My Overthinking

Philly Area mom, Life forever changed by adoption

Quintessential Childhood

Growing up, we moved around a lot. By the time I was in 9th grade, I had been in 7 schools, I think. I remember one house in Timonium, MD with a little swing set. I remember lying about not being able to pump my legs just to get my Dad to push me. All kids do that, right? We were not really in another house long enough to warrant buying a swingset, nor did we have the money for that anyway. 



Over 9 years into parenting, and we still didn’t have a playground. We have a pretty teeny backyard. And, when you live across from a park with a playground, it’s hard to spend the money on something like that. And, Mark sorta put his foot down about it years ago when I wanted to reinvent my childhood with one.



But, when I saw an ad pop up on freecycle from a family getting rid of a big ole wooden playset, you better believe I replied as quickly as I could get my fingers to type. The lady posting the ad was inundated with responses, as you can imagine. But, she happened to have a daughter from China. And, she noticed that we had a daughter from China. And, guess who got the swingset? And guess whose husband spent nearly an entire Saturday taking multiple trips back and forth in a borrowed beat-up pick-up truck so that we could get it all home? Told you he was a good guy.



Saturday, while we had 2 extra sets of muscles here (do not under estimate the big guns of Grammy and Richard), the playset started to look less like a big pile of wood making our backyard a mess and more like a playset again.



Poor Daddy had to take nearly a dozen store trips before he found all the hardware he needed for new bolts and all those other necessary things to ensure this thing wouldn’t just fall apart on us. 
By that evening, it all looked pretty darn good though we’re still missing some landscaping and the fence that will hopefully be up soon. On Sunday…oh boy…as soon as we got home from church and the kids could change out of their Sunday best, the playground fun began.
I was tempted to get up there myself and giggle like a little girl again.
But, I found this.

Case you can’t read it — one sign said “Kid’s Clubhouse” and the other said “Keep Out Kids Only.” (And, take note of Drew’s particularly devious smile next to the second sign.)
So, that’s how it is, huh?
This actually worked the first time the kids approached the back door. The three big ones actually stopped and yelled into me to ask if they I could give them cups and a pitcher of water since they weren’t allowed in. 
They even ate in there.
Well, all but one of them.
Though I may have been tempted to break the rules, climb up into that clubhouse, and eat up there myself, I was not tempted to do this.



Sunday Snapshot




Click on these buttons below once a day–

it will bring new viewers and more attention to what we’re doing for adoptive families…

and, I admit, it validates me.


Visit Top Mommy Blogs To Vote For Me!

No related posts.

Comments

  1. what an awesome playground set!! The kids are obviously having a total blast. We had a pool at our old house – we moved & now have a pond….older kids are never home because they are swimming at a neighbors…daddy gave in & ordered a pool last night. yeah for awesome daddies!

  4. Looks like your kids are having a lot of fun.

    Yay for Daddy putting the swing set together.

    Yay for you for scoring such a great deal!

    :)

  5. Oh my! What fun! That is a fabulous playset and I know the kids will enjoy it! Love! Love! Love! The Adults only sign…hysterical!

  6. awwww…how neat!! Love the ‘adults only’ sign! When we moved from Phoenixville out here, we promised the kids a playset. They are on it everyday, and it’s nice to have them in your own backyard too. What a super duper blessing!!

  7. I LOVE THIS POST!!! Great pictures – so happy to see how much FUN the kids are having! So wonderful!

Follow Along!

Categories

Recent Posts