no school!

the kids had no school because of Election Day so I had plans to take them to the library for story time.  but Sarah called and said one of our other friends, Sara, was in a huge bind and needed help.  so Sarah dropped off Alice and Norah at my house so she could run over to help Sara.  the kids all had a blast and even cleaned up the house after they trashed it.  ; )

at one point, I heard Andrew crying and so I was just finishing up what I was doing before going to help him.  then, mysteriously, the crying stopped. when I went to check it out, I found out why.  Norah and Elizabeth were being the sweetest little babysitters.

about a month ago, when we were in for Abigail's medication evaluation, the doctor said we'd need to come back in 3-4 weeks but that he didn't have any availability so he made a special note to let the receptionist schedule us in an "urgent" or "emergency" or something slot that they keep open.  the times were all inconveniently around 1-1:30 so I scheduled it but was stressing how I would find childcare during nap time and on a school day and when I wouldn't be back before other people needed to pick up kids from school and how would I get Brady to preschool when I needed to be taking Abigail to this appointment.  well, miracle of miracles... I had no clue (because Tuesday is RANDOM) but thank goodness for the kids to not have school.  Abigail didn't need to miss school, I didn't have to worry about getting Brady to preschool, and Elizabeth still got her nap because I was able to have Jane come over to watch her and Brady.  big win.

those doe eyes.

after we got home again, Brady asked if he could play outside.  ummm sure.  I thought for sure he wouldn't last because it was so cold and wet and rainy.  he lasted.  he played golf in his puffy coat in wet, 29* weather.

he seriously looked so pathetic retrieving his golf balls all alone in that miserable weather but I applauded the kid for getting some fresh air.  I'm a fair weather person myself.

I left Andrew on the rug in Elizabeth's room.  later, Abigail came to me, almost giddy, and asked me to guess where she'd put Andrew.  and then I ran to get him off of this chair.  I have never told my kids that they are allowed to hold or pick Andrew up without my help so why do they think it's totally fine?!

I decided that it had been long enough and my kids needed to learn about pomegranates.  so, we had an educational lesson at the kitchen table about what they are and what we eat/don't eat and how to open them and extract what we want, etc.  they all thought it was so cool.  the good/bad news is that they really like pomegranate seeds.  don't get me wrong, it's great that they almost always enjoy new foods they're introduced to, but sometimes it's nice to not have to share something five ways.

this makes me start humming "for the beauty of the earth" because, seriously, how amazing and creative is this!?

and snuggling before bedtime.