Six

1. The fabulous @aprilbapryll found a very nice little blue truck option on eBay (thanks, April!). After pondering for an entire morning I ended up ordering one for each of the kids. They were a little spendy, but the boys like them so I'm happy.

2. Spring weather has finally arrived! We are practically drunk with it after a long snowy winter that overstayed its welcome. The first day I put Elliott in a T-shirt for his nap, he was perplexed by the short sleeves. He kept trying to tug them down over his arms.

3. Work has been crazycakes for a little while now, and I suspect when the last two weeks are tallied up, I'll have logged a few hours of actual overtime in each of them. Since I'm supposed to work no more than 32 hours a week, logging 42 is kind of significant. I'm glad to be doing the things I'm doing, but I'm tired and hoping things ease up once we make it through this week.

4. Due to working late / bringing extra work home, I have once again failed to complete a photo book before the Shutterfly code ran out, but I did have fun going through pictures from 2013 for the attempt. The year that Nico was three and Elliott was wee!

5. We went to the zoo on Sunday, where the boys spent the afternoon looking huge and capable and handsome.

6. I took the boys to the mall on Monday to use Elliott's free birthday carousel ride coupon and to get the warranty inspection done on my engagement ring. The jewelry store had closed since our last stop there back in September, and while we were wandering around looking for it, I noticed a hermit crab kiosk. The hermit crab lady was way less pushy than the foreign makeup / lotion / nail treatment pusher guys, but I ended up impulse-buying a hermit crab for Nico. I can't even blame him, because he was clueless and didn't even notice them until I asked him if he wanted one. It seemed like a good idea at the time. The one he picked out is feisty and missing one claw, which it will supposedly regenerate the next time it molts. Now I'm concerned because once we got home and read the paper that came with the crab, I learned that hermit crabs typically use their small claw to eat and drink and their large claw for defense. I'm going to be pissed if our crab starves because he's missing his small claw. The paper also says they're social creatures that do well in groups, but I told Nico we have to wait a month and see how this one is doing before we buy another one. Maybe I need a small tattoo somewhere that says "Seemed like a good idea at the time" to remind myself that I occasionally do these things and then wonder why later. Crabby is pretty cute, though, in a crabby sort of way.


Reading:  I'll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

Playing:  the Sesame Street CD from Elliott's birthday