I have a true love/hate relationship with forts. I know, this is a strange thing to admit, but they say it helps to share these kind of deep seated struggles.
Exactly who “they” are I’ve never been too sure. One day I might run into one of “them” and when I do I want to be ready.
Back to forts.
I love forts. I love the homemade forts that involve pillows and blankets and chairs arranged strategically around the room. I remember spending hours making forts with my three brothers (of course, those often involved weapons of some sort, depending on if we were fighting Indians or robbers). As a long-time babysitter, I have built many a fort in my time.
I hate forts. This is where the hate part of love/hate comes in. Forts make a mess in so many different ways. First, they are usually placed in the very center of a room so the entire area is unusable – you can barely walk through the room. Also they require blankets dragged from every corner of the house (“How did you get that collection of Mexican blankets down? They were packed away in the garage!) and, of course, books (the biggest and heaviest ones possible) pulled off bookshelves to “stabilize and secure” the fort.
The older kids spend so much time building “cool forts” for the little ones that we often have to put school on hold, just waiting for the building process to complete. They take such a long time and involve such creative planning that I sometimes wonder if we need a permit of occupancy in order to start playing.
Sigh. These are the crazy, twisted, mixed feelings that I live with in this house of kiddos. Thankfully I have a blog, so I don’t have to suppress these conflicted emotions any longer.
Today Daniel left our school reading time to “make a quick fort for David and Sarah.” Cue a rather long break. Joshua has taught Daniel well in the fort making business (if only there was some money to be made in this line of work). Daniel often creates elaborate reading nooks and fun spots for the younger two children.
Today was no different.
Yes, that is a bath tub. Yes, if you look closely you can see the face of my six year old son. Yes, that is a crib mattress on top of bathtub and six year old.
Rub a dub, dub, two kiddos in the tub.
Having the time of their lives. “Can we sleep in here?”
Daniel pulls back the mattress to reveal the children. Unlike my own childhood, where forts were modeled after military structures (the Alamo comes to mind), these kids usually bring in a pile of books and a few toys. You never know when a good football might come in handy.
Ah, it’s most likely because we are doing such a wonderful job as homeschoolers of instilling a love of reading and quiet play. Or … maybe this is just the one spot in all of the house were they can have some peace and quiet and actually finish a book without being interrupted. Hey, is there room in there for me?
The fun lasted until the blankets started getting wet. Not sure how that happened. Hmmm? Can’t imagine. The subliminal messages were too hard to resist; both of the younger children begged to take a bath later on in the day. I guess you can take the kid out of the bathtub but you can’t take the bathtub out of the kid. No wait, that makes no sense at all. You can take the fort out of the bathtub but you can’t take the bathtub out of the fort.
Do you ever get the feeling that some people shouldn’t blog late at night?
2 Obscure Movie Quotes for the Day:
1. “Lex, why do so many people have to die for the crime of the century?”
“Why? You ask why? Why does the phone always ring when you’re in the bathtub?”
Which leads to the next one (different movie).
2. I never put a phone in a shower before. Do you get many calls in here?
A steady stream.
Kathy
Oh, my. How I do remember our boys and their forts. I never understood why the Stocco kids came to our house for fort making. Never at their house?
I remember ice forts outside- fancy!!
Loved the blog, dear Katherine.
Love YOU. Aunt Kate
I can completely concur with the love/hate thing for forts. Our living room is more accurately our fort room, since those couch cushions seem to work best for fort building. Our neighbor was horrified one day when he came over and saw his son helping mine to build a fort. “You don’t want this big mess here, do you?” And no, part of me doesn’t, but then part me says this is what having kids is all about. I, on the other hand, was somewhat amazed when my kids told me that none of the neighbor kids had ever built forts at their homes. (Of course, they all raced home to try it. I know my neighbors are so thankful for our presence. :))
I can soooooo relate! last week at bedtime I discovered that the younger boys, with Hayley’s help, had taken their mattresses from their beds and put them standing slanted up against the wall to form a big fort. This seemed to require every pillow in the house as well. Yes I love their creativity. No I didn’t like helping them put their beds back together at BEDTIME!
Fun post and pics even if my own love hate of these adventures brought on a few chills while reading. LOL
I remember your tree fort, Aunt Kate. It was WAY up HIGH in the sky. I don’t think I was ever brave enough to go up there myself. How ever did you all build it? I guess when you have boys you have forts, it’s just a given.
If you want to see some cool ice caves you can follow the Project 365 webring (on the top right) and click next until you get to Dody’s website. She’s in Alaska right now and the youth group just made an amazing series of snow forts. Wow!
Rachel–I’m sure all the neighbors LOVE you for sharing the secret techniques of fort building (make a huge mess and have LOTS of fun) with their children. You will become a beloved fixture in that neighborhood for certain.
Jodi–how funny! I think my kiddos stick to cushions, pillows and blankets. They haven’t thought of taking mattresses off beds yet. And I’ll be sure to see to it that they don’t come up with that brilliant idea. Of course, that’s why we keep that old crib mattress around. Never know when you might need an impromtu slide down the stairs or a cover to a bathtub fort. Ha!
Well, the first quote was easy — from the first Superman movie. Lex Luthor is talking to his girlfriend, Miss Teschmacher (the one with the mother who was about to be destroyed in Hackensack, NJ).
The second was a little harder, but I finally got it — from Three Men and a Baby, when two of the men are unable to get a hold of the third when out on a date, because he was in the shower. They rushed home, worried that there was something wrong … ruined their dates in a funny but rather touching transformation of their otherwise selfish characters.
I get the prize, since no one else submitted a guess.
Hooray for Tim! You guessed correctly. Poor Miss Teschmacher, worried about her mother in New Jersey. At least she did get to save Superman (and steal a kiss in the process).
Your movie quotes are cracking me up (LOL)! Our worship leader is always tossing out movie quotes at practice and I NEVER know what they are from… I watch so few movies and then I have such a short memory (LOL)!
I LOVE reading your blog… it’s SO FUNNY! I wish I had a different style of writing because I LOVE your style.. mine blog is rather boring.. just the facts (LOL).
FORTS….. I prefer the outdoor kind.. I have the same love/hate relationship you do, but mine leans more toward the hate side… lol