On having friends over to play

The best kind of friend to have over to play is the one that brings new toys with. Bonus points go to the friend that comes with a well equipped tool box. For instance, Cam had a friend over to play yesterday who came with a tool box that had a hammer, a plier, a level, a pad of papers (for sketching blue prints or making estimates I'm not sure), a screw driver, a couple screws or two, a few nails, a "construction man's" pencil and yup, even a bullet.

My three kids plus this friend disappeared to play in Cara and Cody's room. There was the typical giggling and screeching but once I heard the tools "fire" up (don't worry, no actual power tools) I thought I better head on over and make sure there were a few rules established. You know, no nails in the wall, don't touch the wooden bed frame etc. What I found slightly surprised me but since it wasn't really harmful I let them continue. They had hauled all teh blankets and mattress out of the way and were hammering nails into the slats that hold the mattress up. They had only ripped out four staples leaving one slat free to swing around but really, it was a replacement one that we'd only fixed with a regular stapler so I wasn't totally surprised to see it hadn't survived the construction/ destruction gang.

What blew me away, however, was the fact that I totally missed this aspiring artist's creation. Didn't notice it until Steve asked about it at the kids' bedtime later on.
If you consider the white trim is actually chair rail you will observe this sketch goes as close to the roof as a 4 year old standing on a pile of stuff on the bed can reach. Cam was quick to admit he'd used the pencil to draw a man building a house on the grass.

Too bad, I was ready to give the other kid's mom an earful!

(just kidding)