Lately, the office has been a family room as well, especially in the afternoons. The drafting/sewing table gets cleared off for homework. The big marker board gets erased for little girl drawings (of it hasn't been covered with drawings already!) And it feels nice to have everyone all in one space, each working on their own thing. I looked around the other afternoon and realized that, for all the challenges that can come of having two work at home parents, it's all worth it for the moments that we wouldn't have if Will and I both went off to an office somewhere else. It makes me love out light and bright office all the more.
This weekend, with Will out of town and nothing particular that needed to be done, the kids and I hunkered down in the office and puttered. I think whenever Will is gone, we have a habit of curling up, just the three of us, and living a smaller life for a few days. Lots of reading and cuddling and kid-imagined projects and not as many outings and adventures. It's not better or worse, just different. Quieter. Which is nice every now and then. Although we all miss daddy when he's gone.
Briton and I dreamed up a few things he could make everyone for the holidays and he decided that the first gift he wanted to make was a felt mouse for the cat (which shows where we all rank in his affections I guess), so he tried out several different stitches on my sewing machine (probably the real driving force behind this particular craft choice) while Evie and I made a little fabric bag to wrap a birthday gift in.
We also tried out using food coloring to dye some wooden beads I had hanging around (pink worked great, purple looks pink, green didn't do much), played a lot of music, listened to a little bit of NPR and did A LOT of coloring. On the marker board, on a big sheet of paper spread out on the floor. On small scraps fished out of the recycling bin. And really, that was it. Nothing exciting. Nothing earth shattering. But oh so lovely.