Cabin Fever... Defeated!!

There were some winter days when the kids spent time playing outside.  Mostly after a fresh snow, or when the sun was shining. But most of their days were spent working away at school and getting more and more fidgety as the days moved along.

The past couple of weeks, though have been comparatively nice outside.  And it has been so fun to see their imaginations keeping them occupied outside.  We have chain link dog kennel that has been just the perfect place to house, first a very busy bakery.  Plastic lids (from water bottles, peanut butter jars, etc.) have become their method of payment, and they keep track of the denominations pretty closely.  A clear water bottle lid might be worth $1 while a red one of the same size that came from a Coke bottle is worth $3. So they  have been stirring and baking and selling up a storm.  After a few days, Garrett sold some of his bakery belongings to Lincoln and bought some butchering equipment.  Heidi added a smoker, and a butcher/meat smoking business was built alongside the bakery. They took an old grill base and converted it into a junk wagon and went around selling junk. Then, Lincoln decided baking wasn't his thing, so he sold everything off and is in the process of building a bank.

I think they are glad that I encouraged them to be busy with their schoolwork while it wasn't so nice outside.  They have gotten done with several subjects, so it leaves them time to spend outside doing what kids do best.  (Meanwhile, the older set of kids are still working away at their books and computers... their violin practicing and a lot of their schoolwork has been moved to the outdoors, though.  The trampoline makes a great place to sit and spread out to work on their schoolwork.)