Gosh, now I feel bad.

Last week, and the week before that, I got out toys the kids hadn't used for a while.  We played with Barbies and board games and blocks and lots of other great toys.  It was fun to revisit them all, but I was also hoping to find some things the kids didn't really like any more that I could donate to charity and clear out our playroom a bit.  One thing that was on my chopping block was a plastic Barbie play kitchen.  When Miss E received the kitchen for Christmas we spent hours playing restaurant.  It was a favorite toy but it's been collecting dust for a while now so I was planning to sneak it out of the house soon.  Yesterday, I watched an old episode of Blue's Clues with Miss M where Blue and Steve played restaurant.  I told Miss M that used to be our favorite game.  She said "I don't know how to play restaurant."  I thought about it, and it's true.  She was just a little baby when Miss E and I played all the time.  By the time she was big enough to play, we'd finished the play room in the basement and moved the kitchen downstairs, where it was put in a corner.  She'd only occasionally excavated through the rest of the toys enough to reach the kitchen, and Miss E had moved on, so they played other games together instead and because they had each other, I played less and less.  Now, however, I can't believe she's almost five and doesn't know how to play restaurant!  That can only be neglect on my part, so I decided to give the kitchen one more chance.  Today, I'm bringing it and the huge tub of accessories out where we can play with them.  I'm going to teach Miss M (and Mr. A, of course) how to play restaurant.  Everything is portable enough to take out into the sunshine, too!  Bonus!