Well, I mentioned our IKEA trip briefly in a previous post, but Brian and I (mistakenly) decided to run over one day after nap. Of course, rush hour in Boston starts... well, it seems to be rush hour almost every time we get in our car and drive anywhere. So we hit Boston traffic on the way down at 3:30ish, spent hours and hours in IKEA, and then hit traffic on our way home at 8:00. The trip was so *fun* that I have one single picture to document it. The kids thought this chair was cool. We did not with a price tag of $80!
Somehow we managed to live through that afternoon - and I want to document my vow to only to try another trip to IKEA either 1) without kids in tow or 2) first thing in the morning, as early as we can get there, so we are all fresh after a long night's sleep. Sarah had a hysterical, crying, "only Mommy's arms will comfort me" meltdown as Brian and I were trying to maneuver one very full shopping cart and a heavy flat-bed cart through the warehouse and checkout. She managed to perk up with I bribed the kids with ice cream as we had to wait (after checkout!) for them to pull one more item for us from their "full service" area.
The next day, however, the kids were all smiles as they "helped" Daddy put together some more white cube bookshelves for the playroom and a bookcase for additional kitchen storage. Somehow they managed NOT to lose any of the 8,000 screws, pegs, brackets, etc. that they were so excited to hold for Daddy.
Sidenote - Since I have been taking more candid pictures then usual to document our time here in Boston, a little issue that I've been having with Nathan came to a head. He sometimes has really strong opinions whether he wants to be in my pictures or not, and usually his preference is NOT. I was starting to accumulate quite a collection of pictures where Nathan became an angry-faced blur running toward the edge of the frame. I finally decided that my plans of "be sneaky" and "just snap a picture before he can run" weren't working and weren't very fair to Nathan either. So I think it was the day of the IKEA trip that I sat down and talked to Nathan and told him that from then on I would try to remember to ask his permission to take his picture. Then he could decide if he wanted to be in the picture or not, but if he was going to be in the picture, could he try to smile for me? Well, the above picture was the happy result of that conversation! And our new agreement is working quite well for us!
I love the looks of concentration on Nathan's face when he's working on a "project".
The kids were pretty pleased with the finished product - until they realized that its purpose wasn't a jungle gym/tunnels for them to crawl through.
Another great post & pics. Today they load the moving van and tomorrow we rent a truck for our big load to our TN apartment! I have "hit the wall" on moves so I hope we'll be in our dream house for many years...and then I'll sell or donate everything instead of moving it! Mimi
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