Budding Builders

This week we have been having some work done on the house. A good friend of ours is a joiner by trade and we have had on occasion the pleasure of being able to offer him some work. He is a very skilled joiner and by far my favourite thing he has done for us is a built in window seat that doubled up as a storage unit. In a slim terraced house the seat unit was so practical and it blended in beautifully to the original features thanks to the clever workmanship of this man. Alas we moved from that house and had to start again with our home improvements. Our house in its current state is quite a mix of decor inside with fairly new bathrooms and a freshly decorated nursery for Mr Smiley yet the living room is quite archaic with a large chunk of wallpaper missing and the kitchen is bizarre with new appliances and worktops yet old cupboards that are now falling off, no wallpaper, no wall tiles and a floor that has seen better days. But hey it is our home. I have conditioned myself to not look too closely at the bizarre interior and focus on keeping it a welcoming home instead. The outside of the house is completely different. Since moving in we have replaced all doors and windows, re-landscaped the garden and now all the fascias around the roof have been changed. You simply wouldn't recognise the house from the outside.

Maybe one day I will see more miraculous changes inside. Mr Faithful has promised me a newly replasted front room when we go away on holiday in the summer.

Anyway, the arrival of our joiner friend and his son this week has meant my boys have wanted to build their own creations. Unfortunately for me this has meant a new gathering of various sticks and twigs brought back from local parks to aid the boys building adventures. I could have a small bonfire with the amount they have collected. Today saw a different kind of building in that classic form we have all come to love...Lego. Boy do these boys love Lego. They diligently worked through their manuals and built all the different models they could and then had a great time playing with them. I marvel at their patience and their perseverance when Lego is involved. On some days they will often rush through writing practice, unable to sit through read alouds, and lie prostrate on the floor at the thought of maths. It is on those days the Lego will come out. Mr Cheeky loves the emergency services and his favourite piece is a police truck.

There is a lot of educational value in this classic toy. I often use them as math manipulatives. They have been used in history to build siege towers and labyrinth mazes. You can stick letters to them and use them to build words. However today I just let the kids play. I think they found it refreshing and for me too it was nice to see the boys playing together and sharing. Their imaginations were running wild as they concocted their own stories. It was encouraging too that Mr Social naturally and without being prompted picked up a book and read it to Mr Cheeky. How lovely to see him getting along with his brother so well. In the meantime I was able to give Mr Smiley some attention and enjoy his young age. Sometimes we just need to let the children play.

We also grabbed our bikes and headed out for some adventures in the park. It is filling me with great delight to see the spring coming, flowers are growing and the days are getting longer. It is beginning to feel warmer and I am beginning to plant the vegetables. I love spring, it shows new life and is a reminder to me that after dark days there is light.