rainy day afternoon

In Austin we cheer for rain. Even if you don't really want to celebrate a soggy afternoon, you feel guilty not doing so since we basically live in a perpetual drought. If you rolled your eyes when it rained here, it would be like coming upon an oasis in the desert saying, "No thanks. I'm good."

When I woke up to a steady drizzle this morning, as a mom I knew it would be a long afternoon. But I also knew I had to pretend like I was psyched to see the rain (It's raining! Woo-hoo!). While driving Catcher and company home from school, the steady drizzle morphed into a stream of rain. I spent the entire 10-minute drive extolling the virtues of a rainy afternoon--convincing Scout it was THE BEST napping weather and telling Catcher it's perfect for quiet reading. Then, as it so often happens in parenting, an unforeseen circumstance arose--they fell for it! Scout, who hasn't napped this entire week, slept for 2 1/2 hours while Catcher sat quietly and listened to me read chapters 10-20 in Charlotte's Web.

Then naps were over and it was time for everyone to play (nicely...together...was this actually happening?).

Tillie was the first one up from her nap, so she got to spend some quality time crawling around on the floor having Catcher chase her over his bed, under the dining table and around the living room.

Then she climbed up on one of the pouffes for a break.

We sometimes call Scout "Grump-o-potamus" because she wakes up grumpy. Today, however, we saw a different Scout when she emerged from her bedroom post-nap.

*She usually goes to bed with several books tucked under her covers and "reads" to herself until she falls asleep. Today she felt like challenging herself with some Brain Quest trivia.

Two minutes later Scout was still smiling.

Because everyone was acting so cute and playing nicely, I thought it would be the opportune time to get a group photo. "Everyone climb up on the pouffe," I declared.

It turns out that "everyone" was not as excited about my idea as I was. Even though he has the biggest head, the girls butted Catcher off the pouffe almost immediately.

After he played it up for the camera, I think Tillie felt sorry for Catcher and tried to console him by patting his head.

Scout joined in and the gentle pats turned in to "love taps." Sometimes love taps are nice, but sometimes love taps are actually just excuses to get away with hitting our siblings. Kids win: no more photos.