My Saviors

Today was such a crummy day, and my children woke up picking at each other. I had a sinking feeling I might pull a Homer on Bart(Brady) if I didn't get create a distraction.
Enter a dear group of friends to rescue me (and Brady)! Brooke, Kate, Beka, and Maggie all came over and we let our children run amok downstairs while we gulped coffee and ate. It was nice to reconnect and the children all got their wiggles out. I think that stretch of fine weather got them used to having non-stop action (able to play outside all day, all the neighbor kids are out, no limits). Then when the rains return, they just don't know what to do.

After everyone left, the kids and I jumped in the hot tub and had a good time playing and talking. And we figured out how Daisy the cat gets onto our back deck, I saw the claw marks on the post, and the kids watched her jump from the railing on our downstairs deck up onto the upper deck. Very impressive, except she can't go anywhere unless I let her in. She has spent more than one night out there on the back deck.

The only drawback to hot-tubbing is that Norman LOVES to drink the water. It doesn't matter how fresh the water is in his bowl, nothing beats 101 degree bromine water apparently. When we scold him to quit drinking it, he resorts to licking the side of the tub or one of the children when the get close enough. I don't get it.

And then at bedtime... Natalie had an empty snail shell in her fish tank. I reached in to retrieve the carcass (skeleton?) and... the fish that ate the snail had gotten himself stuck inside the shell and died. Geee-ross. Of course the children were fascinated. The fish tanks have been a great tool to teach the children the circle of life. It's getting to the point where they're pretty nonchalant about a fish dying. I hope they aren't like that when one of the dogs or cats goes.