Today's spring break activities included the botanical garden and a visit to Chris' office. But first, a nod to St. Patrick's Day. Just like Valentine's Day, I wanted to do something special but completely failed to plan ahead. We did happen to have some spinach in the fridge, though, so we had green eggs for breakfast. Chris was confident that the kids wouldn't eat them, but they were excited about it!
In the end, Caleb ate all of his food. Daisy (who requested ham to go with her green eggs) ate a bite, swore she loved it, and didn't eat much more. And Lily flat-out refused to eat it.
Unfortunately, when it came time to leave the house, we realized that the weather was not cooperating as well as we would have liked. While yesterday was sunny and 83, today was gray, windy, and in the mid-fifties. Initially I interpreted "mid-fifties" as pleasant, and a perfect spring day! But the clouds and wind meant otherwise. Luckily, the garden has a lovely play area in the climatron, and an orchid show to enjoy. Also luckily, we have friends who will brave any weather with us.
All told, we were two adults, nine children, and one baby doll in a toy ring sling. (No, Mom, two-year-old Gussie is not carrying a real baby.)
The one down side was that Caleb and Daisy were absolutely out of sorts this morning. Their behavior was really atypical; at the garden, they ran off, didn't follow directions, and were general hellions. I'm going to blame it on all of the junky food we've fed them the past few days, and hope that they don't really act this way. After we left the garden, I began to worry that the same behavior would continue at Chris' bank, so we discussed appropriate behavior on the drive there. Thankfully, they were mostly well behaved. (Except for the part where Daisy ran off in the parking lot. Who are these children? Mine honestly never do things like that!) After lunch with Chris, we headed home. After about ten minutes of driving, I noticed that it was strangely silent in the van. A quick glance in my rear view mirror told me why: all four children were sound asleep. I briefly contemplated continuing to drive until someone woke up, but I'm not that neurotic about naps. Instead, we drove home and I carried each child to his or her bed. Each child began crying, but eventually settled back down to sleep. Poor kids were worn out! I guess bad behavior takes a toll on little ones.
After dinner (a festive meal of grilled chicken with green pesto sauce, steamed green beans, and roasted red potatoes), we went for a family walk in the hopes that fresh air and exercise would clear some of the crazies out. As we began our walk, Eli was wide awake. Instead of resting his head on my chest like he normally does, he held it up and watched me with wide, alert eyes. It was unusual, and really fun!
By the end of our walk, though, he looked like this:
Hi, sweet baby!
He kind of looks like a turtle, doesn't he?
At least he looks like a sweet, squishy turtle, though.
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