A weekend of Mother's Day

Posted on May 12, 2009 by Sherry

Considering the fact that Mother’s Day is only one day, I actually had a really great weekend altogether. My one disappointment was that I didn’t get to see my own mom due to circumstances beyond everyone’s control but hopefully it will work out for getting to see her next weekend. Other than that, Friday through Sunday were awesome.

George’s sister and her husband came for the weekend and since the kids were excited to see them, they ended up staying at George’s parents’ house for supper. Because of that, George and I actually went out to eat by ourselves. We didn’t go for a fancy meal – we actually just went to Kentucky Fried Chicken to try out that new Star Wrap thing. Verdict: More filling than it looks, pretty tasty, and was clearly invented by someone who was completely stoned (chicken strips, salad, tortilla chips, sauce, and cheese wrapped in a soft tortilla? Definitely made by a stoner). However, what made it great was that we were able to just EAT in peace without having to deal with anything else and we were able to talk without interruption. That’s a nice change of pace! Afterwards I took the dog for a long walk in the woods and then had an hour of quiet to finish up my work for the weekend before the kids came home.

Speaking of the woods, I found a new spot I had never seen before and was greatly confused by what was sitting in the middle of it. Because who the hell expects to see a REALLY old and completely rusted out car in the woods, especially when there are currently only footpaths, no roads.

Weird.

Saturday was the day that my parents were supposed to come over for dinner so I passed the morning by cleaning up and getting ready for the visit while George did some shopping. When my mom called to tell me they couldn’t make it I thought maybe we could invite someone else to come over for dinner instead. However, when George’s sister showed up to take the kids out for awhile, we ended up asking if they could go over there for supper again. When they said yes and George and I were alone once again, I ended up being able to get the one “present” that I really truly wanted for Mother’s Day.

Not that, you pervs.

We went to see Star Trek! Seriously, I have been climbing the walls waiting to see it and I assumed the weekend would be too busy for me to get to the theater. When George asked me to go check the showtimes at the theater I would have done a backflip if I was physically able to perform one.

The show started at 6:40 and I was so paranoid that they’d sell all the tickets out that we were there about 40 minutes early. It didn’t sell out but the theater was definitely jam packed with only the first two rows empty (the rows where you can’t move your neck for three days because of craning to see the screen).

I can not lie to you: That movie was amazing. Seriously. It was exciting from start to finish and I’m not entirely sure that I blinked at all for the entire two hours because I was afraid I might miss something. George had to slip off to the washroom for a minute halfway through and when he said he’d be right back I think I asked him, “are you insane?!”

I only saw it a few days ago and I already want to see it again. Chris Pine as James T. Kirk? AWESOME.

The kids went to bed pretty quickly once they got home after 9 pm, so that was nice since it left me a few hours to enjoy a couple of glasses of the red wine that we had lying around.

On Sunday I didn’t really get to sleep in, but I did get to lounge around in bed for several hours and I dozed on and off which was nice. Hayley brought in all the stuff that she had made for me in school and a pendant that she and Breanna had picked out for me the day before, then Hayley made toast for me for breakfast in bed (George handled the coffee though!). A couple of hours later, George made bacon and eggs for brunch too, so I was pretty full for awhile.

We mostly just took it easy after that. We went over to his parents’ house for an hour later in the day because we had a DVD with all the photos that I took at his sister’s wedding (all 200+ of them!) and the photos from their honeymoon. It was fun to look back at all those pictures.

Once I got the kids into bed, I just spent the evening relaxing with some TV, the Internet, and a little more wine, and that was the perfect end to a really good weekend. In a move that is so utterly uncharacteristic of me that I wonder if I was abducted by aliens, I didn’t take any pictures of myself with the kids for Mother’s Day. I’m not sure why I didn’t, I guess I was just too busy. Busy being relaxed. And really, that’s not too bad in the end.

I hope everyone else had a great weekend too, especially the moms!

*******

In other news, I have a review up for Colgate Max White toothpaste.

Also, I totally forgot to link to this when I wrote it, but I vented a slight grievance that I have with Scholastic over at the Canada Moms Blog.

Is it lunch time already? Good lord, where is the time going today?!

How to find some peace

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Sherry

The other day the kids were both driving me crazy. They’re going through a phase where they can barely be in the same room together for longer than three minutes without some sort of epic fight breaking out. And I swear to you, they can – and will – fight over anything. ANYTHING. They’ll fight over who gets the one lone yellow bowl and who has to have a blue on (I’m about to throw the damn yellow bowl out). They’ll argue over who gets to lock the door when someone leaves. It never ends.

