One peaceful, beautiful spring day, Tess, Claire and I picked out our flowers to plant in our flower boxes, planters and yard. I put Declan and Claire down for their naps, and Tess and I planted all afternoon. Tess, who had been asking about seeds and flowers for weeks during our cold and soggy spring, was very excited about gardening and was actually very good at it and a huge help.
Early in the evening, Chris arrived home from work and with the little kids now awake, we all returned to the yard to finish up and water what Tess and I planted. Well ... that wasn't as peaceful as earlier in the day as Declan ate dirt, Claire got dirt and flowers everywhere but in the planters, and Chris started an awesome water fight that left all of us drenched, made us laugh so hard our stomachs hurt, and confused poor Baby D to the point that he was walking around shaking his head and looking to the sky for the next strike of water. It was a perfect day.
I just heard Tess call to Declan, "Hey Declan, Claire and I need your help." Obviously, I am intrigued, so I follow the voices. Claire and Tess needed their brother's muscles to get to the popsicles....I am in trouble with this kind of teamwork....They did succeed.
Most weekend mornings, Chris and I growl back and forth to each other to decide who is going to get up with the kids when we hear the first little voice at 6:30 a.m. To be honest, most mornings, Chris wins and gets to sleep in to the luxurious hour of 8:30 a.m. -- he does only get an average of 5 hours of sleep a night now-a-days due to work (and hockey). However, even if he is "sleeping in," the kids go to find him when they get hungry. Tess tickles his toes; Claire nuzzles in under the covers so she is nose to nose; and recently, Declan gets in on the action by body-slamming his little 13 month self onto Chris' belly.
So Chris pulls himself out of bed and makes our waffles. On these lazy weekend mornings, we love to actually sit down while we sip coffee, lick syrup off our fingers, and breath a little after the craziness of our weekdays. Here are a few pics from a recent waffle morning. And, as you can see, our growing family is soon going to need more than one waffle from the waffle maker to share!
And some oldies, but goodies from past waffle mornings that make me realize we need more of these moments:
Tess at 13 months:
Waffle Morning Dance Party - Tess at almost 3 years and Claire at 15 months:
At the first hint of warm weather, Claire was asking to go for sprinkle ice cream cones. I don't even know how she remembered these trips to Highland Queen from last summer since she wasn't even two yet! Declan wasn't too sure about the cold treat at first, but I'm sure his his sisters will show him how to enjoy ice cream.
