Pine Needles and Coffee

Yesterday was another indoor adventure, welcoming the New Year in true little-kids-being-stuck-indoors fashion.

We did get out for brunch, which in itself is an exercise in futility, compounded by the waiter not putting Sam's order in, so having to get the kids to hold it together for an additional thirty minutes.  Brunch ended with Sam eating, barefoot (snowboots are too hot for brunch) while Chris walked around the restaurant with Vivian trying to keep the peace, and me trying to retrieve random discarded items and winter gear from under the table without disturbing the patrons (who were alarmingly close) next to us.

Later in the day, Chris went out to get ready for the snowstorm and retrieve my phone that I had left at Target.  I was getting laundry from the kitchen when I heard Sam:

"Mom."
"Yes, Sam."
"Viv is drinking coffee and pouring it all over the living room."  Usually Sam exaggerates ("it's an emergency!  Vivian is about to crawl down the stairs!" and I find her on the other side of the baby gate, approaching it from 6 feet away).
"Okay, thanks Sam."
"Mom."
"Yes, Sam?"
"It smells like Starbucks in here."
"Okay, I'll get the coffee."
"Mom. "
"Yes, Sam?"
"Viv is splashing in the coffee."
Crap.  I go to check.  Sure enough, Vivian has found a mug of Chris's untouched (luckily cold) coffee, poured it around her, on her, drank some and is indeed, happily splashing in it.
I spend twenty minutes cleaning up coffee from in the toy box, on the toys, under the couch, on the baby, and running in rivers into and under the rug.

I go back to the laundry.  Sam is "street sweeping" the pine needles from under the tree that we are slowly taking down.  I hear Vivian shriek.  I come back in the living room to find her sitting in the middle of a pile of pine needles with a small coating of them on her head.  Sam is guiltily looking the other way.  Out comes the vacuum cleaner.  The baby now smells like a cup of evergreen coffee.  The caffeine is also kicking in.  She reaches for me and virtually leaps through the air.  I nurse her on the couch and she finishes and jumps out of my arms, head first toward the floor.  I manage to catch her by one foot, but she already has hit the floor with her head and hands.  Sam thinks this is hilarious.

I went to meet my friend for a drink and to shut off my unretrieved/unlocatable phone at Verizon.  When I came back, Vivian was asleep and Sam was finishing his stories.

"Mom."
"Yes Sam?"
"It's okay.  Don't worry.  I checked all around and there are no firecrackers.  Vivian is sleeping and I made sure the firecrackers won't wake her up."
"Great.  Thanks for checking."
"Firecrackers are loud."
"Yes, they are."
"And smelly."
"Um, no, they're not smelly." I look at Chris, who just shakes his head.  He looks like I felt before I went out.
"Mom."
"Yes Sam."
"There are no firecrackers."
"Right, no firecrackers today, there were firecrackers late last night."
"There were?" asks Sam, "Why?"
"For New Year's Eve."
"Daddy took down the Christmas tree and we took it outside."
"Oh good!"
"And I plowed all the pine needles with my new plow."
"Great!  They're all cleaned up?"
"Yep.  I plowed them all."
"They're under the dining room rug." Chris corrected.  "I was giving the baby a bath.  She smelled awful.  Like coffee."
"Mmm.. and pine needles?" I offer.
"Well, there were pine needles in her diaper and there are pine needles in the tub."
"And there are pine needles under the dining room rug."

Now it is snowing for two days straight and going to be about zero degrees for two days after that.  This will be fun.