It got to a point where I was seriously debating walking to the nearest mental facility and insisting that they lock me inside a nice soft room until both kids reach adulthood but I’d probably change my mind after the first couple of days (maybe a whole week?) so something less drastic was in order.

It turns out that a dumb Beagle on your leash, Jason Mraz on your iPod, and woods spread out around you can do a whole lot of good for the soul. Remember what I said about how we need a yard? What we really need is a place with a yard that backs onto a really huge wooded area. I felt so much better once I was away from street noise and people and was just surrounded by trees and plants and dirt paths. I would do so well in a tiny cabin in the middle of nowhere. With a good high speed Internet connection, naturally.

But seriously, this kind of landscape does wonders for the spirit.

In other non-stabby news (with a nod to Angella for the term “stabby” which is so accurate, isn’t it?), Hayley decided that she really wanted to cook something. She’s been getting her own sandwiches from time to time but she wanted to make something more substantial. I wish I could remember who it was that mentioned it on their blog (if you remember, please tell me!) that the danger with kids cooking is that they could burn themselves on a hot stove, but so what? That’s how they learn. That stuck in my head for awhile.

I’m obviously not about to let my six-year-old handle a pot full of boiling water and she’s not ready for unsupervised cooking, but just some basic stove use? Well, why the hell not.

Thus, the other day when she came home from school, instead of giving her a yogurt or something simple for a snack, Hayley made herself some scrambled eggs. She was super excited when I said that yes, she would be making them on the stove and no, I was not going to do any of it. I narrated to her, telling her what she needed to do and I mimed things for her (like cracking the eggs into a bowl and how to whisk the milk in) but she did every single thing herself.

And she did indeed burn herself a tiny little bit on the edge of the pan, and the world didn’t end. She basically reacted like me, except that she said, “Oh, OUCH!” whereas I would have used a slightly stronger expletive than “ouch”, but she was fine and she kept cooking.

The only time I finally stepped in was when it was time to dish the eggs out into two bowls so that she could share some with Breanna. For one thing, I wanted to make sure Breanna got more than one bite in her bowl, and for another, the frying pan is a bit heavy and I didn’t want Hayley to lose her grip and drop the eggs all over the floor – not because it would be a huge mess, but because it would have triggered one of those “really tired post-school kid meltdowns” of epic proportions.

She was so very proud of herself and is already looking forward to doing it again. Maybe I’ll let her make us breakfast this weekend. It IS going to be Mother’s Day after all!

Breanna won’t be ready for real stove cooking for awhile but she has helped me pour and stir things before when they’re not directly on the burners, and the same day that Hayley made the eggs, Breanna made her own tuna sandwich, first helping me mix the tuna with the mayonnaise and then making the actual sandwich herself. The only thing I had to do was cut it (square, please, never ever triangles!).

Do your kids cook?

This, that, and other stuff

Posted on May 4, 2009 by Sherry

We had a busy weekend. Luckily it wasn’t the crazy, stressful kind of busy. Just busy in the sense that we had plenty of moments to enjoy.

Friday night, Hayley’s school held another movie night in the gym. The admission is free and they sell popcorn, drinks, and chips to raise funds. They were showing Bedtime Stories and since it’s not animated I had a strong suspicion that Breanna wouldn’t be interested at all, which would leave me following her all around the gym and cafeteria for an hour and a half. Instead, she went with George to get some ice cream while I took Hayley to the movie. When we were outside the school Hayley picked a couple of dandelions to give to her principal.

I made a good choice in not taking Breanna this time. Last time it was Wall-E which she loves, and even then she wandered a lot. This movie would not be her thing. Actually, there were an awful lot of kids in the gym who weren’t paying much attention – it was mostly all the parents watching the movie. Still, they had fun and that’s what counts. They seem to mostly just enjoy coming to the school out of uniform to socialize. And by the way, it’s a really cute movie for slightly older kids. I enjoyed it and want to see it again to fill in the parts that I missed (such as when my drink got kicked over, ahem).

When Saturday rolled around I was on a mission to finally – after ten freakin’ years – do something to make our balcony look nice. It was a good start last summer when we got our bistro set, at least we had somewhere nice to sit (which was why it was a shame it was so darn rainy), but for years I had been saying that I wanted to plant some flowers. For reasons that I don’t even understand, I just never did.

