As I was pulling out yesterday afternoon to pick up our eldest from school, I noticed a couple of furniture deliverymen in front of a house up the road standing next to some mammoth boxes. I was about a car’s length past them when I put the swagger wagon in reverse and backed up to inquire after a couple of those boxes. I asked if we could have a couple of them. They said yes, and they even agreed to leave them on our drive a couple of houses down from the delivery.

So when I pulled back into the drive a half hour later with all three kiddos, there were two behemoth boxes waiting there on our drive. The boys were elated. The boxes barely squeeeeeeeezed through the front door where the boys proceeded to spend the rest of the afternoon in them. After a few minutes as two individual dwellings, they faced the two boxes toward each other to make one megafort that took up practically our entire foyer. They filled the command center with pillows and blankets and gear galore.

It was kinda awesome. And besides the effort to get the boxes into (and then later, back out of) the house, they were a free, simple, no hassle hit.

Total thumbs up. I just plopped myself down on the floor right there at the front door and took it all in.

Sometimes as a mom, you have to have eyes to see a chance for fun and then just do it, ask for a couple of those boxes.

Raining? Go jump in puddles. Hot? Pull out the sprinkler. Turn a walk into an exploration, a flat tire into an adventure, a moment into a memory. You know what they say about childhood: “The days are long but the years are short.”

Kids are full of wonder. So it doesn’t take much to make their day wonderful, yes?

So, how can you add a little magic to your kids’ day today?