A busy week with friends

We had a play date in New Haven on Tuesday and R had soccer that evening.

On Wednesday R attended a birthday party while E and I went to playgroup. They had a moon bounce at the party and they had invited siblings to come jump for an hour after the party was officially over. R had an excellent time at the party ("the only thing missing was candy") and E had fun afterwards jumping around with old chums he doesn't get to see anymore. That evening R had soccer tryouts for a new league for next year. More about that another time.

Thursday we had dentist appointments at 9 am - ugh! We are all doing great taking care of our teeth and have no cavities.

After that we went to Brooksvale Park for another cooking adventure with our playgroup friends. We got there early so we could search for a letterbox. We found a nice easy one, and saw this pile o' poop along the way. Compare the size of it to the oak leaf next to it. There's no denying that stuff is from a bear.

It was the biggest poop any of us had ever seen.

When our friends arrived we made pancakes. The scone planners were home with strep throat, so one of the moms threw together a strawberry pancake plan. She used to be a teacher, so she found throwing in some "learning" irresistible, but the kids didn't seem to mind listening to the pancake books she brought along.
They all had fun slicing lots of strawberries and whipping up cream. They even made some butter. In our house we add the berries to the batter, so the boys weren't thrilled with plain old pancakes (from a boxed mix, which made them even more foreign tasting) that had unsweetened whipped cream and strawberries on top. "Where's the syrup?" they wanted to know. They ate enough to keep them satiated for a long enough visit afterwards though.

They all enjoyed catching baby frogs. They have grown from the teeny tadpoles they caught there two weeks ago. Here are some newts that R caught:

But this is what it's really all about:
Another day to feel blessed that my children are being brought up this close to nature. Running around a frog pond with nets in hand is very grand indeed. At dinner that night when asked what their favorite thing was today, both boys responded "everything".

We left the park just in time for a short rest at home before heading out to soccer practice.

Friday found me working all day at home. The woman I had previously done some freelancing for had a family emergency, and I found myself with a full eight hours of work. It was actually torture for me since E had incredible stomach and intestinal cramps all day. I felt so horrible leaving him in front of the TV moaning while I had to work. Whatever it was he had moved through his intestines in time for soccer practice that night, though.

Much as I enjoy making such good money, and don't mind the work I am doing, I just don't know how I feel about the time the work takes me away from the boys. We had a really busy week, and I had planned to spend Friday reading lots of books and playing games, and maybe watching a Netflix DVD. I hated having them upstairs all day without me. I felt like I was downstairs in a dungeon. I felt so neglectful. We'll see if I feel the same the next time, since hopefully E won't be moaning all day. B would consider it a total tragedy for me to throw away this treasure chest which has landed in my lap.

Today (Saturday) were the last regular soccer games of the season. Yes, they play in the rain, but luckily it had been reduced to drizzle by game time. E was thrilled to have received his "first trophy ever".

Tomorrow R has another game with the pool team. Then next week is a tournament weekend; two games on Saturday and two on Sunday. B is not at all pleased that the soccer league does not have any problems monopolizing Father's day. I think it's kind of annoying too.