The bright flashes of lightning and the booms of thunder woke us up yesterday a little before five o'clock, and soon I had a sweet five-year-old girl snuggling in bed with me.  Aaron and I decided to go ahead and start the day since we had a full day ahead and the alarm was about to go off anyway.

 

I love the flexibility of homeschool, and our kids work so diligently so that we have the flexibility to do other things in addition to school.  On this rainy and cold Thursday, we got to babysit three precious kids so their parents could do some packing in preparation for their move overseas.



 

 

We had a blast hanging out with this bunch.  Olivia took a special interest in the baby and kept him happy almost the whole morning. 

 

 

However, I got to hold him while I read books to the girls snuggled up on the couch, and he slowly drooped in my arms until this was my view: a sweet sleeping baby for almost an hour.

Inevitably, on rainy days, Sarah pipes up with, "It's raining!  We should make Rainy Day Squares!"  So we did.

 



We found the recipe in Usborne's Farmyard Tales Children's Cookbook when Sarah and Benjamin were tiny, and obviously the recipe is still a hit!

 



 Brown sugar tastes better when you lick it off your fingers.  You should try it sometime.

 

While the "Rainy Day Squares" were baking, we mixed up a batch of green play dough.  I ran out of salt, or we would have mixed up a rainbow of colors.

 



 

I love to watch creativity come shining out, and play dough never disappoints.  This crew made a little colony of mama and baby birds and nests.

 

So thankful we got some time to fellowship when the parents joined us for a quick lunch before they all went home for naps and more packing.