Eat, Play, Love

That was a magazine tagline I saw today at the grocery store, and it seemed to capture the feeling of this first really summery day. The day started with donuts (when you anticipate a long Saturday of work, you really need donuts) and ended with s'mores. That right there should tell you what a nice day it was. :) In between the donuts and s'mores, we did lots and lots of work. Not the stare-at-the-computer-or-my-probability-homework kind, but the buggy, sweaty, mulch-hauling and flower-planting kind. I alternately thought how much easier it would be to do chores without the girls around, how much more pleasant it was with their "help", and how much easier it all is this year than last year or the year before.

The girls found bugs and bagged branches and weeds. They played in the sandbox and playhouse and watched a movie on the porch toward the end of the day. They ate raspberries and strawberries (lots of them). They fought, cried, and insisted on being held and carried. They made piles of birdseed on the porch so the birds could have lunch.

The bathroom is still a mess from the remodel job that started Memorial Day weekend, and thus the dining room is full of bathroom and construction supplies, so we ate our meals on a blanket in the living room. We are covered with sunscreen and bug spray, and not a little sticky. Annie is still chatting and wiggling in bed while Nellie snores quietly--certainly the product of eating one s'more, two extra marshmallows, a graham cracker, and a square of chocolate.

I think the best part (aside from taming the wild beasts that the front trees and bushes had become) was being together the whole day. Between turkey hunting, Kev's work schedule, the construction, living with Grandma and Grandpa for a week and a half, and my 6-day trip to Berkeley for work, I feel like it's been a long time since we really spent much time together. It also got me giddily excited for the long summer ahead - birthday parties, long weekends at the lake, visits from Dave and Laurel, little sisters home from school, 4th of July, baseball games. It was a day for forgetting some big looming tasks--moving, getting our house ready to rent, writing a practicum...? Ah, well. Save that for another day.