Recovering

Nat is home.  Triumphant and ready to revise and submit a dissertation.  We have been happily calling him Dr. Morehouse.

And I am so glad he is home.

Everything is easier with two of us here.  Even our often-difficult children.  Turns out their behavior did not improve overnight with Nat's return home.  But now, at least, we can take turns.

In the midst of the dawdling at bedtime, the skinned-elbow-dramatics, the non-listening two-year-olds-- there have been some lovely days, summer sunshine, and memories worth saving.   Here are a few of them.

We met my friend and co-worker Christy, and her two daughters, at Lake FarmPark on Wednesday. It was a perfect day out, a little breeze to cut the heat.  We wandered, petted sheep, and tried our best to avoid the crowds of daycare children swarming the grounds.  We had a picnic lunch and let our littles wander while we chatted.  We rode the wagon around the grounds, and the children clambered on a playground.  One of the best moments came at the end when Jack called us down to the water's edge to see the fish and frogs.  The frogs leapt into the cover of self-created muddy swirls ahead of our steps, but the fish lined up at attention, little schools of them facing us and swimming as close to shore as they could.  And so began 15 minutes of gathering up crusts of bread and tossing them to the feeding frenzy, little fish bodies swarming and flipping and darting to get the crumbs.  The children were entranced and delighted (and I was too!)

Gosh I love them.

Jack really liked this sheep.

Audrey and Ivy.  They are about 3 months apart in age.  I still catch myself thinking of them as little babies.

I love this shot.  Little shoes, cast aside at the base of a slide. The fun is implied.

It only LOOKS like Ivy is coming out of the cow's butt.

Thanks to those fish, we didn't head home til about 3.  Girlie crashed in the car, boy relaxed in front of the TV, I packed a picnic, and we were off at 5:30 for Wade Oval Wednesday.  

My children, rolling around in the grass together.  This was how they spent most of the evening.

Did I mention that it was perfect out?  A golden evening complete with bounce houses, puddles and fields of revelry and frisbees, a lovely picnic (if I do say so myself) and good friends.  Oh, and overtired children who wouldn't eat dinner and then proceeded to sink into a fit of low-blood-sugar induced  whining on the way home.  Sigh.  It is easy to do a bit too much when one is trying to squeeze every bit of lovely out of a summer day.

Thursday and Friday brought us a trip to the splash park and lunch with Melinda and Will and their girls, and a trip to Chuckie Cheese for the kids with their wonderful Auntie Bec.  Not to mention a much needed break for mom-of-the-year-Amanda, who spent more of the first part of the day yelling at her children than she'd care to remember.

Friday-- rinse and repeat only sub in a movie in the morning, followed by more yelling, followed by a break sponsored by my mother.

Sigh.  My endurance is not up to par, apparently.

We did have a lovely evening of watching the Olympic opening ceremonies.  Both children were enthralled. Jack asked a million questions about smokestacks and London in general and we're both excited to travel there together someday...

Saturday:  regrouping, and a "less is more" approach.  We visited the book sale at the South Euclid Library (bag day, how   could we miss it?) and then off to the Shaker Square Farmer's Market.  The children carried dollar bills around and helped to pay, and Jack lusted after jewelry (for his treasure chest of course!) that he was discouraged to find out of his price range.   We picked out sunflowers for Daddy and a tiny watermelon and corn and eggplants and tomatoes and onions and cucumbers and berries... (why don't we do this more often??)  The kids' favorite part, though?  Watching the rapid train go by as they climbed on little rocks...

For all the trials and tribulations and exhausting bedtimes of our week alone-- our mornings have been consistently sublime. Thanks to my abnormally clingy and cuddly children, I got to wake up each day to this:

(Imagine me squuezed in next to them and the dog at the foot of the bed,..)

We lingered in bed until after eight every day. Can you blame us?

And now-- Nat is home.  The children have been testing him a bit and clinging to me  as we work on recovering our equilibrium and our routine, which will soon include work time for me at school and for Nat on his revisions.  We have been watching a lot of Olympics.

Today treated us to glorious sun, playgrounds, the lake, and a lawn party at the parent center.  Bedtime was a little smoother today than yesterday.  I think that summer is going to recover well, and finish strong, if today was any indication...

The kids and I spent the morning at the Boulevard Playground, trying to ease Jack into the transition to Kindergarten.  He is not very excited yet... and spent his time here today watchful and thoughtful about it all.

We went to Kate's lakefront to splash, wade, and steal rocks for our garden project.  Next time, we will get to spend time with Kate, gosh darn it!

Idyllic fun outside of the parent center.  Complimented by chatting with like-minded parent friends and watching children splash in pools.  You guessed it-- another "I love my community" evening for me...

Soak up the sun, lovelies!  Summer is not over yet...