park more often, when we've got kids old enough for kicking a ball around a field and such. But since we're talking about preschoolers, the answer has been: we're making our patio as yard-ish as possible. Here are a few of the ways that we're doing that:
Sand is the first and biggest one. This has taken the place of our old backyard mud hole, where the kids played for hours with shovels and trucks. Now they have a big tub of sand they're allowed to scatter all over the patio, and they play with that for hours with their shovels and trucks. When they're done, I just sweep it all up and put it back in the tub. (The tub, of course, has a lid, to keep the neighborhood cats for using it as a litter box.)

Water play is another big one. They're allowed to fill their sand buckets with water and take them outside, to splash, to play kitchen, to get as wet as their little hearts desire.

Toy dinosaurs find room to roam, both on the concrete of the patio, and in the jungle of nearby landscaped plants.

The makeshift bridges in the picture above are my latest and favoritest no-backyard backyard development. The lumber was sitting on our patio, and the kids started taking it out and using it for balance beams. I suggested they put it over the nearby concreted-in ivy patch, and a game of building bridges was born.

That highlights one of the most important strategies of the no-backyard backyard, I think: using what you have. We happen to have a concreted-in ivy patch, perfect for board bridges. You might have something else. Use what you have.

What else do we have? A built-in audience of little sisters, curious to see what their older siblings are doing:


peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

Getting Ready for All Saints' Day

Today my oldest daughter and I went through our books and got out the ones about the saints (a few of them are pictured above). We've started reading bits of them, and will keep doing it throughout the week.

We've been playing some saints' lives during dress-up time. We're beginning to sing the children's saint hymn around our house again.

What are you doing to get ready for All Saints this Saturday?

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

a good morning

This has been such a good morning, the sort of morning you want to share with someone, so here I am, sharing it with you.

My daughters woke me up, the twins cooing and my older one standing in the doorway of our room caroling, “good morning, Mom!” Bess kept her baby sisters amused while I got dressed and such; such a gift that she likes them so well!

When I came downstairs to fix breakfast, I found a note from my husband propped above the sink. I love notes, and he knows it, and every time he leaves one for me, it makes me feel so good that he took the time to do something he knows I love.

We had breakfast, the four of us, while my son continued to sleep. A good thing, as he didn’t get enough yesterday, and was cranky all last afternoon. Then I got to read a book while drinking my coffee – a pleasure regularly interrupted to talk to my oldest about the pictures she’s drawing and to play with the babies who were crawling around, looking for dropped Cheerios.

And then, Lucy crawled! The babies have been scooting efficiently forward for about a month now, but this was a real crawl! I love watching my kids learn new things. I bet Anna follows her sister’s lead within the week.

Finally, on the baby monitor, I heard a little boy’s voice saying, “I see baby Jesus looking at me!” and realized that Gamgee was awake and reading a Christmas book in his room. I waited a few minutes, because this is a boy who hates being interrupted while he wakes up, and then went up to get him. He wanted me to carry him downstairs, this sturdy little boy of mine, which was a treat for both of us. He usually wants to walk, and my arms are often full of his sisters.

He ate breakfast, and I looked at some fabric I’d brought downstairs, trying to match it with patterns I have on hand. Not a necessary job, just a just-for-fun thing. I’m trying to make myself craft Christmas presents on weekdays, and craft for myself only on Sundays, but sometimes it spills over from the weekend.

Eventually the babies needed to be nursed down to their nap, and after I did that, I let the older two go outside and play with sand and trucks and plastic dinosaurs. While they did that, I did my morning chores. Gamgee is still playing with the sand, even though his baby sisters are up again. He’ll play with dirt and trucks for hours. Lucy and Anna are on their tummies in front of the door, just watching him. I’m typing this, and about to get back to some real work.

But this is the sort of morning that I think of when I think of my best days at home with the kids. And I just wanted to share it. And record it, so I can remember. Thanks be to God that there are days like this sometimes.

Peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell

painting

And this is what the kids were doing this morning. I love the way Gamgee is pressing down so hard on the brush in this picture, evidence of the seriousness with which he does his work:

Whereas Bess has a calmer, more mature style:

Her stated goal was "to make red paper" and I think she succeeded. It's funny to me how she can draw anything she likes now - people, animals, plants - but when she paints she can't resist simply covering the entire page with color.

peace of Christ to you,
Jessica Snell