The building blocks (logs) of a peaceful Saturday

Well, don't I know how to take a good situation and jinx it?

All was calm this Saturday morning. As I sat on the couch, ready to start a new book, I couldn't help appreciate the scene in the living room. AJ was playing hockey on the Xbox. Sydney was building Lincoln Logs. Gus was laying next to me, contentedly chewing on rawhide.

Could I ask for a better start to the day? And so I set down my book and grabbed my camera and started taking pictures of Sydney's Lincoln Log creation. It was by no means an indication that she will someday excel as an architect.  

She had better luck with the MagnaLogs. Magnets help the logs line up and stick together. The only problem is, we don't have very many of them, which means the house isn't big enough for Sydney's Playmobil princesses to fit inside.

I set down the camera and helped Sydney build a bigger house. She then added a roof and gates to protect her little people from a certain monster dog who has a habit of eating her toys.

As I helped her build and watched her play, I thought to myself how nice it is to have two kids. It's kind of like having a back up plan so toys don't go to waste. The Lincoln Logs and MagnaLogs had both been gifts to AJ that he rarely played with. So it's nice to see someone finally appreciate them.

I commented to AJ that he never really liked building with them, and he responded, "Yeah, because all you can build are cabins and skinny planes."

Well, yeah, with that attitude he's right. Sydney, however, saw a whole neighborhood, and complained she needed more to build a third house.

Now, back to the jinx part. In the time it took me to upload these photos to the computer, bickering broke out in the living room.

"Sydney, stop banging on the box!" AJ complained as Sydney dropped the extra logs back into the metal tin. (Jeff was still sleeping, so AJ knew they were supposed to be quiet.)

"I'm not!" Sydney insisted, as she dropped more pieces, creating a loud, metallic echoing sound.

"Yes, you are!" AJ shouted, now making more noise than Sydney was.

"Mom," Sydney whined, nearly in tears, "I'm not doing that."

I walked into the living room and discovered Gus had, at some point, lost interest in the rawhide and grabbed a Lincoln Log from Sydney's roof. He'd already chewed off the end of it.

So much for Saturday morning serenity. It was nice while it lasted. I should have stuck with the original plan of escaping with a good book.