Sunday

We're having a quiet afternoon here at Stately Rice Manor.

(For certain definitions of "quiet", that is: Jake's computer game and Sam's Teletubbies video are making some noise. But one of the many unexpected consequences of parenthood is a new-found ability to tune out offspring-induced racket & mayhem. So in my own mind, at least, it's quiet.)

Jake, Sam & I drove to Le Roy this morning, to meet the grandparents for lunch. We also unloaded some no-longer-needed baby gear, for delivery to Matt & Trina.

Sam didn't eat very much of his lunch. He drank some of the juice, ate most of the caramel sauce (but none of the apple slices that came with it), and none of the chicken nuggets. Silly boy.

Jake ate all his lunch, and would have eaten Sam's, too, if I hadn't stopped him.

(Me? I had a salad that probably wasn't nearly as healthy as it could have been. I'm sure to regret it when I get on the scale tomorrow morning.)

Jennifer's off on a well-deserved sewing day with her friends.

Dinner is cooking: some kind of turkey recipe in the crock pot, and a loaf of oatmeal bread in the bread machine. It won't be finished until 5:30pm, but it smells pretty good already.

(We've been having uneven results with the bread machine lately. About one-third of our efforts end badly: small, dense, raw-centered disaster loaf. Another third is frothy, over-risen yeast-gone-wild bread. Only one in three loaves comes out normal.)

I probably should have tried to get Sam down for a nap. But he slept late this morning, and he doesn't seem all that tired this afternoon. The no-nap Sam can be a fearsome beast, but it makes bedtime go much more smoothly.

Choose your battles, as the saying goes.