Saturdays lately

Almost every Saturday morning, Matt gets up around 6:30 or 7 with the boys, who typically rise earlier than their sister, and prepares pancake batter "assisted" by one or both the boys. On the rare occasion that Lauren wakes up early, I get up and make the batter, letting Matt sleep in a little. But most mornings, Lauren and I emerge between 7:30 and 8 and Matt fires up the griddle. We enjoy pancakes with maple syrup and blueberries--except Ev who likes "burberries" by themselves, just not with "cancakes and syrbert." Matt and I split a pot of coffee, drinking it at a leisurely pace while we watch the kids play. Sometimes one of us even gets to check the Internet or read a book! Lauren goes down for a morning nap around 10am. After I put her down to sleep, I like to leave the house and do our grocery shopping for the week. Ideally, Lauren will get in a good nap and I'll be home in time to help Matt with lunch. After lunch, Evan goes down for his nap and Lauren follows shortly after for her 2pm nap. Our afternoons are pretty flexible. Once the babies are up, we might get out to run an errand, visit friends or take a family walk to a nearby playground. Or we may just stay in, letting the kids play while watching a college basketball game. Matt and I might try to squeeze in a few chores. We eat dinner around 5:30-6pm, then commence staggered bedtime routines, which have Lauren asleep by 7, Evan by 7:30 and Tobin by 8.

This particular Saturday morning was atypical because Matt had to work, helping other teachers prepare their National Board applications, from 9 to 12. So I hung out with the kids while they played, as seen above. (I'll do my shopping in the afternoon probably.) We enjoyed some Elizabeth Mitchell in the background and had a mostly lovely time, playing with trains until little brother decides it's more fun to pull the track apart and say "What happened track?" And then playing with letter blocks until big brother starts hoarding blocks because he's trying to spell the biggest word he can. And then playing basketball until it becomes tackle basketball and someone gets injured. You get the idea. Lauren, when not napping, mainly stays safely on the periphery of such activity, grabbing and chewing on discarded wooden train tracks and blocks, squealing at basketball/tackling and, lately, rocking to the music. We know that soon enough she'll be right in the middle of Saturday morning play.