March 4

Today was Saturday.

It was sunny, and around 70 degrees.

We had no obligations on our calendar.

It was just what we needed.

Chris graciously agreed that I could have a birthday do-over, after mine was ruined by vomit. So today we got up, went out to breakfast at a fun new restaurant, and then spent the morning at the Botanical Garden. Even better, my mom was able to come along, and my dad was working there. It was a perfect morning!

Cup of coffee in my hand, baby on my back, sunshine in my eyes... perfect.

The kids relished time with Grandma, and Chris and I enjoyed having an extra set of hands and eyes to help with the kids.

(Also, Daisy in the picture above just cracks me up.)

The boys were trying to attract the fish to them, and Caleb's branch with leaf contraption actually worked. He was so excited!

As we moved on, Daisy stopped for a selfie with me:

Is she cute, or what?

I love that she loves to have her picture taken with me!

Lily gave the statue of Henry Shaw a hug and a kiss, and it was the cutest thing ever. She even told him, "Thank you for the garden, Henry Shaw!"

Oh, you know, just hanging out in a field full of flowers!

This girl loves getting her picture taken right now!

And this girl has the funniest happy face.

I call this picture, "Seven and a half is much too young to begin behaving like a teenager. RIGHT?"

And I call this one, "Crop out the uncooperative stinker".

(An earlier picture continuing this theme. The boy has lots of big feelings right now.)

These kiddos love their grandma!

And one with me! You know, since she's my mom and all. 

(Side note: I adjusted my white balance the other day, and forgot to fix it. Despite my best efforts, the color on these pics is still a bit off. Also, I neglected to teach Chris how to use the back button focus on my camera, so things are a bit... blurry. Oops.)

My favorite part of the garden. Caleb and Daisy wanted to take their shoes and socks off and climb into the creek and start building dams. Apparently all of our hiking has left them a bit too wild.

Feeding the fish! See that blue bucket behind Lily? It had fish food in it. There are some major perks to having a grandpa who works at the Garden!

We did this visit without the BOB, which was such a nice treat. Strollers really cramp our style! Still, Lily's little legs got tired at times, so she asked to go up in my wrap a few times. Today reminded me that, even with bigger kids, woven wraps are so versatile!

I wore Eli on my back

Lily on my back

Eli on my front

Eli on my hip

When Eli had a near-naptime related meltdown, I was able to nurse him discreetly while wearing him.

And when I wasn't wearing my kiddos, my wrap was a cute (albeit giant) scarf. Love it.

Before we left, we paid a visit to the sheep.

And then I made Chris and my mom get in the picture. There was another baby sheep behind Eli, but Lily insisted that Grandma share her sheep.

By then, Mom's knee was really bothering her. Luckily, my dad was working. She called him, and he met us with a golf cart to give us a ride back to the entrance. The kids were stoked about that!

And then Daisy gave Grandpa a big hug before we headed home.

After we made it home, fed the kids a late lunch, and put the little ones down for naps, Daisy wanted to do some science.

OK, not really. Well, kind of. Yesterday the kids did really well with schoolwork, so we watched a science TV show called DIY SCI. We watched an episode about Bernoulli's principle, and there was an experiment with a leaf blower, a paint roller, and toilet paper. When the kids realized that we had all of those materials, they were desperate to try it themselves.

Luckily, Chris was up for it.

Luckily, I had my phone ready to take a video.

 Sadly, the roll of toilet paper went much too quickly, but they had a lot of fun.

Also, at bedtime tonight I took a little video of Eli's latest trick. I used to always nurse him to sleep. Now, I nurse him until he says, "All done Mama."
Then he tells me, "Ready for mine crib" and I have to put him down or he gets really mad. It's so sweet that I recorded it tonight. There is no picture for this video, just sound.

My baby is growing up!