Curious George lives at my house

Summer is so much fun. There is so much to do and so many hours to waste together. But sometimes I think I'm going to go crazy with all this free time for my kids!

Today while Dallin was asleep in the morning, I hurried to pay bills and take care of paperwork. Spence and Grant were rummaging through the art box making various crafts. I was feeling quite proud that they weren't sitting in front of the TV. 10 minutes later, I get off the phone and come downstairs to see water and paper towels everywhere! The water and towels didn't bother me, WHY they were there is what kills me...

Apparently they had decided they wanted to decorate toilet paper/paper towel holders. They went through the house checking for empty rolls. No big deal. When they got to the paper towels in the kitchen, Spencer said he must have that big, empty paper towel roll and designed a plan to use up the towels to leave the roll empty.

First they filled a pitcher with water.

Then they dumped it on the floor.

Then they unrolled the paper towels and cleaned up the water.

NOW they had a beautifully empty paper towel holder, which they cut in half, decorated, and made into flutes.

?!?!?!?!??!???!!!!!??!!????!!??!?!??!?!??!?

Sometimes I think I gave birth to Curious George himself. In fact, when we first saw that movie with my brother and his family, my brother commented that it felt like watching Spencer in monkey-form!

Luckily, this time the damage was minimal, but sometimes curiosity can be really messy. Like when Spencer decided to make a 'concoction,' which included a blender, eggs (shells and all), grape juice, flour, yogurt, bread, and whole apples. That was gross. Or when he decided to spread dry spaghetti noodles on the floor and crunch them with his feet to look like straw, or a bag of cold cereal, which he crunched into powder form. Or when he painted our friend's basement with leftover black paint, or decorated my mom's oak desk with permanent marker, or poked holes in the milk carton to see what would happen. And still 0n his list to complete this summer (that he's verbalized out loud) is to try make peanut butter by smashing peanuts, and try throwing things into the pool to see if they float (which Grant did to my cell phone last summer).

I have to remind myself that these are all acts of curiosity and not malicious attempts to make my life harder. My sweet Grandma always comments how grateful I should be that my children are active and intelligent instead of lumps on a log. It's true. I am grateful...most days.

I'm wondering if The Man with the Yellow Hat ever wrote a parenting book, because I would buy it! Except I don't leave my boys unattended for 8 hours at a time. Usually they are only in 10 minute increments for necessities like bathroom trips, showers and important phone calls. Still, I'm sure The Man with the Yellow Hat would have some useful coping strategies for such curiosity. Well, I prefer to call it 'genius.' It makes me feel better, anyway. :)