First, one of Hayley’s friends invited her over for the day, so we headed over there to drop her off. After that we went straight to Canadian Tire. Breanna had been disappointed that she wasn’t joining Hayley, but once she wandered around the garden area with me, helping me pick out flowers, she was much more cheerful.

I don’t know much about flowers, I’ve never had a very green thumb. Honestly, I have killed every plant I’ve ever owned. I went with what was familiar and what came with indications that they would thrive in full sunlight since we get constant sun from about 11:30 am until sunset on our balcony, with no overhang to provide shade. I ended up getting pansies in yellow, orange, white, and purple, as well as one geranium plant. They all make me smile because my grandmother on my dad’s side always had those in her window boxes. I also got a packet of wildflower seeds for fun.

When we got home, Breanna and I ventured out on the balcony with a giant bag of earth, some plant pots, and our flowers and we got to work. I realized I didn’t have a proper shovel, but we managed with our hands and some sturdy spoons. Ghetto gardening!

I didn’t get any good pictures of the pansies that are in the longer boxes up on the railing because it was a little too windy to get a good shot. Just ask Breanna.

After we were done and washed up, we were invited to go join Hayley for some pizza for dinner. Breanna was thrilled to go play with the two big girls and I was thrilled to have a glass of wine and talk to other adults. By the time we got home, both kids were so tired that they were out within about ten minutes, sound asleep.

On Sunday morning, Hayley wanted us to all go do something fun together and it was a nice day so we decided to go to the park. When we were headed out we saw our neighbor’s daughter; she’s in grade two at Hayley’s school but because they’ve known each other for years they often hang out together, especially when they go see the handball games at lunch. We ended up inviting her to come along and they all had a lot of fun. I was happy to take a lot of pictures, and was even happier when George took over the camera and took several shots of his own. I love seeing his pictures. This one that he took of Hayley hanging upside down from the top of a ladder is awesome:

I also liked this sequence. He took a picture of Hayley who was inexplicably climbing up the OUTSIDE of a play structure, and then he immediately swung the camera my way to capture my reaction to Hayley’s acrobatics. I was muttering, “please don’t fall. Please don’t fall. I am NOT going to hover but please don’t fall.”

Then I took the camera back.

Breanna was so tired that she fell asleep on the couch at 7:30 while I was drying Hayley’s hair post-bath and I had to carry her to bed, slip her diaper on for the night, and then I was able to tuck her in. Hayley was in bed at 8 and out less than 15 minutes later. It was the quietest bedtime in ages and I was able to watch the early release of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button that Paramount had sent me (I love my job). I loved the movie so much, I gushed about it a little over here.

You just can’t complain about a weekend that was filled with movies, flowers, playdates, and park outings. I can use more of those please and thank you.

Shadow project

Posted on May 1, 2009 by Sherry

I found this today via Andrea at A Peek Inside the Fishbowl – it’s a photo project that involves creating silly shadows and then taking pictures of people as they walk past them. Doesn’t that look like fun?

Fangirl moment

Posted on April 29, 2009 by Sherry

I apologize for posting two videos in a row, but anyone who has been reading me for awhile knows that I am a huge fan of both American Idol and Canadian Idol. Last year I was cursing the fact that, as a Canadian, I couldn’t vote in support of David Cook.

This year, I found myself initially a bit ambivalent, but I’ve ended up becoming a *huge* Adam Lambert fan. I also really like Danny Gokey quite a lot and would most likely love his music when he puts an album out in the future, but after the past several weeks I fully expect that Adam is going to win this season and after last night’s performance I really think it would be beyond shocking if he doesn’t. Check this out, from last night’s “standards” theme:

As soon as it was over and the judges thew their praises upon him I immediately fired up Skype and started discussing how amazing that was with my fellow Idol fan.

Are you watching? Who are you pulling for?

(I promise I’ll have an actual *content* post up soon!)

A little bit of joy to kick off the week

Posted on April 27, 2009 by Sherry

My sister sent me this link to a YouTube video this morning and I swear to you, it just set my morning off on the best foot. It’s really hard to watch it without smiling.

Apologies if the song is now stuck in your head, but really, how well done was THAT, right? Seriously awesome.

Field Trip

Posted on April 25, 2009 by Sherry

I think that one of the best things about working from home (aside from having business meetings over Skype while wearing pajamas) is that my schedule is flexible. I still have to get certain things done each day but I don’t have to account for every single second of my day as long as I’m done when I go to bed. That meant that when Hayley’s teacher sent a letter home saying the grade one students were going to the Montreal Biodome as part of their current rain forest studies, I was able to sign on as a volunteer parent.

