Yesterday I finally got a puttering around morning again with just Luke. It was dreamy. We took a walk and talked to a neighbor. We visited the construction vehicles parked down the street. We made smoothies and read books. We cuddled in the rocking chair. We grocery shopped. It was a good morning. It was illustrative that the afternoon was totally different, just as I'd been suspecting. Luke was grumpy, the kids fought, and I ran around trying to entertain them while also trying to clean up (failed) and make dinner, and it was all I could do not to take a nap. Challenging! It also had some great moments though: running naked through the sprinkler and setting up the kid pool and tent on the grass. Luke went down by himself to the grass to play several times, something Halina is not so willing to do. It's nice to have the lower back yard actually get used.

Quotes from Luke over the past few days: 

• "Bears don't fit in mouth-es!" Offered in the spirit of happy agreement after I'd been explaining the food chain to the kids, and how some animals are at the top and don't get eaten.
• "Do the earthquake-making men live in clouds?" After hearing me and Chris talking about needing an earthquake preparedness kit.
• "Why is the sky blue?" This one came out of the blue. A classic.

Luke, hiding.