Perfect Day

"Oh it's such a perfect day. I'm glad I spent it with you."

We had a wonderful weekend.

On Friday we made cupcakes for our church bake sale. We are raising money for our son to go on a Mission Trip this summer. He is very excited - I am already a little nervous. But I know it will be good.

That night Tom and I took all 7 to the indoor swimming pool. Lots of fun. It's nice to watch our children get along and play well together. Brandon was great with Jacob. He kept taking him down the little slide in the kiddie pool. Tom was giving Leah swimming lessons and having fun playing around with our boys. I am usually taking our children to the pool alone, but we finally decided to sign Tom back up at the gym. I will have to put my membership on hold soon, so we wanted to make sure that one of us could keep taking our children there for Family Hours.

That night we left notes on the refrigerator and cupboard telling our children to not eat breakfast (and to please bring us coffee.)

Saturday morning we were greeted with 2 cups of coffee and very curious children. We surprised them with breakfast at a restaurant. We don't do that often, so it was a huge treat. We had a nice time.

That afternoon Tom and I went to our hospital for a Maternity Floor tour. Wow! It looks beautiful. When we had Jakey, they were just starting to redo it. We joked that we would have to have another baby just to see how it all turned out.

 Well...Ha Ha.

That night we went to mass then just hung out as a family at home. We watched a movie and Tom made us all shakes and malts. Yum! No wonder I put on 10 pounds last month.

Brandon had asked about going to the zoo. The weather didn't look very cooperative for Sunday, but we said we'd think about it.

Sunday morning Brandon woke us up with coffee and asking about the zoo.

We looked online and didn't see much rain.

So we decided to go. We quickly got everyone ready and packed up our van.

When we first got there it was a little chilly. The good thing was that the weather and threats of thundershowers kept the crowds away. We started out at the Monkey House and by the time we came out, it was beautiful outside.

What a perfect day!

No rain, no crowds. It was mostly cloudy with temperatures in the upper 70's.

The animals were out and being active.
We got to see the new 10 Wild Dog puppies. 

Our girls were so excited when a peacock walked by us during lunch.

Everyone got to pick out a "collectible" smashed penny or a "fancy" rock to buy.

We also picked out a little stuffed tiger for our newest family member.

On our way out Tom and I kept saying how perfect the day was and how responsible Brandon had been. He kept helping me with the bag and/or stroller and helped keep an eye on his younger brothers and sisters.

We decided to stop by my favorite pizza place on our way home for dinner.

(With a few pitchers of water!)

Everyone was well-behaved.

Maybe they were just tired and thankful for more food, but it made dinner enjoyable.

There was a big group of "older" people near us. On their way out, Jakey waved to all of them. They were smiling and waving back to him.

2 ladies stopped to say hi to our children and complimented them all for their wonderful behavior in the restaurant and said what a beautiful family we had. After they left, there were 2 gentleman sitting at another table and as they were leaving they asked Tom and I if we were the parents of all these children and also commented on how well-behaved they were.
We heard more of the same from our waitress.

I love hearing this - but even more, I love when our children hear this from others.

When we got home, I quickly bathed our 4 youngest - then we got them ready for bed, said prayers, and tucked everyone in.

Tomorrow is their first day back to school. Spring Break is done.

As Tom and I got into bed, we heard the thunderstorm arrive.

We smiled at each other and were thankful that God had held the storm back.

Perfect Day.