Grandma Jayne, Easter, and the Working Mom Club

Ford lost his mind at daycare dropoff today. We were having a perfectly nice morning, picking out Disney-themed clothing and downing sausages, when he decided that he simply had to take his garden shovel to daycare.

I'm pretty chill about letting them bring stuff from home and leave them in their cubbies (and daycare is pretty cool about letting me choose not to fight that battle), but I felt like a three foot shovel was over the line. I told Ford firmly that he could have it after school but would need to leave it in the car.

He flung himself onto the pavement, kicking and screaming and writhing about, as I tried to contain him with one arm and keep Finley from dancing into the street with the other. This is not a picture of this morning; it's a particularly joyous one from Easter. But you get the idea.

To top it off, we were out of coffee and I was late for a meeting.


From across the parking lot, Claire's Mom gave me the "I've been there" look.

Man, I live for the solidarity of the Working Mom club.

To be fair, I've been spoiled. The very week after we barely survived the trip home from Peru, I had to spend 3 days TDY in Tampa. So naturally, Seth called in the big guns. (Jayne, who generously agreed to stay the entire week.) Who is just honestly a saint. She cooked and cleaned and taught kids how to count to like a thousand and took them to Target and let us drag her around to various social events and I don't think I did laundry for a week and a half. 

She also sent photos like this 

and this

and this

while I was away, and shoveled snow and made countless snowball forts when it snowed in April. 

Tampa,  incidentally, was a quick trip for a legal conference with a brutal schedule. But I did find time to go for morning jogs with this waterfront view, and drink a beer or two with friends. Hard to complain (even if I had to be in my seat at 7 every day, because SOCOM ruins everything.)

Still, I was delighted to get back to these little guys (skimming off the top of Dad's morning shake).

Plus I made it back just in time for Easter,

which included the world's worst table manners

and an awful, cold, rainy Easter egg hunt with this creepy bunny.

This picture was actually taken the week before, at the Morning with the Easter Bunny, and made it onto the West Point Club website. I had to share because it, at least, was cute. And doesn't come with flashbacks.

Ford ate an entire chocolate Easter bunny, including much of the gilt wrapping, at the sunrise service. Finley pooped on her new Easter dress. I wondered how early was too early for an Easter mimosa.

For no reason, we decided to reward the toddler atrocities with new bikes. Which were obviously a big hit, even if my favorite part was watching Seth and his Mom put them together (my new favorite holiday tradition.)

My favorites of the week are of these handsome guys headed to Easter brunch,

and this beautiful shot with Grandma Jayne. Who we are very definitely missing this week!