carnations and castles

Blue canary in the outlet by the light switch.
Who watches over you?

Not to put too fine a point on it
SAY I'M THE ONLY BEE IN YOUR BONNET
-They Might Be Giants "Birdhouse in your soul" aka "Today's soundtrack"

Somedays I make plans that deep down in my soul, I just know they're destined for failure. Yet for some unexplainable reason, I have to test it.
Today was one of those days.

Surprisingly the part I thought was destined to result in my being banned from a certain part of town, went off smoothly. Of course the "safe playdate" was disasterous.

I took two small children with me to meet with a florist/event designer this morning. I've been helping a friend plan her wedding, and our assignment this week was to pick out a florist and someone to handle chair covers/bows for the reception. Since I am not the bride, bringing children along for professional meetings is a gray area. I can get way with bringing one, but two is questionable.
The children were fantastic.

Absolutely fantastic. It was actually quite surreal. I left the meeting floating on a cloud of maternal pride.

10 minutes after we got home, we had visitors. For anyone keeping count, we are now at 2 adults. A 4-year old (mine) a 13-month old (loaner) a 3-year old (visitor) and a 2-year old (visitor). Almost immediately, everyone not old enough to cross the road by themselves tried to end civilization as we know it. Castles were destroyed. Balloons were stolen. Vehicles were crashed. There was much crying.

But wait. That's not the end.

Instead of cleaning up the spilled milk and crushed cereal after everyone had gone home, Alex and I packed a picnic lunch, harnassed the dog and headed to the park for a picnic dinner. As I watched the sun highlight Alex's big brown eyes, I realized just how lucky I am to have friends that don't mind me bring my child plus an extra to business meetings. Or to have friends that can come visit us, but most importantly, to have the world's greatest 4 year old, and live 2 blocks from a park!