Time to Hide the Camera Better

Every afternoon the girls have quiet time in the toy room.  The boys and I need a nap and everyone has just finished school, so the girls are sent upstairs to play, read, sleep, fight, or do whatever they want until I recover from the morning.  There are only two rules: whatever mess make has to be cleaned up before you can leave and don't wake Mom up unless there is blood or repeated (at least three in a row) phone calls.

Sometimes they tell me what they're done and sometimes I ask, but most of the time I really don't care.  I like to pretend that I'm a good mother and call it Independent Creative Time, but really it's just Benign Parental Neglect Time.

When I was uploading pictures from my camera this evening, after scanning my SD card the computer politely told me that I had forty-seven pictures waiting.  I didn't remember taking that many pictures this week and wondered what hidden gems were waiting for me.

I was right - I hadn't taken forty-seven pictures this week.  I had taken nine.  Thursday afternoon the girls decided that Independent Creative Time included work on their photography skills.  Mostly Sophia's, however.  It appears from the pictures that Kathleen was spending most of her time reviewing What to Expect When You're Expecting.  Good information to have for the very distant future.

"Baby blues are usually temporary and leave as quickly as they come"

I'm glad that these pictures didn't involve any film, but I think it's time to have the discussion, again, about what things are off-limits during quiet time.