A little chalk between sisters

 

The heat wave of July is lingering into August, much to my disappointment. I've held back for the entire month from complaining about the heat, which isn't like me at all. We all have our things, and mine is to complain about how much I loathe the heat. I don't make a lot of friends with my preference for fall and winter, but this is me. I love a warm summer night with a glass of wine and dinner on a patio, but the heat of a summer's day, literally burning into my pale skin? I'll pass.

As much as I want to spend more time outside, the heat has kept us in air conditioning for the last five weeks. Fortunately there are a few times during the day when the outdoors can be tolerated, in the shade, and we took advantage of it today. Matt was cleaning up the girls after dinner while I was puttering around upstairs folding diapers, and I could hear the crazy building downstairs, in the form of Alyce leaping from the couch and Shira whining for some toy Alyce had conveniently placed out of her reach ("Mama, I'm just going to put all the toys in the house here, on this shelf, so that Shira can't reach them, because she is a baby"), and I knew it was time to take that crazy outside. I've learned that backyards have a knack for diffusing all that chaos that can build up inside the space of a small living room.

I'm glad we did because immediately Alyce and Shira got lost in some serious sidewalk chalk. After I convinced Alyce to stop just giving me and Shira the yellow chalk (you'll be shocked to learn that Alyce wanted to keep the purple and pink chalk for herself), we all settled into to some shaded backyard fun. I loved watching Shira, who has just learned to colour (instead of just eat crayons), fall in love with chalk. Alyce quickly rounded us up for a game of hopscotch, though Shira mostly watched from the sidelines ("Mama, Shira can't hop, because she is a baby").


It was a lovely way to end the day.

How was your Monday?