The Biodome is seriously one of my favorite places in all of Montreal. I’ve been there more than ten times now and I never get tired of it because there’s always something to see that I missed the time before. There are still countless animals that I have never even seen yet.

Anecdotally, the first time I went there was about 13 years ago. I worked at Second Cup as a Barista and I hated it because the boss was a sexist pig who screamed at the girls – even in front of customers – for the same mistakes that were overlooked if it was one of the guys. I was standing in the metro station, waiting to go to work and decked out in my black uniform shirt, a black skirt, and striped tights. I had absolutely no desire to subject myself to another day of crap, and I suddenly noticed an advertisement on the wall for the Biodome. I thought, “you know, I still haven’t been there. I bet that would be more fun than being screamed at for minimum wage.” And so, when the metro came, I got on and I didn’t get off at my stop. I went all the way there, spent – literally – eight hours at the Biodome, and then came home. While walking around and looking at animals and birds I decided life was too short to put up with that and I quit.

Anyway, there was no question that I was going to go and volunteer for Hayley’s field trip. I was thrilled when two other moms that I know pretty well also volunteered. It was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it a lot, and I think they learned quite a bit too. It will be so helpful for them as they keep studying this segment, having seen some of the rain forest with their own eyes.

It was also a bit stressful, just because it’s a huge responsibility to be keeping a bunch of kids safe. I had five kids in my group, Hayley and four classmates. I swear, I spent so much of the day counting heads over and over and over that by the time I crawled (exhausted) into bed, I was still saying “1, 2, 3, 4, 5… 1, 2, 3, 4… where’s?! Oh. 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5…” Still, I never lost anyone. Lost track of one from time to time, but always found them within ten seconds. Thank God, because no one wants to be that person who says, “uhhh, I lost your kid. My bad.” Also, for anyone who thinks that little boys are scary, they totally aren’t. I love having two girls, but there were two boys in my group that were just awesome and so cute. One insisted on holding my hand everywhere we went, and the other never stepped more than two feet from me. Awww!

Of course, there are other ecosystems, not just the rain forest, and as was to be expected, the penguins were a HUGE hit with the kids.

We spent about an hour or so at the Biodome, then we gathered to have lunch in the cafeteria. After that we had a majorly long walk to the Botanical Gardens so that we could go through their greenhouses. The kids were a little bored. I understand because I was too when I went in elementary school – at that age you just don’t care about plants and flowers. Now, as an adult? I would love to go back for several hours with my camera and just take a billion photos.

What they did love was the “Butterflies Go Free” exhibit. In one huge greenhouse there are hundreds of butterflies just fluttering around. Sometimes they land on people, sometimes they just hang out on plants. They have fruit platters out and there were always several butterflies getting their fill. They were just spectacular. I couldn’t get a shot of my favorite unfortunately, which was this beauty. When they flew up high, the light filtered right through their wings, making them glow a little.

This guy never even flinched when I closed in for a photo. So amazing.

Day 113: Caligo eurilochus (Owl Butterfly)

We were also supposed to go to the Insectarium but by the time we got out of the butterfly exhibit and made the long walk over there we only had five minutes to check it out. I did get to show Hayley cockroaches though (the enormous ones from tropical areas, ewwwww!) and I told her that’s what we’ll have crawling around if she doesn’t stop leaving her food lying around. Mean, perhaps, but effective so far!

The kids were all exhausted by the time we piled onto the bus to come back to the school. I’m sure that they all slept like the dead that night. On top of all that walking, when we got to the school we saw that George and Breanna were waiting for us. We drove over to George’s parents’ house for a bit and we ended up playing in the back yard and going for a walk in the woods. By the time we got home and ate some supper, Hayley was totally wiped out. She was asking to go to bed by 6:15 that night and the only reason I said no was because I didn’t want her to wake up at 5 am. You can tell she was tired.

She was in bed a little before 8, after eating very little of her pre-bed snack, and I swear it took five minutes tops for her to pass out.

I had a great time, though let’s just say it wasn’t only the kids who were tired. My pillow was very wonderful last night. I would definitely do it again. I know this is a yearly trip in grade one so I look forward to round two when Breanna gets there!

