"Your kids are so spoiled."
I kind of shrugged it off and thought to myself... what parent wouldn't do this for their kids if it was within their abilities?
Well... I'm starting to realize... holy hell my kids are spoiled.
Our backyard is beginning to resemble a daycare. A daycare that has exploded. I should take a picture of all the crap that fills our garage and yard. Here's a rundown of the "big stuff"...
2 climbers (Craigs List)
A treehouse with slide and swingset (came with the house... but we added on and got the slide for free!)
Hammock chair (garage sale!)
2 kiddie pools (store bought)
a 4-wheeler (curb-side pickup from BIL in Dearborn... FREE)
2 picnic table (another curb-side pickup from BIL... FREE; the other was garage sale)
2 ride on cars (one from garage sale and the other was bought new for H's b-day)
a bike (new: gift for P's 3rd b-day)
a tricycle (new: gift for H's 1st b-day)
a sand/water table (Craigs List)
a pedal go-cart (garage sale)
a gas pump/cabinet (Free: curb-side pickup)
wagon (new, but super discounted)
basketball hoop (garage sale)
and that doesn't include the zillions of toy cars, shovels, sand pails etc...
To be fair, they do use it all. Really, they do. And most of it is from garage sales or Craigs List... aka... USED. I rarely buy new toys for the boys. That's probably how I justify having so much crap for them because I get things at such a great price we can afford to buy more and more... and whatever ends up not being a popular toy... plop it right back on Craigs List or in a garage sale! :)
For example... my mom picked up this super cute gas pump/cabinet. For FREE.
Someone down the road from her had it outside with a FREE sign on it so she scooped it up. It has some paint spatters on it but she figured I could either repaint it and put it in Porter's room or just let the boys use it outside to fill up the 'gas tanks' on all their cars/bikes/toys. So far, its still outside.Their newest fun things are the sand/water table I bought from Lisa and today my mom surprised Porter with a pedal go-cart. He calls it his Mach 5.
We have been kind of hoarding up in the house the past week or so because its been so hot. I'm not a hot weather person AT ALL, especially when it is humid. I hate feeling sweaty and sticky and ick ick ick. This afternoon, though, we did go outside for awhile. I moved the table and chairs over to the one shady spot in our back yard near the treehouse. Hudson hung out for awhile and played with the new dump truck Grandma brought him.
Porter drove his 'Mach 5' all around the yard and up and down the driveway. His head was sweating, but he insisted that he wear his helmet LOL!
Spoiled is Cooper asking my mother and father-in-law, "Where's the suitcase full of toys?" the second they hit our front door (an association that was developed 100% by them and that I am completely horrified about - Cooper never asks anyone else that comes over if they brought him a new toy.) If you were dropping money on all of these items new, I would say spoiled, but getting them all free (or deeply discounted a la Craiglist) . . . that is you taking advantage of a good deal and giving your kids a variety of things to do. And I am pretty sure they don't peruse Craigslist with you throwing a tantrum and asking that you buy each and every piece of play equipment you see!
ReplyDeleteI agree- I don't think your kids are "spoiled" at all, they are just lucky to have such nice things & it seems like they really appreciate them.
ReplyDeleteThat pedal car thing is awesome!!