weekend at the farmette

It has been a tradition now since the first grandchild was born: twice a year, the Madison kids spend a weekend at the farmhouse while the parents either go away or just do whatever it is that parents do when the kids are gone.

This is the weekend of the kids' biannual set of farmhouse days. Snowdrop is super excited! Sparrow, on the other hand, may not fully understand why at the end of the day, no one comes to pick him up!

I've thought a lot about how best to keep them busy here (given that they have already spent so much time with us in this rather small space). A few new books, maybe a handful of new Duplo legos, a movie or two, some favorite foods and I think I'm set!

The biggest challenge is to tidy the place up without disturbing some of the setups that Snowdrop still feels are important to her ongoing story telling. You never know which ones are defunct and which are very much current and I dare not ask. I devote a good number of hours today setting things in an order I think might satisfy the need for space and a respect for what should be left alone.

But it's not a morning of mere organizational industriousness. There is, for example, breakfast.






And, too, I have another coffee break (and it's a long one!) with my friend.






And another coffee break at home! (Do I need this much caffeine? Hmmm... maybe I should have opted for an herbal tea instead...)






Weather-wise, we are in for a stunning set of days and I'm glad. Your mood nearly always gets an uptick when the sunshine streams brilliantly into your living space. And of course, with temperatures hovering even a little above freezing, the bite in the air is gone. You can almost imagine it's shorts weather. (Indeed, for Ed, it is shorts weather.)

There can't be much Ocean writing this weekend. You can imagine how full the days are for me, for all of us. Still, there are the occasional photos. Here are today's:

(It starts with Duplos...)






(It's more inclusive than the more age appropriate Legos...)






(Sparrow finds a new chair...)






(Gaga is cooking. Can you read this, ahah?)






(Dinner...)











(And something Snowdrop has been so looking forward to: eating an ice cream bar and watching Frozen2 at home.)






(Two eat ice cream, one eats a cookie)






(The cookie eating child is shocked to see that the songs he hears all the time on car rides come with characters and voices!)






(Movie is over. Final credits, music, happy ending dance.)






(Later) I think both kids are asleep now. May they rest up and wake up happy! I suppose that this would be my wish for every child, everywhere, on every day...