for the love of play

Today was a major transition day. Maggie's cousins left this morning after an amazing week of visiting. On days like this, I step up my game a little. I read many books, employing many ridiculous voices. We ate strawberry walnut yogurt parfaits for lunch (thank you Raquel for that idea!) and ants-on-a-log for snack (I was dismayed to find that, like her father and her grandfather before her, Maggie does not "do" celery). I slapped together some makeshift cracker box architecture for her cars, people and animals (1. thank you Jenny for the inspiration 2. Thin Addictives cookies come in a HOUSE SHAPED BOX!). Now. Here is the slam dunk. I took our homemade play dough OUTSIDE! *cue harp sounds of brilliance* Thank you Internets for the best play idea all summer....for me anyway. Maggie lost interest pretty quickly. Above is the play dough/nature installation "we" built on the sidewalk.

So as I was putting her to bed, when I asked her what the highlight of her day was (a nightly ritual), she did not skip a beat. "My favourite day was watching Franklin, Mommy!" All that, and the best part of her day was watching Franklin Plays Hockey while I ignored her to sweep and edit photos..........................

Keep calm and carry on,
C.