This was one of those perfect family weekends where there was nothing we had to do. Everyone was healthy and happy, and the weather was gorgeous! The kids did lots of coloring and practicing letter writing. Taylor came out of her room with her doodle board and it had “Mom” written on it. As we were discussing it, she said to me “Mom, now that I spelled this for you, I’m going to go work on the letter W. It’s like an M but is upside down. W is a very useful letter, you know.” It cracked me up. I’ve never even heard her use the word “useful” before!

Today, we spent a few hours at the Nature Center. My friend, Colleen, told me that twin baby goats were recently born, and we just had to go see them! They were as cute as expected, and as a bonus, one of the volunteers was there to help us pet one of babies. While we were there, a woman and I kept making eye contact with each other. I thought it was one of the NICU night nurses we had, but Todd said it wasn’t. As we got closer, I asked her if she was who I thought, and she said yes. She remembered us and was so excited to see the boys “grown up.” She gave them hugs and talked to us a few minutes while I literally cried in the middle of the goat farm. A mommy never forgets one of the women who took care of her babies. As I’ve said before, NICU was tough. The whole time period was nerve wracking, scary and unpredictable. Knowing that the most special women with the kindest hearts were taking care of our babies made it just a bit easier. I am so thankful that we ran into her today!

The kids had a wonderful time exploring, making animal sounds (at both people walking by and animals), and pausing for pictures. Taylor has caught on to the fact that I like capturing our memories, so she even said “Hey mom, how about a nice picture in front of this lovely tree?” My pleasure, my beautiful girl. We ended our trip with ice cream, which is always a fan favorite over here!

Last night, we had a “picnic dinner” (we ate in the family room instead of at the dinner table) so we could watch Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Rangers won! Ranger even put on Taylor’s “summer hat” and got some chicken in celebration of his team. Taylor kept asking who was going to win the “Piston Cup” which was so cute to hear. For reference, that is the trophy cup in the movie “Cars.” It’s not exactly the same as the Stanley Cup, but when your adorable four year old says it, you go with it. The kids were taking forever to finish dinner since they were so excited and distracted. At one point, I said “I better see all that chicken off your plates in the next few minutes or nobody is getting dessert.” As if on cue, Joseph picked up handfuls of chicken and slyly places them on big sister’s plate. “All done, mama!” I was kind of proud of his evil ways and logical thinking!