Tips And Tools Tuesday – Make Your Own Fun

Where do you think the featured photo of the grandfather and his grandchildren was taken?

On the monkey bars in a park?

On the playground equipment at a school?

In todays “plugged-in” society, it’s easy to find something to entertain us.

Video games. Movies on demand. Satellite radio. DVR.

All of these things are wonderfully convenient, and, on occasion, I have been entertained by all of them and more.

But, sometimes the most memorable experiences happen when I make my own fun. Use my imagination. Be creative.

This weekend my husband, Rick, and our grandchildren, had a blast making memories in the back yard. He picked them up from school and drove an hour and a half to our house, so the kids had lots of energy that needed to be released.

Rick was playing Kickball outside with them while I prepared supper. I looked out of the kitchen window and this is what I saw.

About 3 months ago, we moved our heifers over to our daughter and son-in-law’s  farm, for some “visiting” so that we will have some calves next year.  So our pasture is empty. This is a ring that is placed around a round bale of hay to keep the cattle from trampling all over it, making it inedible.

My husband turned the ring into an improvised “hamster wheel” that the kids climbed on.  And, climbed, and climbed. I could hear the laughter from inside the house! I never know what interesting (and sometimes crazy) thing Rick will come up with just to give the grandkids (and himself) something fun to do!

One time, they were playing out front on a Pogo Swing we have hanging from a large tree branch. We have no other playground-type equipment in our yard. So, my inventive Sweetheart went to the barn and brought back two lead ropes. (A rope with a large clip on one end to attach to a horse’s halter.) He hooked each rope around the base of some small, but well established,  trees along the edge of our front yard, where the yard drops off into a ditch.  He showed the kids how to repel over the side and down to the bottom, (four feet deep) and climb, hand over hand, back up to the yard. Now they love to  go “mountain climbing” whenever they come over.

They spent the entire weekend with us. It was awesome!

 

That brings me to my tip for this week.

Take advantage of teachable moments.

The kids wanted to see Grandma’s “new” sewing room again, so we went in and I showed them one of the quilts I was working on. I told them about the two machines that I have set up , one for doing the straight seams and one for doing the free-motion quilting, and showed them the corresponding sections on the quilt.

Our grandson said, “Can you teach us how to do that, Grandma?”

“Sure!”

So, still in our pajamas, each took a turn (two turns actually) free-motion quilting. I drew lines that they could follow, and helped them draw pictures with their stitches. They thought that was the coolest thing! They are five and seven years old, and were fascinated by the quilting process! They loved cutting the thread, lifting and lowering the presser foot, guiding the fabric and seeing their thread masterpieces emerge. The seven-year old asked if she could make a quilt for her dolls. We started picking fabric right away! Strike while the iron is hot, so they say! It was so much fun!

Today is a great day to take advantage of teachable moments.

Have a great day!

Diane

P.S. Evidently our next-door-neighbors bull had “come-a-visiting” and jumped back over the fence before we even knew he’d been over.  We had no idea our heifers  were “with calf” before we ever moved over to the other farm, so last Saturday this is what  our daughter found in her pasture.

You can still see her little umbilical cord! We named her Easter.

We all just thought our heifers were plump and healthy! Our other heifer’s udder is starting to fill, so we’ll be having another little calf in the next couple of weeks. What a surprise blessing! If this one is a heifer, too, we’re going to name her Lilly. We’ll just have to wait and see. We brought all three back home today.

I love living on a farm!