A sweet day with the littles to remember

I recently just turned down a really big project. It was a big project that was going to lead in to more big projects. I got the very thing I've been hoping and praying for and then I turned it down.

Sometimes when we pray and wish and hope and then something happens that looks like what we've been waiting for we think, "wow, it's finally happening the way I want..super duper!"

Except, it wasn't. Super duper, that is. The project had to do with writing for an particular section of an industry  that I have absolutely no positive feelings for - it's bad for the environment, particularly children, and yet very common and highly competitive. Yet I actually met with the owner -what was I thinking?? I was thinking that the money could really help - isn't that why everyone works and the root of all compromise?

Moving on - once I decided I wasn't doing it, I felt freedom. Freedom like when the semester is over for that first week and suddenly all this newly found free time is appreciated.

The second day of my "new found freedom", today, my little guy was being very ornery and yelling for TV while I was nursing and putting his little baby sis to sleep. I come out not-so-happy and declare that he is taking a much needed media break...actually I've been secretly trying to get up the courage to do this; he takes entirely too much screen time and it was starting to be appalling to his dad and I.

And did we ever have fun!!

It was a rare day of nothing to do, baby taking tons of naps, and my energy level being high...

Little Y at imaginative play

We built a train track...here Little Y is trying to make a monkey zoo train...The monkey can be seen partly falling from the gray and red contraption as it will be safely transported on his cargo train to the zoo

Train speeding to it's destination....

Mandatory picture pose with a cute conductor!!











Next, we make a birthday cake for his daddy...see how excited he is!! We are making a chocolate cake from scratch and he gets to help!!

After mixing, he made a bit of a mess. But that's OK...it's going to be delicious. 

Then, he brought a big flip book to me that was given to us by a friend of my mom's who is a massage therapist. The book is a visual aid for muscles, nerves, cells, and also shows the skeleton. He was asking me questions and we had a little science lesson. I love conversational back and forth lessons...this little guy is so fun to teach! 

After this, we went to the park and he rode his trike around the neighborhood. He was whining about getting an ice cream cone when it happened. He stuck his hand under his wheel and scraped his skin off. Ouch. He cried the whole way home and then asked for a "fruit flat" instead of ice cream.

Go figure. 

We followed that whole thing up with a rousing game of "Go Fish" with his sister. He lost miserably, but still a good sport. Prior to that we actually got a game of  "Shoots and Ladders" in (seriously where did I get all this time) and he absolutely trampled me mercilessly so I didn't feel bad for him.

So glad for that media "punishment"...we had so much fun!! 

***

Another important event happened today. Baby E ate solid form food for the first time on her very own with her new pincer grasp skills. I've been noticing this very look that I have captured below for several days now, and although she really doesn't finish pureed foods that I give her, it was my intuitive belief that she, like her brothers, will skip that stage entirely...she LOVED grabbing bits of oatmeal and she had mash-ish green beans for dinner.