Precious Moments

Did anyone else collect Precious Moment figurines when they were little? I never had much of a collection- 5-6 assorted items at most, but the person I am now that hates clutter and small purposeless things on shelves is kind of appalled that I used to lust over those little cherubs in tourist tschotsky shops on vacation.

In real life precious moments that are also kind of appalling, we attended a friend's daughter's petting zoo birthday party yesterday. Rabbits, chickens, goats, geese, and pigs and at least two dozen minimally supervised children.

my bunny mama


Um, okay, let me just...
MY BUNNY MAMA.

Petting zoos stress me out- I feel so awful for the animals being choked to death by small children on sugar highs that I can barely watch. I actually snapped at a kid yesterday- yelled, really. His parents were MIA and he kept picking up bunnies by one foot and shaking them. I found myself thinking, a grown-up should intervene! And then I remembered, wait, I'm a grown-up! I asked him firmly, but gently to put the bunny down. I told him he needed to be more careful, that he was hurting and scaring the animals. He looked at me and smiled. Obviously, he's going to be a serial killer. I realized my mom voice was not going to be enough to bring him to the path of righteousness, so I just kicked him out of the animal pen. Later I saw him shove a friend's 2-year-old little girl to the ground and grab an animal feed pail straight from Claire's hands. That kid needed about 4 years worth of time-outs, with interest, but at least that's my first story of having to intervene and parent someone else's child. Obviously I usually only hang out with parents and children of the highest caliber.

 

But back to my kids -- behold, Claire in a dress! You cannot believe the negotiation it took to get here to wear it.

I let the kids pick out all their own clothes; Landon hasn't matched since he turned 2.5 and Claire isn't much better, but I'd taken the tags off that dress and I was not going to waste it.

 

She ripped a pocket climbing 6 feet up in the air on a jungle gym, terrifying every parent in the vicinity except her own (we're used to it), but seemed to find the dress generally acceptable. Not that she'll probably wear one again between now and Thanksgiving (when I have an adorable sweater dress that is GOING to happen).

When she wasn't scaling small buildings, Claire and her boots spent a lot of time running in circles around the goose pen. They flapped their wings and ran with her- I'd say she was chasing them, but I think they might actually have been chasing her. Either way, they didn't seem too bothered by it.

 

Landon stuck with the goats. He pet their horns, because that's what goats want you to pet, duh.

Both kids have a blast and Landon asked to bring home a bunny.

 
(with their party favor bags, no bunny)

Since the animals couldn't drink wine, I drank two glasses for them. Really brought their spirits up.

We put the kids to bed early- it had been a long day of soccer and yard work, and then I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30, totally freaking JP out and prompting him to shake me awake and ask if I was pregnant. (No. No no no.)

This morning we woke up to light rain, grey skies, and kids who slept in past 7:30. To celebrate the pre-Fall teaser weather (65 degrees!), we ate lunch by a blazing fire in the backyard fire pit and I made pumpkin bread and chicken pot pie from scratch. I went to my yoga barre class; the kids colored and played "camping trip" in the living room. JP played guitar, shot lighter fluid into his fire, and had a few informal interviews for jobs. We went on family walks, the last one with Claire on her Spiderman big wheel that took 20 minutes for 0.15 miles, but she kept exclaiming, "I'm coming Daddy! Behind you! Daddy, I'm comin!" (usually followed by "No help Mama; NO HELP.") and she let Landon push her up the driveway at the end. There was no eating out and no shopping except for the grocery store- it was not a fancy weekend, but it was an absolutely lovely one.