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!

An Epic Spring Break in Peru.

We've been home from Peru for almost an entire week. I'm not certain I have recovered.

Both kids got their fingers smashed by the luggage carousel in more than one airport. They lost their minds on the 3 hour Bogota-Cusco flight, both directions. They were ejected from a Platinum lounge which was virtually empty (meaning the Colombian cleaning crew couldn't even stand them.) They both got some sort of stomach virus and lost the entire contents of their stomachs repeatedly. Skipped naps and acted terrible. Refused to eat anything but white bread and nutella for protracted periods of time. Refused to hike by lying flat on the ground with civil disobedience-style floppiness in their limbs. 

Ford threw the most epic fit I have ever seen in my life, screeching at the top of his lungs and flinging his face in the dirt and refusing to be touched or consoled in any way for more than an hour and several times tripping on the waistband of his own pants on the site of a heavily-touristed sacred Incan ruins.

They also got to ride horses. With no waivers, no helmets, no safety precautions of any kind.

They got to ride slides that were five stories tall.

Feed alpacas.

Act like this.

And this.

Jump in mud puddles.

Have epic picnics.

Traipse through ancient ruins.

Ride mountain bikes down breathtaking mountain valleys in borrowed pink helmets.

And meet the locals.

Sara and Daniel pulled out all the stops, and showed off all the best (in kid-friendly driving distance, anyway) that Peru has to offer. Like Humantay

and Palccoyo, where F+F had an epic meltdown in the snow at 17,000'.

But the views were totally worth it.

We couldn't have been more grateful for cousin time,

family time,

a long-overdue Sister Adventure,

and the remarkable opportunity to see my baby sister and witness firsthand the incredible, rewarding life she has built living her dream with her family in this stunning place.

Plus there was Miss time with kids. Always a huge hit.

There were way too many incredible photos to pick favorites, but a couple are of this burger,

this "Sound of Music" moment,

this wildlife encounter between Ford and his beloved "baby paca!"

And this classic photo bomb.

With airplane fits already fading into a pleasant haze, we're already counting down to our next adventure.

Snow Day Three Day Weekends.

We had a couple days of warm weather, in which we thought that spring might actually be on the way. And then a Nor'easter hit early Friday morning and brought everything to a standstill. This was our situation around 11, minus me in the corner frantically trying to check work emails before somebody beat somebody else with an egg-covered spatula.

I failed, by the way.

The storm was pretty ferocious, with hurricane-force winds. We lost power for long enough that I became very concerned about spending the weekend without heat or Elmo. I insisted on outside time anyway, which was clearly a resounding success.

We got a night of Finley's "greams" out of it, though, complete with a Ryan kid sleepover and sword fights and this playroom Superfund site.

Saturday I had to get out of the house so I took the kids hiking in Connecticut. On the way, Finley randomly projectile vomited all over herself and the back half of my car, which turned my day outside into the Purgatory at the Danbury Fair Mall.

Which began when I dragged two kids wearing nothing but coats and socks into Carter's for replacement clothes (note that Ford insisted on wearing one of Finley's new shirts) and went south from there.

But at least there was chik-fil-a. Which terrible Ford managed to hate.

Along with the carousel. 

We rounded out a windy, snowy weekend ice skating (from which I am still recovering since Ford insisted on getting a turn after Finley's lesson and was only happy doing lap after lap of this)

and an impromptu Oscars party (styling by F+F) on Sunday.

Funniest photo of the week has to be this one I snapped on Sally's doorstep, a perfect rendition of how F+F show up to a party. Finley is wearing a fancy dress and shoes with accessories (including the scarf she stole from Grandma and refuses to relinquish.) Ford is wearing Mickey Mouse PJs, his snow boots, and Finley's pink cat helmet. And they both brought snacks. Party.

Cheers to unplanned three-day weekends and the fact that we're starting to pack for Peru- we leave this Friday!