rock factory and flower shop

for hours upon hours during these sunny summer afternoons, the kids have been busy in the garage.

at first it was their school. claire acted out her kindergarten teacher "mrs johnson". they had recess. they had math time. they read. they requested food for lunch.

then, it was butterfly catchers. the burkes gave us some butterfly nets and the kids have spent afternoons upon afternoons looking for, running after and then trying to catch butterflies. there has only been nominal success as far as i can tell but their shrieks of delight during the whole process are evidence enough that the amount of butterflies captured isn't the goal.

and then, the most recent activity in the garage has been "rock factory". rock factory, as i have been able to gather (using the qualitative research skills that i've been developing as i work on my dissertation) is that the kids take rocks, spend lots of time deciding who gets which rocks (there seems to be a hierarchy of entitlement going on with angela and claire at the top and david at the bottom and then jacob at the way bottom), and then work hard at smashing the rocks into smaller rocks and/or rock sand. when they take breaks to catch butterflies, they put a sign out on the garage door and appoint david as the "guard".

as i stand in the kitchen and clean or cook and glance out at the activity coming in and out of the garage, i smile. i am reminded to delight in small things.

summer is good.