Quick Bits

The kids and I got out the watercolors over the weekend. They were practically done by the time I sat down to it but I found myself on a roll, and channeling my very acute homesickness for New England with the little picture above. I'm surprisingly happy with how it turned out. What might I be able to do if I actually painted every day? Oh, such indulgence. 

Earlier that morning we caught sight of a whole flock (wait, I just looked it up-) a rafter of wild turkeys marching around our backyard. There were ten of them and they stuck around for a little while. Ollie was outside at the time and couldn't quite make up his mind whether these were birds for chasing or being afraid of. They were awfully cool. 

Somewhere in the middle of last week Amy was in one of her uber-helpful moods. The kind of helpfulness that usually pops out when I want nothing more than to get the job done as quickly as I can and if possible, in total silence. But on this night I was in good humor and decided to let her have a go at washing the dishes. She surprised me by being a) plenty tall, with just the small stool and b) fairly competent. The competence part shouldn't surprise me... but I'm kinda particular about dishes. 

I believe it was the day after that when everyone came home from school pick up time in a real funk. The pushing and shoving between Amy and William started before we were even out of the building and I was terribly tired and not quite sure how we'd all make it to bedtime in one piece. And then I asked if anyone would like to join me in a cup of tea. Bless their little hearts, they thought that was the greatest idea and asked if we could get out the "real" tea set. So we had a proper tea with sugar cubes and little cookies and the three of us left the table perked up and in much better spirits. 

My little munchkins have been such good company these days; I can easily overlook the tired moods and the squabbling because truly, we've been having quite a lot of fun.