sun glorious sun

Yesterday, I had a whole day with the kids - again. I know for my mommy friends back in California and lots of other moms this may sound silly - but these days it continues to be a rarity. We got up and Liam went to work painting his book, and then I had to deal with a ridiculous landlord issue for an hour on the phone/e-mail before I could throw the kids in the car and head over to Anita's - we met her there before heading over to Drumlin Farm - an amazing audobon farm right next to the Walden Pond State park - it was warm and sunny for the first time in forever. We've had a few sunny days but we actually didn't need coats - what a concept. We had a blast - Liam and Shiva got to dig in the dirt and plant some seeds. Kalian was enthralled with the chickens, and then we all took a tractor ride. After lunch, Liam and Shiva were playing a magical game with their sticks - it was so great to see Liam enjoying the outdoors and connecting so well with a friend. I really don't want to go back living next to that crack house - that may seem like a disconnected idea, but I really want the kids to be able to explore the outdoors, rather than the confines of our backyard - however fabulous it is (or at least was when we left it - I'm a little worried about it - and am so sad that we will miss planting season - especially tomatoes!). It's also been so fab having Anita out here this year - what a gift.

After abbreviated naps, we made chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter walnut cookies - yep, I made Liam say that mouthful before getting a mouthful. After the kids were satiated with cookie dough, Kalian had some intense tantrums - they are gettiing to be unbelievable. I managed to hold out longer than she, somehow. After baths, I put Damien to bed first. I've been putting them to bed together in the same bed - it's been a really nice ritual, but I needed to get that sleep deprived love child to bed. Liam and I were working on a helicopter of his. I am really worried that I am too perfectionist with him and that will not fare well for him. He wanted wheels, so I tried to teach him to trace around a cup for a circle. He kind of got at least the idea, and then he cut around it. All things considered, he did a fabulous job, but for some reason, I couldn't stop there - I told him to cut one more piece to smooth it out - of course, he just cut straight down the middle - now, I hope he did it to spite me because I should have just accepted that gorgeous mutateded octagonish shape be a success for him as a wheel.

After he went to bed, I stayed up to write a letter to the editor of our school paper on childcare/gender issues and watched for the first time all of the shameless virginia tech media frenzy.

Chris came home just in time for Kalian's first wakeup. I rolled over and went back to sleep.