We don't have a Jack-in-the-Box

We are what you would call a young family. We're both in our early twenties. We've only been married for about two and a half years. We're barely getting out of school. We have pretend jobs that are only part time, pay minimally and have no fringe benefits whatsoever. We drive a 15 year-old car. We skimp on our grocery bills. We dress our daughter in hand-me-downs. And our furniture doesn't match.

It just follows suit that a lot of Rachel's favorite toys are secondhand from her cousins--most of her toys are, actually. Some of her favorite toys are made of things we would have otherwise thrown away--her juice can lid piggy bank, for example, or the shape sorter that I made out of an old diaper wipe box. And some of her toys don't exist at all.

One thing Rachel doesn't have is a jack-in-the-box and it would be a real shame if she grew up not knowing the simple childhood pleasure of having something spring up at you from no where, scaring you half to death. So we improvised.

I love that she loves this. Truly she thinks it's hilarious. Right after I finished filming she crawled right up onto Daddy's lap and gave him a great big kiss. Our favourite part of this clip is the second scare, right around 9-11 seconds. It's a classic Rachel face.

We chase each other around the house on our hands and knees scaring each other now. It's a great way to pass those last few minutes before Daddy comes home from school or work. It wears Rachel out, we giggle a lot, and we all end up happy.