One rainy day...

We woke up to a very wet Tuesday morning last week and I realized right away that I'd have to prepare some engaging activities

 if the three of us were to survive the day indoors without contracting cabin fever!

So, here's what we did to banish the blues:

A few weeks ago I bought a really inexpensive plastic doll for exactly a day like this!

I kept it out of sight until Arrow Boy went for his morning nap, and then quickly set up a

baby bathing area

using our baby tub, an old changing pad, empty talcum powder bottle and plenty of towels on the floor and table!

The sudsy water was nice and warm to chubby little hands on a chilly morning!

Despite her wearing a plastic apron for this, we had to change clothes afterwards as she ended up loving the water so much that her sleeves got soaked!

By this time Arrow woke up, so sister's aquatic activities had to move up to the counter!

I gave her a plastic tub filled with pebbles and shells, a small enamel bowl with warm water, and a nail brush and asked her to wash the pebbles for me so we could place it in the bottom of a clear vase later on.

I took these pictures just as we were blessed with a sunshower outside, and I just love how the light bathed her in mellowness...It was such a moment of perfect childhood bliss and I will cherish these photos for a long time to come!

By them Mama seriously needed to get some ironing done, and Sweetpea joined in! I was SOOO glad for making a quick trip to the Durbanville Craft Market early last Saturday morning, with the express purpose of buying this ironing board and some dolls clothes!

We didn't get much work done with Arrow hanging on our ironing boards all the time , and finally gave it up to dance the polka with Mama around the kitchen!

 Of course, this can only be done to the tune of The Lonely Goatherd from The Sound of Music!! My children LOVE this song, and don't think I can short change them by dancing half the song with each and then swapping partners - nope, Sweetpea wants a whole song, and then, with the sense of justice of a two-year-old, insists that ArrowBoy also gets a full song. HE doesn't complain! For obvious reasons this part of the day had not been photographed...

By late afternoon we all needed a change of scenery...but since it was coming down by the bucketsful, we had to get creative...

By 5pm it was dark enough that I could fetch a little flashlight and we crawled into our hideout with a bowl of sliced oranges and read our books by flashlight...and then sang "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" about 20 times while Mama made the little 'star' dance about on our canopy...

We were very happy when Daddy came home and I could get supper going while he rough-housed with the bambinos on the bed! But what a blessed day it had been! Winter has only started, though, so PLEASE send ideas of what you do at your house on rainy days!