Cleaning Out The Toy Box

I'm thinking of cleaning out the toybox. You know the one-it's the one the kids play with that is at Nana's house. Hmmm..Lucy, with her bright little eyes all ashine, tells me in her whispery, sweet little voice, "My Mama says I don't need this at MY OWN house anymore-let's see if Nana wants it at her house!" We used to have a toy corner. When that started overflowing I begged, pleaded, I sniveled &, finally, I baked cinammon rolls to get my dear brother-in-law to build me a playhouse- er, I mean, to build the kids a playhouse... (you know which one you are-I won't embarrass you by mentioning your name because then we would have to tell your wife HOW MANY pans of cinammon rolls you ate-fresh and oh-so-delicious from the oven-I like my sisters-in-law and want to keep them as friends. Two of them are skinny and you'd almost hate them immediately because they STAY skinny-but hey~I love you guys anyway!)...okay-where was I? Oh, yes~ the playhouse.

When I envisioned this structure I pictured a nice little 5x7 house about 5' tall. My brother-in-law thinks BIG! hmmmm...You got a pad here already poured that is 9x12. Let's FILL it with playhouse. What about a porch? We'll build it in. Hmmm...how tall do you think this thing ought to be? Oh-let's put a 2nd half story on and when the kids get older you can put a mattress up there and they can have sleep overs. Great! He came...He built...He left! Oh my gosh! I have the Taj Mahal of playhouses. I am afraid to have people over in case it is nicer than the house they live in. We are talking beautiful. Mama'sBoy did his part and roofed it-he took out extra insurance and hooked up a rope system so he wouldn't fall and die. TheBrawnyMan did all the drywalling and plastering and painted. It is a child's dream come true.

Once the carpeting was in we moved in the furniture....the child sized daybed....Gramma's sewing chair, the side table, the bunny lamp....not to be outshone by the small CRYSTAL chandelier. It has all the luxuries of a fine home. First, and foremost, all the Princess costumes find their way into baskets under the bed, then the dolls and games start filling the daybed. Is this enough? Oh no! TPot brings over the KITCHEN. She has brought it over under the guise of "oh, the kids will have so much fun with this in the play house". She is a liar. She is sick and tired of picking up all the assorted pieces that go with the kitchen. She is tired of wiping water off the floor from the sink (that plainly says-for decorative use only). She is the devil in disguise. You know the kitchen, right? -it's the all-in-one stove, refrigerator, microwave, sink, blender & toilet all in one.... (no-no-forget the toilet part-we MUST go inside Nana's house to go potty). We must find places now for pots and pans, flatware, a tea party set, plastic fruits and vegetables, a shopping cart, plastic wrap and toilet paper-wait- NO TOILET PAPER in the playhouse! Once we have filled the playhouse with all of our "bestest" stuff we have run into a sad situation. There is no place left to play. Even sadder, what DO we throw out? None of it-none of it-none of it- SweetCheeks says, "Dos are my SPECSHUL thingies, Nana"! How can you break that little heart? I can't!

I guess we won't be throwing any toys away this year but I am wondering if my brother-in-law could build a garage for the playhouse.....psssst...The oven is on & the rolls are rising.....