Weekending it

Spring weather is slowly creeping in and it is amazing! What wonders a little consistent sunshine can do!

This weekend we were able to get outside a lot and play in the driveway in the the little backyard area. Mandy and I were talking about how nice it is to have just a tiny sliver of outdoor space to get outside. A year ago when parks started closing and we didn't want to be outside anyways, it was such a suffocating feeling to have an active toddler cooped up inside an apartment and have no way to even peek our head out a window. We are so grateful to have more access to fresh air this year in our new home.

Coffee o'clock al fresco! Kip loved this. He said, "thanks for my restaurant" and requested it the next day as well.

The back of our house faces the entrance to a large park. On nice days, there are a lot of cars coming in and out. Even though we have a row of trees as a barrier, I was nervous about Kip wandering around. We got a little baby gate play yard that has stakes in the bottom. It's meant to be used as a play pin but we extended it so that it serves as a little fence. It works great in the front as well to extend across the driveway. Kip has never been great at seeing imaginary boundaries (like, 'don't go past the driveway') so this provides a bit of peace of mind as it is a big visual cue for him. Of course it doesn't replace supervision but it will catch a stray ball about to roll into the street. We can't leave anything out in the yard permanently so this is a really efficient alternative during this little kid phase.

I bought some no-spill egg dye kit to do with Kip for a fun Easter activity. He saw egg dying on some random Netflix show awhile back. These cups were cool and pretty easy to use. Kip enjoyed watching the process. Unfortunately, I messed up boiling the eggs (even though I've done it about 50 times in my life) and then after we dyed them I left them out to dry and then forgot about them for several hours. I didn't feel like they were safe to eat at that point so we ended up tossing them. Big disappointment and really frustrating for me. Can never get anything right. 

Work is really stressful this week and it's only Tuesday. Sigh. Wish I had a vacation to look forward to or even a guaranteed full nights sleep. For now, I'll take the sunshine. 

Oh and Mandy got her first dose of the vaccine! Yay for moving one tiny step closer to a vaccinated home. She was eligible under the child care qualification and her boss found her an appointment (which seems to be the most difficult part). Dan and I are not eligible yet.

Hope you're having a good week so far!