Life with Boys

Small boys become big men through the influence of big men who care about small boys. 

- Unknown

Sometimes being a brother is even better than being a superhero. 

- Marc Brown

Of all the animals, the boy is the most unmanageable. 

- Plato

 

Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years.

- James Thurber

There comes a time in every rightly constructed boy's life that he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure.

 - Mark Twain

A boy's story is the best that is ever told.

 - Charles Dickens

A Rainy Summer Day

A couple of weeks ago, we had some summer rain. It was the kind that is warm, but also cools everything off. 

The boys became restless and bored, as little boys are prone to do when they've been cooped up in the house too long. I decided to initiate a treasure hunt so I hid their toys and made them maps. I then basked in their happy squeals as I returned to my housework certain that I would not be interrupted. Oh silly Mama! In less than a minute I heard, "Mama, help!"

I first helped Elijah to read the map and figure out where the toy was hidden.

Then came Beniah's turn. 

This game was so fun that they wanted to play it over and over and over....
Unfortunately, I realized that our carpet was turning into lava, so blankets and pillows had to get brought out which ended the treasure hunt game and gave me time to finally clean the kitchen.

Of Chess and Checkers

This past week, I have been working on unpacking some of our "not immediately important" boxes (since we finally have shelves set up in our 8 foot long hall closet).  One of those boxes held a treasure of puzzles and board games that the boys have been excited to play with almost as soon as I pulled them out of the box.  One of the games is Tim's wooden chess set. Beniah begged me to play it with him until I told him that Daddy would love to teach him how to play chess.  Last night after dinner, the chess board came out and the lesson began.

First the board was set up.

Then came the first show down.

Pondering over the reasonings why castles can't jump over pieces but horses can.

Joyful gloating over capturing Daddy's queen.

To be play chess properly (after boredom of the game sets in), the kings must sit on checker piece thrones.

Meanwhile, Elijah and I pulled out the floor checker board mat and set out the large checker pieces.

  Which soon became beds for the "babies"

 

 Which quickly turned into sandwiches.

Only to be picked up and put away 10 minutes later due to boredom.

Something tells me that these games won't be brought out again for a few years.

Sorry!

     Growing up, I was always so excited to visit my aunt and uncle's place.  They used to live in this wonderful little farmhouse that had a forest on one end of the property that was haunted (at least that's what my sister and cousins said) and on the other side of the property, a barn that housed a zillion cats. Inside the house, there were stairs that were perfect for bumping down and a large play area between the two upstairs bedrooms. Best of all (in my mind at least) were the board games. My cousins owned the best board game of all time, Sorry! From the moment we got there, I would be begging my cousins to play Sorry with me. I usually got my way because I was the youngest of the bunch and the adults were probably thinking, "For the love of everything good and holy, make this kid stop whining!" 

     A couple of weeks ago, my niece and nephew came over for a visit and my mother in law brought out her Sorry game. I was in nostalgia heaven.  Beniah loved playing with his cousins (even if he didn't quite get the rules).