I slept in really late after an exhausting trip to Philly. In the morning, the kids worked on a craft birthday present for me, Lily went to Yoga, and I did a good workout running Basil and doing pull-ups in the park (Dog-out workout).
I was happy to see that I wore out Basil :). Also, Lily took him to the groomers and he’s looking really great!
Later in the day, I helped all the kids play Pretty, Pretty Princess.
After Pretty, Pretty, Princess. I played fort with the kids. They were so excited and even gave me adventure clothes to wear. The had built a fort and the plot was that they were my long lost children, and they had lived in the wilderness for many years (and gone wild) and I finally found them and I was going to stay the day with them, and then take them home to meet their mother, and stay in their new clean home and no longer live in the wilderness.
At one point, Basil didn’t realize the roof of the fort was soft, so he jumped through it and landed on us and that made us laugh. We also had fun with the kids pretending to get into mischief as I, the protecting parent corrected and tried to save them from their mischief. That evolved into a riff on an old game we used to play (nobody leaves the room/couch) and we played “nobody leaves the fort”. The idea was they kept wanting to go on dangerous adventures and get in trouble, so I had to forcibly round them up and throw them back in the fort. I was sweating by the end and surprised I could still lift Lydia and carry her up the stairs. It was really fun. I chased the kids a lot and they also hid in hiding spots. Clarissa was not into the game, and wanted to go to the “new home” to be civil and not be wild anymore. After chasing all the other kids, Clarissa helped me make dinner, and then we had everyone come to dinner in their PJs and we continued the game a little bit longer as we pretended they were eating dinner in their new fun. It was honestly so much fun.
Dinner was yummy salmon, rice and broccoli.
Lily has been giving a lot of massages to the older girls lately. Here Mary is enjoying her foot massage.
At 8:00, Lily hung out with Michaelann at Barnes & Nobles, and then they went to Michaelann’s house and she did a Tarot card reading for Lily.
Lily’s cards were a frog, a flamingo and a whale. They all have in common being multiple things at the same time. The front is land/water, the flamingo is land/air, and the whale is water, but mammal. There was also a progression suggested in the cards that made Lily feel hope in progressing on her weaknesses that she holds along with her strengths (like the animals being multiple things at the same time). It really gave Lily something to think about as she drove home, because she has wondered if there is hope in her goals for herself around being more kind. Of course, anyone who knows Lily knows that she is incredibly kind and loving, but she feels immense guilt anytime she falls short of her own standard (even in very difficult circumstances), and she is wanting to eradicate cruelty from herself completely.
Also, Lily has done a ton of reading lately.