Weekend Recap: We Survived Mother's Day

This weekend was jam packed with fun and excitement. Too much excitement. After what seemed like the longest week in the history of weeks, we were all ready to let loose. On Saturday we took all three kids for a long trek around the neighborhood to give Aiden a chance to get out on his bike. We spent the rest of the day relaxing (as much as one can with three kids) and ended up putting the littlest ones to bed early. My friend Kelyn came to stay with them and get Aiden in bed so that we could attend our neighbor's 40th birthday party. I was able to wear high heels, dangly earrings and enjoy two whole glasses of wine so that constitutes a smashing success.
Sunday was, of course, Mother's Day. All week Aiden has been fretting about getting the perfect gift for me which was adorable and so sweet.  Sean made me breakfast that morning and Aiden showed me the little gemstone tree he picked out for me and I read all 487 cards he drew. Very lovely.
I decided that Aiden and I should have some special mother-son bonding time. I spend so much of the day chasing the little ones that it can feel like he only gets a sliver of my attention some days. I decided to take him out for a hike on a local trail. This trail is meant to be more of a glorified walk in the woods than any kind of difficult trek. Despite it being 85 degrees and humid I insisted we wear pants because we have a huge deer tick population in the area and Lyme disease is something I'd prefer to avoid. I even used the real, chemical filled bug spray instead of the crunchy, essential oil stuff I usually put on the kids.
We started our hike and I noticed there were people everywhere, the trail was filled with moms, dads, toddlers and grandmas. It was nice to see everyone out and despite the amount of people it was still very calm and quiet. I did notice that we were the only people in pants. Apparently no one else cares about deer ticks like I do. We followed the trail up through the woods and along a stream and it was gorgeous and peaceful and I just knew Aiden and I were going to have a really special afternoon together, hopefully one we'd remember for awhile.
We had gone through what seemed like the entire trail loop (and a solid forty minutes of brisk hiking up and down slopes) when we came to a sign that pointed to the left AND right with the sign to the parking lot pointing off into nowhere. What the heck kind of Alice In Wonderland crap were they pulling? We headed left and kept going. By now no one else was around. All the babies and grandmas and guys with puppies were gone. Just us. It was sweltering and Aiden was convinced we were lost (we weren't lost, we were right on the trail, I just had no idea how to get OFF the trail). We were both sweating so profusely by then that our pants had become plastered to our legs so firmly it was almost hard to bend our knees.
 We were dripping with sweat, he was panicked, I was grumpy and for some inexplicable reason the farther down the trail we went, the faster we went so we were practically running through the forest sniping at each other when Aiden tripped and fell. He sat up and out from a pile of leaves slithered a snake. Boom, Aiden was up and booking it down the trail screaming bloody murder. I ran off after him trying to assure him it wasn't poisonous (it was all of about 10 inches long) and I when I caught up to him he was crying. Turns out he was over the fright from the snake and instead had a gnat in his eye. Then it started to thunder but OF COURSE.
We stood there panting, dripping with sweat, he was crying and convinced we were lost, about to be poisoned by snakes and devoured by flies.  Up the trail strolls my dentist and his family, all looking fresh as daisies. I stood there nearly drowning in my own sweat, trying to assure him Aiden was totally fine and it was just a fly, all while gasping for breath. Turns out we were on the right track and headed towards the parking lot.
We ran the rest of the way back to the car, despite part of it being up an incredibly steep slope. Needless to say, I don't think he'll ever forget this Mother's Day. We survived and he slept like a rock last night.
Despite my misguided attempts at bonding, it was a great day, and I was so happy to be surrounded by my amazing family. I am so lucky to have these kids, and I swear to never take them hiking again. 

Weekend Recap: All the Friends!

A while ago we'd planned to have a few of Sean's college friends come stay for the weekend. Of course I totally forgot who exactly was coming and which weekend it was and went ahead and let Aiden have three play dates last Wednesday through Friday. This means there were anywhere from four to nine kids running around here. In addition to that, both Rory and Audrey have been in a fierce competition for who can cling to me the longest for the past two weeks. I actually went grocery shopping and pushed a cart while holding both of them (that's about 50 pounds of kid). I was very proud of my core and shoulder strength and also kind of dying inside because why must you both make me carry you! All of this to say that we headed into a very busy weekend with giant piles of laundry and a mostly empty fridge and a basement that, while usually pretty tidy, was totally torn apart.

And then all of our friends arrived to sleep in our basement that was in disarray, and eat food that didn't actually exist because whoops that was this weekend? Also, two out of our three showers were broken (one was my fault for putting off calling the plumber but the other was a stroke of bad luck) so one shower for 10 people is always exciting.  As someone who is normally very type A and on top of these things, my head was spinning and I was not feeling like a very good hostess.

Taking all of that into account, how did the weekend go? Wonderfully. Sean's friend Owen planned out all manner of activities and took everyone out to dinner so I could get a reprieve from cooking. They brought wine and chocolate (always, always greatly appreciated). They also spent plenty of time talking to the kids.

I always worry that three children running around will be off putting to people who don't spend a lot of time with kids but this weekend just proved why these guys (and ladies) are such good friends. Nobody minds when a child crawls into their lap to sit or hands them a pencil and paper and asks to draw with them. There was even a morning where everyone sat around eat cinnamon rolls and talking about viscosity and refraction with Aiden after he asked how a certain toy containing colored liquids worked. It's also kind of hilarious to see how much Aiden takes after Sean because what other kid would sit there and be happy to talk about density and buoyancy? Science all the time.

There was mini golfing and cave exploring for everyone and late night cards and wine for the grown ups. My best friend also happened to be in town so I was able to catch up with some of my friends. We can't wait for everyone to come back this summer and I pinky promise I will have more available showers and a full barbeque planned.

 

  

 The award for squintiest group picture goes to: Us!