Dirt Don't Hurt

Our days may seem kind of random and relaxed, but we are actually accomplishing most of our goals for the first three months of the year. One of those goals was simply to take advantage of the fabulous Florida winter and give the kids lots of free time to play outside. Playing outside, I have discovered, is kind of a learned art. Watching TV is not. We spend one afternoon watching a movie and the next day they ask, "What will we watch today?" But if they don't play outside often, I send the kids out and they say, "There is nothing to do!"

But kids who play outside a lot find plenty to do. They find lovely weedy flowers and climb trees that have no business being climbed. They discover common but amazing insects and turn sticks into sword. And...they dig holes...and given the opportunity, they will gladly fill those holes with water. And then they track the dirt and/or mud into my house and being the sandy sort of dirty mud it is, it falls off all over and my house is just perpetually dirty. But today I was doing some dishes and Caleb was outside digging in his muddy hole and the child was singing! The combination of soil and water brough so much joy to his heart he had to express it in song. And the sound of that joy made all the dirt and endless sweeping seem like an insignificant trifle.

It has already been pretty hot and that makes me feel like summer is in a hurry to come this year. The months ahead promise plenty of heavy rain and thunder and lightning, so I know our afternoon mud puddles will get washed away, but here are a few pictures I took of the kids accomplishing this goal over the last few weeks: