March 30

The past few days have been the kind of days where I haven't gotten out of my pajamas, or brushed my hair, or possibly even brushed my teeth. I've been grouchy, and the kids know it.

Today, Caleb was making me crazy.

Eli woke up from his nap and only wanted to be held.

I needed to make dinner.

This is life right now.

But my baby allowed me to toss him up on my back (in my one remaining wrap!), and he was content while I made dinner.

And then, as I was snapping this picture,

My stinky little stinker popped his cheery little face into the frame. How can a mama be crabby with two sweet boys like this?

Another bright spot? The alligator key chains that arrived in the mail from GREAT Aunt Maggie. One of the books we brought to Florida was Zack's Alligator, a story about a kid whose uncle sends him a key chain sized alligator. The instructions say to give her water, and when she gets water, she grows into a real alligator! When Caleb saw his alligator key chain, he immediately ran to the sink and gave it water.

I love that Maggie knew how such a sweet little thing would make the kids so happy!

Another thing that makes me happy? The way Eli says, "I don't know". It sounds like "I no-no!" in a sweet, sing-song voice. I tried to record him saying it today, but he was being a little bit silly.

March 28

I brought my camera to Classical Conversations again today to capture some general stuff for our community yearbook. Today was "Dads and Donuts", an event in which we invited the dads to come have donuts and see what we do each week. (Each child has a parent involved, but 95% of the parents are moms, so it's nice for the dads to come check things out.) Unfortunately, Chris had an important work meeting that he couldn't reschedule, so he had to miss the event. He compensated by taking the kids to the donut shop before school, so they basically got double donuts. Win/win.

Somehow I only managed to take pictures of Eli, though. They are hilarious, so I think it's okay.

Eli was sleeping when Chris took Caleb and Daisy to the donut shop, so he picked a special donut for him. Eli was thrilled with the sprinkles!

After our classes meet, all of the kids reconvene in the gym for lunch and playtime. Eli found his sunglasses in the diaper bag, and decided to put them on. 

Blue sunnies + vintage motorcycle shirt = one cool dude.

But wait, it gets better. Allow me to zoom out.

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Yep. He removed his shoes, socks, and pants. Apparently he spilled applesauce on his pants, and he insisted that they be removed immediately, but I didn't have any spare pants for him. This child.

March 27

This child went from never wanting to be wrapped, to wanting to be wrapped or worn every other day lately. I am so glad!

I love this wrap, but it is too long. I have had it listed for sale since November, and it finally sold. Now I'm sad to see it go, especially because it leaves me with *gasp* only one wrap in my possession. I am holding out hope that I will find one last, perfect, handwoven wrap to finish our babywearing days and keep forever, but the days are getting fewer in number and I haven't found it yet.

Regardless, this beauty will go on to snuggle another baby. Goodbye, Didymos Mystic Petrol OS! I loved you, and always will!

I know. No one else is sentimental about wraps like I am. But I spend so long researching and looking and hunting for just the right wrap at just the right price, and then I snuggle my babies with it, and it becomes a tool to make my babies happy and my life easier, and I get attached. Whatever. Here's a video of Eli to make you stop laughing at me.

This is a piece from a singing toy broom that Chris' mom gave the kids. We removed the piece to make it an appropriate length for the kids, but Eli found it and decided it was a whistle. This kid is too funny!

March 26

Chris got a new bike! Nearly 16 years ago, I gave him a nice bike as a 20th birthday gift. At the time, we were in college, saving money to pay for our upcoming wedding. He used that bicycle to ride back to the dorms after working as a server at TGIFridays. Later, he bought a bike for me, and we went on rides together. And then babies came along and he used that bike to carry one child, then two, then three, then four! But after repairing the gears a few times, I finally suggested it was time to put his old friend out to pasture.

He came home with a neon yellow Cannondale.

Eli was excited to help Daddy on his inaugural ride. Chris would be quick to point out that this bike actually has pedal clips, and he has clip shoes, but he didn't want to try using those for the first time with all of the children in tow. He wisely waited to use those with the kids until after practicing clipping in and out many, many times.

Daisy was excited, too! Caleb, not so much. Big kid bike had him feeling anxious.

Look at that Eli grin!

And a Caleb scowl. But they're ready to go! (I think maybe Lily was still napping? That would be the only reason she wouldn't join them.)

Off they go!

Zoom!

They all came back very satisfied, even Caleb, who persevered up some big hills.

That night, I spotted this visitor out on our deck. 

He sat still and posed quite nicely for my cell phone picture, and the kids were thrilled to see the picture in the morning!

March 23

Only cell phone pictures today, but there are some videos, too!

It was a gymnastics day. Hooray!

Eli was a big fan of these parallel bars. I know they look treacherous, but they were only two or three feet off the ground.

What? You want video?

And here is a pre-gymnastics (or post-gymnastics? I don't remember.) Lily for you, telling a story about her little stuffed animal, Pink Bear.

Later, while the little ones napped, Daisy and I snuggled in my bed and she made silly faces and took selfies. Fun, right?

Us.

It reminds me of this picture of us when Daisy was a baby: 

Only it's not really the same at all. Whatever.

Then she took a video of herself, which she has been watching repeatedly. She would watch this ten times in a row if I let her, and think it was hilarious every time. Five year olds are strange.

March 21

I brought my big camera to our Classical Conversations group today, and I documented a few of the things that have been our normal Tuesday for the past 20+ weeks.

We always start the morning with a large group assembly, where the kids practice their memory work and sing the timeline song. Caleb and Daisy never run off and sit with friends; they always hang to the back and nearly sit on my feet. If I try to shoo Caleb off to sit with other people, he glares at me. Most of the time, I have to force him to stand during the standing times, or he will just stay seated on the ground while everyone else stands. Eli, meanwhile, is typically disruptive and needy. Until he is snuggly and adorable. Large group time is stressful for me.

Caleb's class learned about what makes airplanes fly today and practiced making paper airplanes. My boy was in heaven! He watched carefully as his tutor explained what she was doing. She was in the Air Force at one point, so clearly she is a paper airplane expert.

Once all of the kids had made their airplanes, they lined up and had a competition to see whose plane went the farthest.

In the evening, Chris took the kids swimming at the YMCA pool while I exercised. I finished in time to spot this adorableness:

Daisy is a starfish.

This is a zoomed-in, low-light cellphone picture, but it was such a sweet moment that I don't want to forget it. Eli was on his belly, scuttling around on his hands and kicking his feet. He looked up, saw me, and burst into a grin so wide that I thought his face might split. Then he shouted, "I swimmin', Mama! I swimmin!"

Sweet baby. I'm so glad Chris takes them swimming and they are so comfortable in the water. Caleb and Daisy start up with swim lessons again in April!

March 20

Oops! I kind of got behind for a bit there, but I promise I'm not quitting yet. That said, I am writing this post three weeks after these pictures were taken, so I can't say I remember much of the story behind them.

I do know that this is Daisy Bubblebeard, and the way her eyes sparkle makes my heart beat a bit faster.

Chris took the kids down to the circle near the neighborhood pool to practice their bicycling. He even let Lily bring her tricycle and let Eli bring his Cozy Coupe. He is a much more patient and accommodating person than I am.

Caleb is practicing riding his big bike. His old bike had 16 inch wheels, and the new bike has 20 inch wheels. We skipped the step in between the two, and Caleb is feeling intimidated by the big new bike. Hence, practicing in a safe, flat space.

And Lily. This girl is pure sunshine.

March 16

We love hiking at home, so hiking in Florida would surely be fun, right? 

Except that today was cold and windy. I thought to bring light hoodies and pants for the kids, but it wasn't enough to stand up to the winds. Still, we decided to give it a shot and headed out to Myakka River State Park to check out their Canopy Walk and hiking trails. We visited here last year and did their alligator boat tour, but this time we focused on hiking.

Lily brought Pink Bear along on our hike. She also wore her Princess Sofia dress, pink water shoes, and pink sunglasses. Girl knows what looks good.

Sweet.

Sweet.

(aren't Eli's little sunglasses perched on top of his head the funniest thing ever?)

The Canopy walk wasn't quite what I was expecting. I suppose I thought it would be longer? We climbed 25 feet up a wooden structure, then walked across a suspension bridge. The kids were a bit scared, but it was fun.

Once we got across, there was another wooden structure that went up 80 feet in the air. This was when they started to get nervous. It was all enclosed, but once we reached the (more open) top, even I felt too uncomfortable to take any pictures. My justification is that I had a baby wrapped on my back, and that threw off my center of gravity and set off my Mama Bear instincts. I wouldn't have been nervous if we were child-free.

Right?

Picture at the bottom. The tower was so tall that I couldn't even fit the top in my frame.

Daddy and his happy kiddos!

(It was too cold for Eli to be in short sleeves without a jacket, but he intentionally removed it and left it on the ground. The boy has some serious opinions.)

Then we drove the length of the park and found another trail to hike. 

The older two insisted on wearing blankets wrapped around them because they were "so coooollld!"

Shameless babywearing selfie, with a stick.

Chris wore Lily on his back in the meh dai, and she loved it.

Hiking.

Poorly lit family hiking selfie. It really was lots of fun!

As we drove out of the park, we crossed a bridge over the water and saw some alligators! We immediately pulled the car over and got out to look. (Don't worry, Mom. We were at no risk of being eaten!) The kids were thrilled to see three alligators, enjoying the warm sunshine. It was the perfect end to our visit at the park.

Since this was our last day in Florida, I really wanted to make one evening trip to the beach to watch the sunset. We made gluten free pizzas for dinner at Maggie's house, and then drove out to the same beach we visited for sunset last year. Unfortunately, it was still cold and windy, so we layered hoodies and blankets and towels over the kids' swim clothes.

There are a Caleb and a Daisy hiding under the striped towel.

Finally, the kids were too tempted by the ocean and got out to splash.

I know. It's gorgeous. This is why we came to the beach at sunset, despite the wind.

Lily looks like a surfer girl!

Eli was the first one out in the water.

I thought this was Daisy, but it was Lily.

And then, while I was snapping pictures with my feet in the water, and Chris was standing up to his ankles in the water, Eli splashed into a different section of the beach where there was an unexpected drop-off. He was immediately face-down in the water, and  unable to touch the bottom. It was terrifying.

Luckily, Chris was right there. He turned around and scooped Eli up. Eli was cold, wet, and scared, but otherwise fine. As we were panicking over Eli, Lily did THE EXACT SAME THING. Chris had his hands full with Eli, so despite the fact that I was wearing jeans and had about $3,000 worth of camera gear around my neck, I ran right into the ocean and grabbed her. I didn't realize that the sharp drop-off was what caused the issue, so when I hit it I lost my footing and twisted my ankle. Most of the water at this beach was only ankle-deep, but this spot was up to my knees. It wasn't a super deep area, but the drastic change was the problem. I lost my balance and fell in up to my thighs before I regained my footing. 

Amazingly, I was able to rescue Lily (who was floating face-down) and keep my camera dry at the same time. Just like Eli, Lily was cold, wet, and scared, but fine. It was scary for all of us, but the kids are familiar enough with water that no one panicked. We were right there, and got them out before breathing in water was a risk. 

After we got everyone warmed up, I tried my best to get a picture of all four kids at the beach at sunset. 

IT didn't go well. You can tell that Eli and Lily are worse for the wear. Right after this, we called it quits and Chris and Maggie took the little two back to the van to put on dry clothes. Caleb and Daisy chose to stay on the beach with me and watch the sunset.

Daisy let me take this picture of her, and asked if we could share it with her friends and teacher at Classical Conversations.

My boy was not feeling well - he had caught Daisy's awful cold - but he is still so handsome.

Beach flowers. Love them.

Sunset. It was a good trip. After this, we went back to Maggie's, packed our bags, and put the kids to bed. Once they were asleep, we loaded up the van and went to bed. At 1:30, we woke everyone up and got in the van to begin our drive back home. Aside from the fact that everyone in the family caught Daisy's nasty cold, the trip was absolutely perfect. We had so much fun with Maggie, who is such a gracious host. The kids sure love her! Hopefully she'll let us come back again!