And since I brought it up, I have to confess that I think 'screen time' gets an awful rap.  My daughter has learned a lot from PBS—on t.v. and online, things that I would never have thought to teach her and things that I didn't even know.  I mean, I had no idea that Monarch butterflies were poisonous and "that if a predator ever dares to eat one once, he won't do it again because it will make him sick or dead" until Little H told me one day on the way to Costco.  In addition to learning so much, it distracts the kids long enough for me to clean an entire room without them following me into said room and dumping out a bin of barbies/cars/Little People/Littlest Pets or building a fort.  I hate forts so much.  None of my couches ever have throw pillows on them any more, and I can't keep a blanket clean to save my life.  To make matters worse, Little H always wants me to help build the forts, so its a double-whammy.  Like asking me to dump crumbs on the floor I just vacuumed or spit on the dishes I just washed.

So anyway, I've decided that at least one day during the week this summer, I'll dedicate the entire day to the kids.  No cleaning and minimal cooking.  How is that different from any other day, you may be asking yourself.  Well, I will actively for several hours at a time, do things the kids think are fun.  Even if I disagree with their opinion because I'm old and and boring.

This last Friday was the first day and we started out by going to a bounce house play area.  I was kicking myself for forgetting the camera because they were so cute.  Little H kept screaming "Best day ever!" as she ran from giant blow up house to giant blow up house.  Buster is a little too young to run crazy by himself, so I got to bounce around with him.  It was actually fun for the first 30 minutes, but by the time we hit 2 hours, I had reached my limit.  Thankfully I was able to talk them into going to lunch and we were able to sneak Dan away from work to join us.  Lastly, we hit up Krispy Kreme for a free doughnut in celebration of National Doughnut Day.  When we got in there, the line was long, and I decided I needed to buy something because I would feel guilty for just walking out with three doughnuts and not spending anything (a trait you can blame on my mother).  While reaching for my wallet, I discovered my camera in my purse, where I had put it so that I wouldn't forget it when we went to the bounce house.  So at least the day didn't go completely undocumented.

  

Oh, and I just need to mention it because I don't want to forget:  We had steak for dinner tonight and as we were eating, Little H asked, "So does this meat come from a deer or an elk?"  Dan told her that it came from a cow and she said, "That's funny, why doesn't it taste like milk?"