Mail Mayhem

Ever since we mailed Cousin Eric's birthday gift a week or so ago (Happy 3rd Birthday Eric!), the kids and I have been talking about setting up a play post office in our house. I "borrowed" some labels and stickers, insurance waivers and delivery confirmation forms, etc. from the nice people at the post office, and took note of a few things that we could copy for our Schnittker version.

It rained off and on here today ... so we stayed inside to catch up on laundry and clean up the office, all the while taking turns being a "customer" at Abby and Tyler's post office. They sold us stamps (stickers) and provided labels and other forms (thanks USPS!) so we could prepare our letters and packages. These were dropped in the mail box (Tyler's red trash can) for eventual transport to the the post office work room. Here, all letters and packages were further labeled (we like stickers a lot!), everything was weighed (with my bathroom scale) and the stamps were cancelled (with princess stamp pads) before they were taken to the sorting station (where Tyler's nighttime pullups are usually kept). Tyler weighed every piece of mail, even three dozen or so pieces of junk mail I pulled out off the office desk for them to play with. After all of this was said and done, our little mailman (Tyler) made the deliveries. Dennis was a very busy postal customer today ... he sent LOTS of letters. I was camped out in the entry way, sorting through piles of stuff that accumulated in the office over the summer. So one letter I received said, "Mommy - Entry Way - House." Tyler also delivered a letter to the cat. It was addressed, "Bailey - Cat Box - Laundry Room." The kids took this all very seriously, making sure every piece of mail had been sorted ... and delivered properly.