Parenthood: A masterpiece in the making

Last week, I was inspired to begin the difficult task of cleaning out the garage to give us enough room to park one of the cars in it. I made quick work of the items that had been tossed aside after their last use and came to the same boxes that have laid dormant since we first moved in. I soon heard the call of a child beckoning me back into the house. When I came in, I was greeted with the all too common phrase, "Daddy, play with me." Now, you may be saying, "ah, how sweet," but until you hear that 30 times a day and in a whiny voice that is sometime accompanied with a pull, tug or hit, then I don't want to hear it. "Sure," I said half-heartedly and without having a plan in mind. "Let Daddy finish what he is doing in the garage, and then I will come play with you." He played along this time and waited patiently. Back in the garage, I was thinking...(what could we play with that we have not already done 100 times or more). And then, INSPIRATION!!! I saw the leftover stacked up, broken down cardboard boxes from our move and knew that I had a gold mine...(but would it work? it has to work!). Excitedly, I came back in the house and tossed down the cardboard and announced that we were going to build fort with the boxes. Not quite knowing what a fort is, Elias suggested that we build a house, which has now become Elmo's house. The framing and interior went up quickly, but the interior coloring and exterior painting have gone slowly (no complaints here). Until yesterday, Elias has remained fairly engaged. I'll have to think of a way to keep this going one more week; open to suggestions!

Check out some of our pictures: