All Tuckered Out, Green String & The Makings of A Fight

I suppose Mark finally reached his physical limits yesterday afternoon. We had been to and from Great Grandma's house in the morning, the library before lunch, and outside for most of the afternoon. We were reading library books and waiting for Daddy to come home when Mark leaned over toward the pillow and started snoring.


Truly, I do not know that Mark has EVER fallen asleep like that in the middle of something, even when he's sick! He was a bit of a grumpy bear to wake up for dinner, but perked right up once he had some food in his tummy again.

This morning we were playing before Nathan's first dentist appointment. He asked if we could get down the yarn, so we opened up the little plastic container that holds the remains of a $1 pack of yarn I bought four years ago. He and Mark had it all over the floor and were pretending to be squirrels in no time.


The dentist appointment went wonderfully, peacefully well. We went to our family dentist and my hygienist cleaned his teeth. Nathan's attitude was so positive and brave - and I am praising God for answering prayer about that. He was completely cooperative and in good spirits the whole time. I enjoyed having a "date" with him, too. I want to do that more often with both of the boys. I need alone time with them, and it was amazing to see how the whole tone changed when Nathan wasn't competing for my attention.

The pictures you see here are what I describe as "the storm brewing." There was a mess on the floor, the kids hadn't taken naps, and they had just finished helping me put together a quiche for tonight's dinner. Mark had accidentally dumped all of the pretend food on the kitchen floor. That's an army truck plowing through it.


I was trying to wash dishes so the mess didn't continue to pile up.


The boys took the pretend food into the den to play on the couch, and that lasted for about 1.5 minutes before there was screaming and wrestling and general discontent. I can see it in their faces in this picture.


At that point, they both went to their rooms to cool down. I made the executive decision to clean up the mess myself so we could go outside while dinner was in the oven. It was worth it not to have another obstacle between us and the great outdoors! Turns out it was a good choice...we all relaxed in the afternoon sun and even took a walk after dinner. Nathan has been riding his bicycle when we go on walks...yet another way he's growing up right in front of me.