When left to their own devices...

So, as tends to happen in our house, I try to get in a few hours of editing every afternoon after lunch and let the kids play around the house.   I am really fortunate that *most* of the time they play really well together.  This doesn't preclude them from interrupting me every 2.2 seconds for a request or question but generally speaking they don't argue or bicker during afternoon playtime.  Of course, there are days when they will try to kill each other over a "pretend" bowl of jelly beans but that's a different story.... And don't even get me started on long car drives....... ARGH.

Anyways, the other day as I was trying to make some progress on my work that was piling up I could hear them giggling and giggling and giggling.   To be honest, there are few sounds I enjoy more on this planet than the sounds of my two kids playing nicely together and making each other laugh.   It warms my heart.  that said, it also strikes fear into my heart because that much laughter can only mean one thing = TROUBLE.   

So that's when I start  having this internal debate...  Do I get up and go see what's going on or just leave them be?  If they are playing nicely and not doing anything they shouldn't be doing then me interrupting their little game will undoubtedly remind them of my presence and most likely generate a thousand requests (i'm hungry, i'm thirsty, can you fix this, etc...) or, worst yet, break the magical 'playing nicely' spell and cause them to start fighting with each other.   On the other hand, if they are doing something like, say, drawing on the walls, the sooner I intervene the less scrubbing all three of us will be doing.... Sigh.  So as the laughter gets louder and louder I am getting more and more anxious (when I should just be enjoying the lovely beautiful sound of my happy kids right!?)...  What in the world could be causing such exclamations of unbridled joy??!!

Finally I can't take it anymore and holler out: "What's going on in there?? What's so funny?"

Which of course only makes them laugh louder.  Now I'm wondering if I am perhaps the butt of some joke.  Has my five year old drawn a picture of me and they are "decorating" it by doing god-knows-what to it....?

So, my curiosity gets the best of me (as it always does) and I walk into Ellie's room and see them playing a fun little board game and they were really just laughing about the board game, but Ellie....  My little girl, for some reason, has a pair of her underwear on her head.   This, apparently, was all her idea, but Gavin did nothing to dissuade her. So the laughter was due to the board game but with the added benefit of how ridiculous Ellie looks with her Hello Kitty undies on her head.  I, of course, cannot even bother stifling my laughter and ask her what's on her head (just to hear what she says).  She says:  Silly mommy, it's my HAT!"

Silly me indeed....

So here is what I saw and what happens when my children are left to their own devices...  I felt like I was taking mug shots of her while taking these pictures, face to your left, face me, face to your right... :)

In case you were wondering, she kept her hat on all day and I  must say, I think she really rocked the undie-hat thang pretty well.  That girl has her own sense of style.... :)