April 9, 2021 – 99 of 365 – Vi may not be able to get around much anymore, but the kids are happy to blow her bubbles in her face for her to attack. This remains a favorite activity of hers.

April 10, 2021 – 100 of 365 – Now that the weather is warming up and we’re almost all vaccinated (!!!) that means more outdoor (and soon indoor!) visits from the cutest little nephew, who my kids all call baby Shane even though he is quite a bit bigger than Louisa, and getting close to being as tall as Julia.

Me: Florence, will you pose for a photo under the tree with your sisters?

Florence:

April 11, 2021 – 101 of 365 – If anyone is interested in a television program delivered from a cardboard box that details the evolution of various Pokemon characters, do I have a show for you!

April 12, 2021 – 102 of 365 – It is not every day you find Peppa Pig routing through the box of legos in your playroom.

April 13, 2021 – 103 of 365 – Bubbles and flower petals might be my favorite combination.

April 14, 2021 – 104 of 365 – I like to call Trevor my dire wolf–always standing guard. When the kids come into our room in the middle of the night, he gets up and attempts to keep them out of our bed and herd them back to the door (a noble effort). We tell the kids it’s because the knows they are bad sheep who got out of their pen.

April 15, 2021 – 105 of 365 – Previous to this day, the window bench area in my room was the home of a pile of random items and a drying rack for our towels, so I gave it a little upgrade. Julia’s reaction was to tell me that I’m wasting all of our money on plants. Florence told me that our room was perfect now and all we needed to complete it was some kind of curtains. Only one of these children is speaking my language.

April 2, 2021 – 92 of 365 – If Julia ever sees me putting on makeup, or even sees my makeup sitting out, she makes me put some on her. I’m happy to give her a little blush and eyeshadow, but her freckles are always the star of the show for me.

A post-“week of no TV” movie night celebration with pajamas and popcorn and Lou sneaking some “popcorns” to the dogs.

April 3, 2021 – 93 of 365 – [The night before.] “No, Florence, you cannot eat out of the half watermelon on the floor in the living room…you just can’t.” [I walk in next day to find this scene…at least they’re not in the living room.]

April 4, 2021 – 94 of 365 – On a walk with grandpa now that he’s fully vaccinated! Don’t mind me in my victorian woman who can’t let the sun touch her skin getup.

Purple+Yellow. Yellow+Purple.

April 5, 2021 – 95 of 365 – There is one thing that has made me a Trader Joe’s convert. These cheap ranunculus.

April 6, 2021 – 96 of 365 – This is 2.5 (+2 months because for some reason I can never remember the 2 1/2 checkups)

April 7, 2021 – 97 of 365 – This is my very favorite view.

April 8, 2021 – 98 of 365 – I call this, “It’s 10:30pm and I have not taken a photo today and I am in desperation mode.”

March 26, 2021 – 85 of 365 – I did a crazy thing the week of spring break, I banned tv.

I have never been a no screen parent, but all of the screen time had really started taking over every moment of free time in a way that even I could not tolerate–first thing in the morning, as soon as they got home after school, before everyone had even finished dinner–TV, TV, TV. It was a TV addiction situation and it was too much. I decided spring break would be the perfect time to drop the habit. I kind of expected the kids to lose their minds when I broke the news to them, but they took it surprisingly well. I told them we’d do other fun things and we’d have more time to play together and be outside. Then we clicked those Rokus off and left them off for the week. I felt very brave.

Day one I took all three kids out by myself to fly a kite. It was pretty much a good time, although chaotic. Florence decided to also bring along a sketch pad and crayons in her backpack , because a windy open field is also a great place to do some sketching apparently. I talked her out of the lap desk.

March 27, 2021 – 86 of 365 – Day 2 we went on our first hike of the season at Ridley Creek State Park. We saw a little waterfall and picked wild flowers and Julia threw herself on the ground at one point and refused to hike any longer. Am I a terrible mother that I find these sorts of tantrums incredibly adorable? I often take covert videos in the moment, which seems really mean, but my kids absolutely love watching themselves flip out after the episode has passed. They too realize how crazy they were being.

We also watched our first front steps sunset of the season.

March 28, 2021 – 87 of 365 – Harry Potter got me through spring break no tv, that is for sure. Florence spent every spare moment with her nose in a book.

March 29, 2021 – 88 of 365 – During Louisa’s nap one day, Florence and Julia made a circus show for me and Jason. Florence was a clown who couldn’t juggle (on purpose…that was the schtick) and a hula hoop tight rope walker. Julia was a broom “horseback” rider and the funniest strong man I have ever seen, who picked up various items around the yard with mixed success. The best part though might have been the two of them taking turns announcing each other and providing vocal musical accompaniment from inside the tent on their Frozen karaoke player.

March 30, 2021 – 89 of 365 – Dancing hair on dancing girls.

March 31, 2021 – 90 of 365 – This is the face of a two year old who doesn’t want to hear your reasonable explanations for why she can’t dye eggs all by herself and a father who does not enjoy doing crafty projects, most especially with two year olds who don’t want to hear your reasonable explanations.

April 1, 2021 – 91 of 365 – They want to make tiny flower bouquets every single day and I try to remember to never be in too much of a rush to let them do it.