Indoor Days

While we've still gone on a few adventures, most of our time has been spent inside avoiding the cold, dreary rain. One of the biggest challenges of spending all day inside is cleaning the house. The kids destroy one room at a time. As soon as we clean one room, they've move on to another area of the house.

Clothing is optional while inside. Most of our lazy days include multiple loads of laundry.

Maddie's latest hobby includes hoarding food in unusual places. Yesterday she emptied her mac-n-cheese into a large bucket and carried it around the house. (I pick my battles, people!)

To help break up the day, I always plan some kind of craft, science experiment, or baking activity. In the last few days we've made another batch of slime. This keeps the kids occupied for an hour or more.

Jackson led a "Christmas list" activity. Using Walmart ads, he let the girls pick out toys they wanted, then cut and glued them on white paper for them. Of course, Jackson could have filled multiple pages with his wishlist, but I made him narrow it down to fit on one page. 

The biggest challenge to staying indoors is allowing the kids to release pent up energy. One of the easiest ways to do this is inflate the air mattress and let them bounce around until they're tired.

For some reason, the kids are always extra cuddly on rainy days. Perhaps it's because I sit down more. Anytime I sit in the recliner, I have at least two toddlers tugging at me, "Up, please!"

When the trio nap, Jackson and I either watch TV or play games. He's been enjoying puzzles and Hungry Hippos a lot lately. Jackson goes through multiple costume changes in any given day.

Once Jesse comes home, we eat dinner and clean. The trio discovered a love of silly animal videos on YouTube. 

While I'd rather be at a park or museum, I'm learning to appreciate our days at home.