May 2

Today was chilly, gray, and gloomy, and as I mentioned in yesterday's post, I'm in a bit of a funk. I'm feeling overwhelmed with all we have going on, and I probably should have stayed home and cleaned house and done laundry. But instead I met my friend Amber and her five children at the Garden, and it was just what I needed.

The weather was not ideal Garden weather, but they've recently opened a new indoor children's area. It ended up being the perfect spot for us to spend the whole morning. The only thing it was missing was a coffee bar! After an hour and a half, we decided to move the children on to the Climatron.

The kids were all lined up, looking over the bridge, when Amber and I noticed that they made a rainbow. It's one of the fun parts of having so many children between us! (OK, so actually, those are all Amber's children, with one of mine thrown in. You can always count on Caleb to bring the red!)

How many children can you fit in a hollowed-out tree trunk? 

Seven. The answer is seven. You can just barely see Mary's smile in the upper left, and Daisy is way back in the shadow. Eli was wrapped on my back in one of Amber's seriously dreamy wraps, and Catherine was off exploring, but those two would have probably fit, as well.

It is becoming nearly impossible to get all of our children in one picture. This is still only seven of them, but seeing them all lined up with the brightly colored onions in the background was too tempting. 

I thought maybe I could at least get all four of mine in there, but somehow I missed a Daisy and gained a Gussie. Close enough.

Eli really liked the water, too. I think he and Edie were conspiring about how to get in it.

And then my two little helpers pushed the BOB all the way out for me.

When we parted ways with Amber and Co., Lily decided to push the BOB from the entrance to the van. She didn't want any help pushing, but I had to secretly steer for her since she can't see over the handlebars. Otherwise, she did a great job!