We were outside reading library books, and the kids chose The Grouchy Ladybug, by Eric Carle. (A childhood favorite of mine…)
Which reminded us to go check on the ladybug pupa that we discovered on Wednesday.
It’s still sealed up tight. Back to reading, and a ladybug larva crawled across our book. The kids were a little worried that he would try to turn into a pupa and attach to the library book. But he just crawled off.
In the middle of a less-than-stellar parenting day, Ian made this Valentine for me. (He wanted to make me a heart, but he couldn’t get it to come out the way he wanted it… )
I wish that I had as much grace for my children as they freely give to me.
My post from yesterday is late, because I had a lovely (late) evening at a friend’s house, instead of sitting in front of my computer. But we did spend some time outside yesterday, in between in putting up dressers and rebuilding closets.
We had two ripe strawberries that the bunnies haven’t found yet. That’s twice as many as our entire season, last year! The older kids got a strawberry each.
Micah found one that wasn’t so ripe yet. It didn’t seem to bother him as much as you’d think.
And some bonus pictures of Chava – because I am secretly thrilled by the way her dress matches the playdough.
We spent most of the day running around looking for dressers for the kids’ new room, but we did manage to make it outside for a little bit in the afternoon. We go out front most days, but I very rarely bring my camera out there.
I got some cute pictures of my little girl, but I keep coming back to these pictures of my oldest. It’s hard to get pictures of him these days, and I don’t have many that do him justice. But here he is, and he is so proud of himself for mastering his “big kid” scooter.
Micah thinks he’s a big kid, too.
Today did not start off well. I started the day feeling stuck and frantic. I don’t want to casually write like I just decided to turn things around, and everything became beautiful. I didn’t want to change the mood. I felt trapped, and I didn’t see a way through to ‘untrapped’. I wanted someone else here to be the adult. I wanted to hole up, or better yet, get all of the things that are weighing on my mind done. Dishes, laundry… raising the perfect children who are perfectly safe and perfectly behaved.
I was sure it was going to rain, but I was also sure that staying in the house was a bad move for everybody. So I loaded us all up and drove to the park, with our new sand toys from IKEA. The park has a great big volleyball court, where my sensory-seeking kiddos can get messy from head to toe. And their mama can feel the wind blowing around her, and remember how much she loves stormy weather. And start to feel a little less trapped.
In the midst of some of the other things going on in our lives, this has been a huge project for the last bit. I don’t have good before pictures, but the room was basically full of whatever we don’t use on a regular basis, and the (beige) walls had crayon on them. Old furniture, random odds and ends… whatever didn’t have a place to go, went in this room.
And now it looks like this.
I am so happy with how it turned out.