Fridays are always an interesting day at The Nelson's because it's the first day of my weekend and my day home alone with the kids (the planned day, anyway).  We usually run some errands and spend the rest of the day doing something fun.  We almost always fight around nap time, despite the fact that the kids both take terrific naps Monday-Thursday when our nanny is here.  Lately, the kids have been sleeping in until around 7:00AM, so I was kind of hopeful about what the day would bring.

Sophie and I started the day out early and had about an hour to ourselves before Martin woke up.  Right now Sophie loves to try on clothes, mostly the clothing and shoes of other people.  This morning, she insisted that she needed socks over her footed pajamas... and wanted mine.


After we were all up and dressed (which is no small task), we ran to Target and the kids got haircuts.  Then, we came back home for some lunch and so I could take a shower.  I don't think I have ever taken a shower when I was home alone and both kids were awake before.  So, I told Martin that he was in charge of watching Sophie and making sure that she didn't get hurt and had fun.  And, if when I came out of the shower no one was crying, I would pay him a quarter.  I did hear a little crying while I was in the shower, and quickly shut the water off, not sure of what I'd find when I stepped out of the bathroom.  When I came into the bedroom I heard Martin talking.  "Sophie, take this blanket.  Are you thirsty?  No crying.  I'm in charge.  No crying until momma gets out."  Excellent work, definitely worth a quarter.

After lunch, we went to the county fairgrounds to hear The Teddy Bear Band that was playing a free concert as part of our city's Water Carnival.  I wasn't sure what to expect, or how long we'd last, but I figured it hardly mattered how long we stayed since it was free... and surely my children couldn't possibly behave any worse than the other young kids in attendance.  It turns out, my kids were pretty bored with the band and the 200 other kids that were there, but were FASCINATED with walking around the empty fairgrounds.  I think we sat on every bench at the fair.


Martin quickly spotted the carnival rides set up at the end of the fairgrounds.  You know, the traveling kind that you always read about having serious safety issues.  Luckily for us, the kids were both too short for the rides and they weren't yet open for business. 


Due to all the excitement and the fact that no one seems to sleep on my watch, Sophie barely had a nap and Martin completely skipped his.  That meant that we were all going to be in trouble towards the end of the night.  We went outside for a few hours and played hard, hoping that they might get really, really tired.  After dinner, it looked like Sophie was going to crash early.  I left Martin at the kitchen counter "making a crown" out of construction paper and markers and went to put Sophie to bed.  I figured it would be a quick night because she looked so tired.  She was falling asleep pretty easily until Martin came to see what we were doing.  This is how he arrived in Sophie's room:

That's right.  That's my boy.  The one with fire in his eyes, winter boots on the wrong feet, and enough marker art to make him a star on the next episode of Inked.  I asked him what he was doing and he said "Making art on myself.  You like it?"  What does this tell us about his future?  I don't know, but I'd place bets on trouble.