We had a rare Saturday where we had very little scheduled. We weren’t entertaining. We weren’t crashing someone’s house to be entertained. We had no houseguests. No expectations. The only official thing on the docket was a make-up field hockey game late in the afternoon. Otherwise we were free to make like Whitman or Thoreau, men who valued the virtue of loafing, and spend a Saturday doing very little.

You can probably guess how this goes. 

It was a challenge for Michelle to turn off her puritan work ethic. The sweetness of doing nothing does not come naturally. The clutter in the basement, or under the cabinet in the bathroom, or that one drawer in the kitchen, was a siren song…

The darker mornings are keeping the kids in bed just long enough where we typically are able to get one cup of coffee down before they wake up.

Nice to know that the classic whoopee cushion never goes out of style.

When I returned from (the first hat and gloves) Saturday group run, I found them setting up a costume shop in the basement.

I also found defiantly Michelle cleaning out a basement closet of old baby clothes. She couldn’t even relax until 9 a.m.! Soon 3 out of 4 family members were crying. I’ll let you guess which ones.

It didn’t take long for them to abandon the doll costumes and start in on their own costumes. Ally said the teachers had to dress up. Likely story.

Costume change. 

Part of the do-nothing day plan was to have pizza and ice cream while doing a family movie night. Ally was intrigued that you start cold ice cream by cooking it.

One member of the family was taking the loafing day seriously.

I didn’t completely nap the day away. Dash was on quality control for my storm debris clean-up.

We can see Ally’s eyes again. I’ve  been lobbying to cut her bangs but she believes only a salon can get them right. Guess you need to draw the line of frugality somewhere.

Typical taco and crafts lunch.

Between trying to write something set around Christmas and both girls now practicing Christmas songs, I feel a bit like those test kitchen chefs that need to prepare Thanksgiving in July.

Cecilia loves hitting up the newly clean driveway with the scooters. I do envy her contentment just to play by herself outside. 

By mid-afternoon, Michelle was at least showing signs of slowing down a bit. No signs of taking a shower however!

My little sous chef was very ready to finally churn the ice cream. The girls each chose a flavor: peppermint chip for Ally (and Mom) and vanilla fudge ripple with dark Kit Kat chunks for Ce (and me).

No telling how much sampling was going on when my back was turned. Probably quite a bit.

The final field hockey game was another barn burner that ended in a tie. Cecilia did finally get some sustained action on defense and really held her own. 

She also worked up quite an appetite and wanted to be sure she got a piece of pizza from the half with bacon bits. It’s an important decision.

Spinach and artichoke dip pizza for the grownups. 

We watched Toy Story 4. I’m not sure it was a totally necessary sequel and it certainly wasn’t the emotional wringer of 3 but we all liked it and it had some interesting things to say about aging, purpose and identity. It also had really creepy dolls that had Ally sleeping in Ce’s room.

Finally (according to Ally), we got to the sundae bar. Maraschino cherries are definitely one of those dividing lines in life. I’m heavily out-voted in my house in favor. 

So, we didn’t quite succeed in doing nothing but we ended the day alright. Sometimes the antidote to all of life’s noise is to celebrate the little things as the big things. Like making ice cream or cleaning out a closet.