April 28 at the Beach House

Tuesday:  Much of my morning was spent in preparation for my three littles who were coming over at 11AM. I cleaned up a bunch of the toys and got out one that Aidan hasn't played with yet--mostly because it actually belongs to Kaity-Girl. When I spoke to her the other day, though, she said it would be fine if the other kiddos played with it--as long as we were careful!

 I decided the coffee table would be the best place to set up the treehouse because if it was on the floor, it would get stepped on by lots of feet ...

 I also got out the three horses and riders so that there would be more "people" to play in the treehouse. Aidan and Erin really loved playing with all of this stuff today.

 Brendan designed his very own "train bridge" and was very proud of it too. The little steam engine is a much coveted train around here ... so I have to monitor it's sharing time.

 Isn't it so great to watch little ones play?

 Erin's expressions!

 Isn't she something? Gah!

 And Aidan too ... he was SO pleased to play with this set today.

 Of course, Aidan didn't miss out on playing with the trains either ... but look who has landed on his precious shoulder?

 "Gamma! Gamma, no no Matey!" Aidan spoke with a quiet and very controlled voice ... but he was seriously NOT liking physical contact with Matey-Bird! So I rescued my dear Aidan immediately.

 Brendan made up his own game ... it was a map game that was supposed to be played all over my little house and we were supposed to collect "stamps" in our squares and circles ... but we never got to play it, and I never quite figured out the rules of the game, because there was just too much else going on. I hate to disappoint Brendan like this, but sometimes it just can't be helped.

 These two ...

Everyone got a little "fussy" by about 2:30, so I put on the remainder of Frozen 2, popped some popcorn, and everyone settled down for a little while. I did the lunch dishes and did a little bit of picking up (I have a low tolerance for long-term chaos ... but I'm growing in it!). At about 3:15 or so, we piled back into the car and headed over to Lowell to walk the new pedestrian bridge.