You can check out the full set from the Biodome here. (And yes, I have all the proper names on the animal/bird/fish photos but that’s just because I’m a huge nerd and pored over the Biodome website to find which one went with which picture.)

We need a yard

Posted on April 19, 2009 by Sherry

I’ve already known this for awhile of course, but the simple fact of the matter is that we desperately need a yard. At this point I figure it doesn’t really matter much whether that yard comes attached to a house, a townhouse, or a lower duplex, as long as it’s there and it’s ours.

We’re lucky. Our apartment complex surrounds a fairly large courtyard and we can play down there, but it’s not fenced in, so there’s always a complete inability for me to completely relax. I’ve tried taking a book downstairs with me while the kids play ball or pick up pine cones, but I just can’t read because I’m always watching to make sure they’re in sight and not headed for the busy street. Still, we are lucky because other apartments and condo buildings on our street don’t have much in the way of grass at all.

We’re also lucky because we can walk to our park in five minutes, and the park is bordered by woods. The park is small and it’s very inconvenient in the dead of summer because there are NO TREES whatsoever in the actual play area (I wish I could pack up the park near my parents and bring it over here because it’s a nice size, has a lot of great equipment, and a ton of trees spread out). The lack of shade makes it really difficult to spend much time there once the sun is blazing hot and the humidex is sky-high. Also, the woods have been shrinking bit by bit each year, but at least they’re still there and it’s fun to go walking in them – it helps to appease the fact that I would give anything to essentially live in the middle of nowhere. I envy people who live out in the country with woods galore surrounding them.

There’s also another apartment complex about a five minute walk from here that has a great courtyard full of trees and rocks and benches and grass and sometimes we like to go there, even though I feel a bit weird about playing in a courtyard that I don’t pay for with my rent.

The thing is, though, although we’re lucky to have the courtyard and we’re lucky to have a park and some woods so close by and a fun courtyard within minutes, it’s not the same as a yard. A yard would let me relax. If we had a yard I would bring my laptop outside and do my work in the shade while the kids ran around. I would sit and read a book with my feet propped up while the kids played. I would splash in a pool with them. It would be different.

Going outside requires a great deal of prep work. There’s no bathroom at the park so we have to make sure everyone has peed at least once (if not twice). We have to bring snacks, drinks, toys, etceteras and lug them with us. It’s certainly no huge ordeal, and I realize this is definitely a first world complaint when you think about third world kids playing with broken nails and bits of rubber from a blown out tire. But it still means that if someone has to pee or is thirsty after the last juice box is gone, or if it’s lunch time, we have to pack everything back up and head for home.

If we lived somewhere with a yard, we could run in and out as needed. Hungry? Go in and grab some fruit from the counter. Thirsty? There’s water in the fridge, go get some! What? You want the soccer ball instead of the beach ball and the bubbles instead of the jump rope? They’re right inside the door, go ahead! Are you jumping like that because you need to pee? Don’t be silly, go to the bathroom and come back out!

I know that it means we’d be outside so much more than we already are.

On Friday we picked Hayley up from school and we had to get a few things from the Dollar Store (I <3 the Dollar Store) and Hayley wanted to get a little set that came with two plastic golf clubs and two balls. We bought them and then decided to drop by to see George's parents since they live a few blocks away from us. When we got there, they weren't even home, but George called them on their cell and said we'd just hang out in the back yard for awhile.

It was great. George has a key so we were able to get the kids a snack and something to drink and we had access to a bathroom. Meanwhile, the kids played golf (they decided that while it was fun, Wii Golf is much easier!), picked up fallen branches and tossed them in the woods, and did somersaults.

We were there for over an hour, just playing out back and hanging out outside, and the fact that we could go in when we needed to was a stark comparison to the park or the courtyard (which is four floors below our apartment, a bit of a pain). When his parents got home, we went in for about ten minutes, then went home, but it was the chance to play in an enclosed yard that made the difference to the kids. I didn’t have to keep an eye on them as much (other than to make sure they weren’t hurting each other or digging in the garden), and I could relax and take pictures more easily. I thought about how much fun it would be to have Pearl out on her long leash that attaches to clothes lines (she can’t run free unless it’s REALLY fenced in 100% because Beagles just have too much of a habit of bolting).

So it’s official. We need a yard. I don’t care as much about the building sitting on the yard, just as long as that yard is closed in so the kids can play to their hearts’ content. It would make the upcoming summer a whole different ball game.

Anyone got a house they’d like to rent out?

