Forts and other Tidbits

Don't tell Tizita, but I really dislike fort making and I especially dislike sitting in a fort. 

I find it hot and cramped.

This time it wasn't even Tiz who requested a fort, I actually brought it up myself in a weak moment, I guess.

As soon as the words slipped out of my mouth, I knew I had made a mistake, but could not take it back.

When I saw the look of pleasant surprise on Tiz's face, I knew I had made her day and even if it involved a fort, I was up for the challenge.

Anytime I can make her that happy, it pleases me.

So let the fort building begin!

 I think one of the reasons that I dislike fort building so much is that it is messy.

It involves dragging dining room chairs and blankets, lots of blankets, into the designated room.

Someone has to fold all those blankets back up again.  See I am dreading it before it even starts.

Well, this time I pulled out some fitted king sheets and it made the clean up easier.

 We use a lot of clothes pins in our fort building.

The pins help to hold the sheets together.

 Once the fort is finished, the move in begins.

We had to move in our three babies, Regan, Molly America, and Mimi, plus all their accessories, our pet elephant Bobo and lots of food and clothes.

 Well, I look pretty happy here considering I am about to go in.

I can't even sit up because of the low roof, but I go in anyway because of the excitement in Tizita.

 She has made us some beds with the pads from the outside swing.

We spend a good portion of our play, sleeping which is easy for me.

This is our little kitchen area with all of our foods.

 It was so nice outside, but I had to talk big stories to get Tiz out of the fort.

I said our babies needed a photo shoot outside and she could be the photographer.

I also told her the babies wanted to see her use her new roller skates.

She bought it.

We escaped the fort for a bit and got some fresh air.

 Tiz did a pretty good job for her first time on the roller skates.

She wants to keep them here and work on them whenever she is here until she masters them.

And finally, when we were at St. Vinny's, Tiz wanted crutches.

I told her we had some up in the attic from her mama.

Of course, she forgets nothing so today she asked me to go up in the attic and get those crutches down.

Keeps me out of the fort for a bit longer, I am all for it.

She washed them off, but never did try to walk on them.

Our photo shoot, skating, and crutch time was over, we were heading back into the fort.

Courtney, Paul, and Soli arrived while we were in the fort, so we hid on them and had lots of laughs when they discovered us.

 

Just a little story about another fort.

When Courtney and Paul were in Ethiopia spending time with their son, Natnael, we had Tizita with us for eleven days.

John took a vacation day to spend with her.

Well, she and grandpa built a fort in the playroom.

It was big, with lots of blankets.

I remember coming home from a long day at work, teaching all my  preschoolers.

All I wanted was to get into my bedroom and change my clothes.

Well, I could not get into my room because of that huge fort.

All I could think about was, "who is going to put all of this away."

 

See, this fort building is hard on me, but the pure joy it brings Tizita is worth all the stress of putting it away.

 

Note to Tizita:  If  you are reading this (some day in the future) please know that I really did love every minute I spent with you in your forts.

I just have this problem about messes and it is my problem.

I hope you have very happy memories of these fort building days.

 

On another note, John is on his way home from Michigan and I am looking forward to another nice weekend.  Best part, on Sunday, I get to go back with him for an end of summer vacation!