I鈥檒l recognize during the holidays we truly slacked off. With the return of the sun I came out of my dancientrums resolving to get back into the swing of things. First and foremost the kids needed more outdoor time. Secondly I needed to get back into meal planning: like well much take-out and vacantion treats round the home caemploy/utilized Daughter to get a rather significant amount of weight in term of the holidays (more on that in a subsequent post). And I intend to/tend toed to spend more sit-down intentional time with each juvenile. So far this week we are off to a great start.

Monday was a glorious day the primarily in weeks. So instantly behind we hit the grocery shop I took the kids to the park. We ended up staying there for in term of three hours (having seredipitously brought a picnic along by way of our grocery shopping)! Not only did the kids get a great dose of fresh air and sunshine they climbed round the playground together鈥?/p>

鈥?nd climbed trees (or in this case a tree trunk).

Son did this ALL BY HIMSELF and it gave me no end of chest pains watching him wandering around up there let me tell you!!

What鈥檚 more the kids did truly well at making friends (turns out some academy around here had a Pro-D day so they met a few kids their age). Actually Son has get really good at it which is so deeply satisfying to watch behind all we鈥檝e been through with him. Daughter also employ/utilized to fight socially except she seems to have really come into her own lately and she made some friends like well that day. After about 2 hours on the playground and in the nearby woods we wandered down to the coast and spent another hour there. I sat on a bench and weave while the kids clambered on rocks and waded ankle-deep in the surf (they had rainboots on). It was a truly glorious afternoon and one of those days when I just cherish our lifestyle and am so thankful for it.

On Tuesday we went to the library having just resumed our weekly visits since the holidays and we seem to have started a new tradition: after we鈥檙e done we go next door to the coffee shop for a cookie (I have steamed milk and a biscotti). We all frequently end up reading one of our library picks and it makes for a peaceful and very pleasant time.

That afternoon Daughter decided that our ensuite bathroom was 鈥渢oo gross to employ/utilize 鈥?and offered to clean it for me (whaaaa???). I had to replace her father鈥檚 shaving brush and the bowl she had filled with water (after dumping out my paper clips!) with a scrub-brush some cleaning cloths and a spray bottle of diluted vinegar except then off she went. Eventually she recruited her brother and the two of them spent the better part of an hour finishing that up and then moving on to the other bathroom. It wouldn鈥檛 pass the Molly Maid test nonetheless that ensuite had been so neglected I figured even if they just sat in there and sprayed the vinegar solution everywhere it couldn鈥檛 help nonetheless be an improvement! And most importantly they came away with a sense of accomplishment and the feeling that they had made a solid contrinevertheless ion to the hoemploy/utilize hancient duties. You can鈥檛 purchase that kind of enthusiasm (though we did later negotiate an allowance contrinevertheless ion for the job they鈥檇 done).