Going Outside

Today was actually a pretty productive day. The kids were up for school, I fed Peter, he fell asleep while I exercise around 8, and then he just kept sleeping. He was nice and cozy in his carseat and he slept until 1! I got a lot done - cleaning and laundry and dishes and I scrubbed out the sink. As I was going about being happy to make progress on the house, I came downstairs and saw that Natalie and her little brothers were all dressed up and ready to go outside. Natalie had gotten them all ready!

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Super cute, I'm impressed Natalie! "Where are you guys going?"

She said they had to go outside and get the scarf - a scarf that had been left outside that was now revealed because almost all the snow had melted.

I watched them go get the scarf, and then they walked into the backyard. I told them to stay in the backyard. They jumped on the trampoline, I loaded the dishwasher, they turned on the hose, I went and turned it off. Lily stayed home sick today, although she mostly played legos) and I asked her to go see if they were still doing okay. She said yes. I went to check, and they were gone. I looked in the front yard and back, no sign of the toddlers. I called one neighbor to the east - they weren't there. I started to walk over to check at our west neighbor's yard, but a lady who had been outside said she saw them but they didn't come that way. So back west and across the street over to another neighbor's house - and I saw Daniel's wet red mittens on her porch. Yay, my unattended children are safe. I knock. It was almost time for Natalie to go to school. "Natalie, you need to let me know where you are going..." My neighbor apologized (I said shouldn't have, this was all on me) - she has asked Natalie if I knew where she was and Natalie said yet. She apologized that she didn't text me to let me know, but again, this was my bad. So we got shoes on and hurried home to get her backpack and stuff. I could do better, but know I'm doing about as best as I can keeping track of these kids. I'm grateful for nice neighbors who help me out.

So, it's been warm, which usually means there's a big storm coming, so we'll see. Things are good. I'm still just taking it easy, trying to soak up this time with Peter while also trying to not let the house or life fall totally apart. I'm getting pretty okay sleep, meaning if I get 3 almost straight hours I'm happy. Peter seems to nurse all night. If that means I'm able to get stuff done during the day, that might be a good trade off. He's a cutie.