A comedy of errors

Have you ever completely botched up a recipe, then accidentally ended up with the tastiest product you could have ever imagined? That's what our whole day was like. Through a disorganized mother's stream of miscalculations and overbookings, we managed to scrap a playgroup, catch a playgroup that I hadn't realized till the last second was actually set for today, and even manage to bring along a bonus friend to it.

Fiona, Nora, Helena and I went to Teresa and Robert's house today. We read stories, rode a rocking horse which, through the day's unbelievably sweet karma, ended up living at OUR house, tended a doughnut garden, ate a nice warm lunch which included chocolate chip banana bread, laughed, spun upside down, and had a ton of fun.

This picture of Robert enjoying his first peppermint patty was taken a couple weeks ago at our house because, of course, on a day when I couldn't get anything right, I couldn't possibly remember to pack the camera. Robert is the kind of boy you wish lived right next door-- and I'm not just saying that because of the eyelashes. He can't see Nora without patting her on the head with a charming blend of fondness and exuberance. And anyone who uses his garden tools to plant a doughnut garden is definitely a friend of mine. I asked him what kind of doughnuts we were harvesting. The kind with holes? Filled ones? He looked at me in complete seriousness and said, "Gooey ones."

After leaving Robert's, dropping Helena off at her house, and bringing the girls home, I experienced a pang of remorse for not having stuck around to make sure Paul was able to get Helena's behemoth of a car seat back into place. So I called to make sure that went OK, only to have our family invited for roast chicken dinner! The meal was a blast; in fact, the only way we were able to will ourselves home was with the notion that we'd never be back if we kept them up all night with the boisterous fun our families seem to create together.

Both girls fell asleep relatively quickly considering their entire day of excitement, and Ian went to bed to catch up on some sleep shortly afterwards. I sure wish more mixed up days went this swimmingly!