Toys and food

When I get home from work I usually take the kids outside to play for a while until dinner. They ride bikes or play with the trowels and watering cans in our little garden area behind the house. Gavin is becoming a real speedster on his balance bike and can zip around. Yesterday I took them out and the kids found a long piece of string on the ground. Sahara then found a rock and wanted me to tie the rock to the end of the string. Bringing my considerable Scoutmaster skills to bear, I quickly complied. Then did it again for Gavin, who naturally has to have one of everything that Sahara gets.

Down the sidewalk they walked with their "pet rocks" in tow. No joke, they were thoroughly entertained until we went back inside for dinner an hour later. Gavin even put his rock in "timeout" a couple times to show it who's boss. When it was time to go inside, the kids left their pet rocks on the front porch to be reclaimed another day.

As I watched them play contentedly (and quite imaginatively) with rocks tied to the end of strings, a few thoughts ran through my head. I'm definitely taking a bunch of their toys to GoodWill--especially the annoying ones with batteries. How much money have we spent on toys for them? Fortunately, not as much as we could have. And how many of their toys would they play with happily for an hour? Not a single one.

Someday when they're a bit older Sahara, Gavin and Dallin will ask for an iPod or something like it. I think I'll give them what they really want and go find a rock and piece of string, or maybe a stick and some duct tape.

Today was hot outside, so I gave Gavin and Sahara popsicles. They enjoyed them but that wasn't enough for Gavin. Sitting at the base of a tree, he poked his popsicle stick into the dirt, then pulled it out and popped it into his mouth. Not bad apparently because he went back for seconds. When Amy intervened and took the popsicle stick away, Gavin grabbed a handful of dirt and shoved it in his mouth. Gavin always eats well, but he's never gone this organic before.

Anyway, long story short, we no longer need to buy our kids toys or food.