Rainy Day Schedule

When I was a kid going to elementary school, on days it rained we were tole we were on "rainy day schedule". This simply meant that we didn't get to go outside for recess. The teacher than either let us play heads up seven up during what would have been our recess time or we did some other games and things inside. I never particularly liked rainy day schedule. School always seemed to last forever on these days.

Since my kids are home they never have to have rainy day schedule. We can still go outside if we want to. Wednesday is our park day. After we are finished with out school time we usually head to the park to play. Since it was only sprinkling today, I was planning on taking us to the park anyway. I knew the rain wouldn't last and it still isn't that cold out. But my kids looked out the window and saw the scattering of raindrops on the driveway. They decided they just couldn't go out in that "downpour". They all have been coughing so maybe it was a good idea to stay indoors today.

I did go out to get the mail and the kids of course helped me go through all the ads and junk mail that came. Sophie looked through the Michael's flyer and got all excited when she saw some wooden boxes listed for sale 2 for a dollar. She quickly asked me if we could go get her a box. "It would be just like Kirsten's and the other American Girl's trunks. I could keep my little treasures in it just like they did", she explained. The boys quickly caught on and started asking for boxes of their own. They wanted pirate treasure chests. I told them we could go get the boxes if they had the money to buy them. They all quickly ran to get their little banks. We sat down and dumped out all the loose change they had collected and counted out a dollar from each of them. They were ready to head to Michael's. They each picked out a box. We decided to get bigger boxes than the ones advertised. These were $1 each instead of 2 for $1. They were thrilled and could barely contain their excitement as we headed home to paint them.
As soon as we got home and I could get the painting stuff out they set to work.
That is the face of a very careful painter!

I always have a hard time holding back and not telling the kids how to paint or draw their things. I want to step in and clean it up and give pointers. I do make suggestions but I have learned to just let them choose their own designs and colors even if it doesn't turn out as "perfect" as I would like. They always love the finished product anyway.
Each of the boxes was well coated with paint, inside and out. Henry really loves the color orange!What a great project to keep little guys busy for about an hour.
While the boxes dried the kids reminded me of our rainy day toy. It only comes out on rainy days. I bought this toy when Sophie was 2 or 3 and Ian was still crawling around. It was a whole whopping $4.00 on some after summer clearance at Target. I can't believe this thing has lasted so long. I guess bringing it out only on rainy days, and only if the kids remember to ask for it, has saved it for this many years.

I wouldn't have thought that throwing balls and watching them roll down the runway would be that exciting. But they always look forward to this toy. They are very "helpful" while blowing up all the different little parts of this thing. (Thank goodness for an air pump). Ian almost always ends up inside throwing the balls at the other two. But they have a grand time.

After about 20 min of throwing balls the kids are so wild I send them all to their rooms to calm down. Today I required each to sit on their beds and read a book for 5 min. Their red faces had time to cool down.

The kids are currently watching their favorite movie, Toy Story 2. And when it is finished I think we will have to make cookies or the Cinnamon rolls I just saw in the new Family Fun magazine that came in the mail today.

Now that is the way to do "rainy day schedule". Even if it really didn't rain today.
We did get a little moisture but nothing I would call rain. Maybe today has been more of a "sprinkling day schedule".