Mother's Day Weekend!

Some things never change...

My first act of love for Mother's Day weekend was to keep Shane busy while Carrie napped. We tried "quiet" play time, but the kid followed me wherever I went.

So, we went to the library! We stumbled across a cultural festival on the way there.

Shane went from table to table to get his passport stamped and talk to people from different countries. We made a Moroccan spice blend, had Shane's name written in Greek and Arabic, talked to a police officer, a Buffalo Soldier motorcycle rider, a couple from Chile, etc, etc (At least, I tried to talk, but Shane always started to wander once he got a stamp and whatever the free goody was).

Shane was as friendly as ever.

It turned out he actually knew this kid, Levi, from school. Shane shouted "Hi!" and waved at random people on the street as we walked, so it's not like that was a requirement.

We hung out with Levi and his family for a little bit.

Then we lost them shortly after Shane showed them the Moroccan spice blend.

Shane's not hard to entertain, though. As long as noise levels aren't a problem and there isn't anything valuable or breakable it's a breeze. Oh, look! A tree!

Lumpia for a snack! (Filipino egg rolls)

I recognized this guy, Sam, from picking Shane up after school. We've bumped into him before.

He and Shane were library buddies for a little bit.

Mom was awake when we got home. Then we got to go on some errands!

Some things never change...

After a hardware run at Lowe's, we went to Costco. Carrie needed her new phone replaced. Shane and I wandered and were on sample detail for a couple of hours.

Carrie rejoined us at the end.

We watched The Incredibles to finish the night.

Sunday, Dylan and Eli joined us at church. Unfortunately, there was no Sunday school and the kids were amped! We stayed outside in the atrium and played basketball and watched some of the service on TV.

Sunday school will be back next week. It was a fluke (or by design) the one week friends showed up the kids had nowhere to go together.

They were happy 95% of the time until a dime presented a dilemma. 

Shane and I played outside for a while after church to give Carrie some recovery time.

She came out for a little to check on her chickens.

The rest of the time, the boys ran rampant. Raheem always wants me to play, too, but I try to sit back and let the kids interact. Part of it is fatigue; Part of it is kids need time without an adult directing everything to grow.

I can't go shirtless without burning or blinding anyone, too.

Tae Tae came down the hill from her house and played along. She wanted to help Shane learn how to ride his bike.

I told her, "You're good with kids. You must have younger ones about!"

Henry started to call out from his window not long after.

I was ready to go in numerous times, but it felt like a new kid popped up every time I was about to make Shane go inside. Then, I didn't want him to snub anyone so we stayed out....until the next kid entered the fray!

We went out for a Mother's Day dinner at Wegmans when I finally got Shane inside. Netflix finished off the night.

I wish I could say we did more activities strictly for Mother's Day, but we didn't. Carrie needed/wanted to rest from the week. She's still processing and dealing with the horse situation.