Create!

On a beautiful August morning, when London is napping, and when the five Hoolie boys have argued for the final time over who gets to have which Lego piece for which robot... and who has more pieces than whom...and who gets to be on who's team with which partner....

 ...the Mama whispers "thank you" to her own Daddy way up North for being such a genius...

And she declares it to be an outside painting day...
And suddenly, all is once again right in the world.

Because whenever this Mama goes up HOME to visit her own Big Daddy, she secretly always tries to leave a little extra space in her car to bring back "treasures" that she knows he always has for her...

Like five big 'ole pieces of slab wood!
You never know when one of these might come in handy, but if your Daddy-O says these might be fun to have - you simply agree - and you bring them back for later...

 A slow, summer day in August just a few weeks before life is going to wind right up with all of the Crazy all over again is the perfect time for these treasures to come in handy!

It's the perfect "Later....."

With painting comes MESS...but with crafting comes calm.
With painting comes clean-up...but with crafting comes peace.

They give each other space...
They let each other breathe...

And little brains start working, little bodies start relaxing...
...and little voices suddenly start complimenting each other all around.

"Silas!  Your painting looks AMAZING!"
"Jesse!  I was just thinking the same thing about YOURS!"

 And the Mama breathes deep...

...and she briefly wonders where she'll put all of these creations....
But she'd far rather have this problem than the Lego Warz...
So she leaves them to dry...and she saves that issue for another day.