EPIC

Posted on April 15, 2009 by Sherry

This video has crude language, so be warned, but it really sums up a lot of the idiots that you can find online – We Didn’t Start the Flame War. It’s actually quite brilliant.

The other half of a good one

Posted on April 14, 2009 by Sherry

Sometimes I worry about these long four-day weekends because Hayley is used to every second being used up at school that I feel like I need to create a full schedule to fill in the time that she’s off. Then I remember that it’s FUN to just go with the flow and not necessarily have any set plans. Because that gives you time to just sit around eating too much Easter chocolate and spend another two hours in the park on the final day of the long weekend.

The kids were both up bright and early on Easter morning. Hayley has had a lot of questions about God and Jesus lately, and I’m doing my best to answer them in ways that she can understand. However, on Sunday it didn’t matter to her about things like Jesus rising from the dead and sitting at the right hand of God and salvation. At 7:15 all she wanted was the chocolate that the Easter bunny had left lying around various parts of the living room.

(How did the Easter bunny even come to be? I should go Google it because while I understand giving gifts at Christmas and the tie-in to the three Wise Men bringing gifts to the baby Jesus, what in the heck does a large bunny leaving chocolate eggs out have to do with the Resurrection?!)

Anyway.

Breanna was still asleep when Hayley woke up but all it took was hearing her big sister say, “Breanna! It’s Easter!” and she was sitting bolt upright in bed, ready and raring to go. They were not impressed that they had to wait for me to take Pearl out to pee, but I really didn’t relish listening to “arroooooo” for the entire egg hunt.

They were pleased to see that the bunny had eaten his salad and apple that they had left out for him, but mostly they were ecstatic over all the eggs they found.

We also gave them a gift from us, a little Easter pail with some jelly beans, markers, a notebook, and a Precious Moments soft doll. I *love* the doll and wouldn’t mind one for myself to be honest. Those dolls then went everywhere with us for the remainder of the weekend.

In the mid-afternoon we went to see George’s parents and had our Easter dinner of chicken, ham, black-eyed peas and rice, vegetables, and key lime pie. We had wanted to visit my parents on Monday for an Easter lunch but the timing didn’t work out so hopefully we can get out their way next weekend.

Breanna was so eager to eat that when she was done playing, she went and sat all by herself at the little table set up for the kids. It was at least 20 minutes too early for her to be waiting for supper but she flat out refused to get back up, and she sat there drinking some juice and waiting patiently.

It was totally delicious but poor Hayley got a little carried away. She ate so much that her evening went down the tubes because she got a huge tummy ache from all the food.

Luckily she was all better by Monday morning. It was quite nice out and I didn’t want to waste the day so I put off most of my work until the late evening so that I could take the kids out to play. As per Breanna’s request, we first went for a walk in the woods again. Her new thing is that she insists on leading. Just to bug her, I ran ahead and taunted her because I was first. She then charged straight past me, yelling, “no you’re not! I’M FIRST!” And then she gave me this face.

Well she sure told me!

When we got to the park, Hayley was ecstatic to find a five-year-old girl there with her family, so they played together for a long time, further proving that language barriers are non-existent in kids – she spoke Spanish and French and Hayley is still learning French, but they managed anyway and had fun.

Meanwhile, the girl’s older brothers and father were practicing soccer on the grass and you could tell by the way they kicked the ball around that they play on teams. Breanna ran straight for them and I cringed as I thought of the scene she might cause when I would go to remove her from the middle of the game.

Instead, they immediately welcomed her and let her play. They would kick the ball hard back and forth a few times and then one of the boys would stop the ball and kick it very gently to Breanna, and then they all hooted and hollered at her in encouragement when she would take off kicking it along the grass. They did it for a good half hour with her, and I let them know I could take her to the swings but they flat out refused and said as long as she was having fun, it was fine.

At one point Hayley thought it would be funny to climb into a baby swing but was unamused when she realized she couldn’t get out. The father came over to help me when he saw me struggling to pull her out and on the way back to the grass he mentioned his sons were 14 and 16. I told him that they were both incredibly nice kids because really, how many teenagers would be willing to play soccer with a three-year-old? Those are exactly the kind of kids I want to raise.

We were all so exhausted when we got home that by bedtime it took very little prompting or effort to get the kids to sleep. And frankly it didn’t take me long either.

I think all weekends should be long ones. Four-day weeks and more weekend time to spend playing would be a wonderful thing.

(You can see all the Easter photos right here.)

Chaos Theory

Author Archives: Sherry