One man's trash is another kid's treasure

When I was probably about 8 or 9, we were visiting my Witt cousins in Moreno Valley, CA and they had just gotten a new washer and dryer. After the machines were unloaded, we were left with two huge, sturdy boxes. The adults constructed a great playhouse for all the cousins which we dubbed "Kid's Mansion" and we spent hours and hours playing inside. I remember it being huge with tons of rooms and doorways. I'm sure my memory has exaggerated a bit, but the fun I had was real and it has become a lasting memory for me.

Well, we were driving out of our development the other day and Lance almost wet his pants with excitement when we passed the recycling bins. Apparently, someone had ordered a couch and a chair and it was delivered in boxes and there on the curb were two of the largest cardboard boxes we had ever seen!

Trying to be the fun mom I want my kids to remember and spurred on by my childhood memories, I drug those huge boxes to our back yard yesterday. Okay, so it made the yard look all "white-trash", but honestly, those boxes have brought more fun in the last two days than the most expensive toy out there.

Yesterday, all we did was put them on their sides and let the kids go. They probably spent hours in there playing.

Lance and Jude with Killian. :)

It was a hit with our friends, too.

In an attempt to make it more fun for the kids (and so it wouldn't look like a pile of trash sitting in our back yard), today I took out my handy box-cutter and rolls of packing tape and turned the boxes into a house. The boxes had come with these great foam rectangles that quickly became couches and beds. I put some spare carpets I had lying around inside, and viola! A house!

The kids spent the whole morning playing inside, opening the windows, running in and out of the door, and taking "naps" on the "beds". While Jude was napping, I sprayed a light coat of white spray paint over most of the outside and after nap-time, we let the kids "decorate" their house with paint. A little ambitious, probably, but the kids had a blast!

Jude did a good job with the brush and except when he tried to paint our porch, did a decent job keeping the paint where it was supposed to be.

We had 6 kiddos all decorating at once: Killian and Kendall Elmer, Lucy and Bennett Smith, and Lance and Jude.

Working together.

Killian actually painted a sky with a sun and pretty flowers on his side.

 Kendall thought the roof needed to be red and spent most of her time meticulously covering the roof in paint. Lucy thought yellow was a better color. I think they met in the middle.

Bo Bo trying his hand at painting.

Jude is saying "cheese". This picture makes me laugh.

Lance really liked mixing the different colors together and seemed to always manage to get the same dark sludge at the end. He was please, though, and put his mark on the house as well. The brush was working for a while...

...but soon he opted for his hands. That was a fun mess to clean up. Oh, Britton came out to help, too!

Brother and sister.

The paint crew!

We let the paint dry for a bit but we just couldn't keep the kids out and for the next few hours they played off and on inside and out.

Hopefully the rain will hold off for a bit so we can get at least one more day of fun out of our little house. I know it won't stay for long, but at least Lance and Jude will have fun memories of their own special house. Just another day in Paradise!