Happy Easter Monday to my friends who are celebrating, and happy spring to all!  How was everyone’s weekend?  We were on the go for pretty much the entire weekend.  On Friday, I worked from home to help juggle childcare, since Peanut’s school was closed for Good Friday, Nugget’s nanny was on vacation, and Steve’s mom was arriving at the airport right in the middle of naptime – what a circus!  But I got a surprising amount of work done and got to start my weekend early with a late afternoon stroll over to the playground, Grandma in tow.  It had been way too long since we’d seen her, and the kids were over the moon that she was here.  (Nugget in particular – totally obsessed.)  I closed out the week with a 90 minute marathon phone session with my Aunt Maria – so good to catch up with her.  On Saturday we were out the door early for a visit to Grandma’s favorite spot in D.C. – the National Zoo.  It was fun, but absolutely crawling with people, and someone got the bright idea to set up a security line to get in, which was a new development.  As a result, we had to wait in line about 45 minutes just to get through the gate, and the kids were sort of nuts all morning as a result.  I don’t know what the rationale was for that, but I sincerely hope it was just a temporary thing to deal with the extra crowd of spring breakers.  It sort of ruined the experience, and from what I overheard in the line, we weren’t the only people who were frustrated.  But once we got in, we had a great time – got to see the big cats (my favorite!), sea lions for Peanut, and great apes for Nugget.  Sadly, the pandas were not out – bummer for Grandma, who loves them.  On Sunday, Grandma was off to the airport early – it was much too short of a visit! – and we headed out to Haymarket to visit a pick-your-own flower farm, which was absolutely stunning.  I was sorry to miss Easter services, but – let’s just say that Peanut and Nugget are not church material at the moment.  Working on it.  Anyway, we thought that it would be appropriate to celebrate Easter surrounded by gorgeous flowers, so that’s what we did.  I’ll have a post coming, with lots of pictures, but it won’t be for a few weeks – I have a lot to catch up on.  And now it’s Monday and another long stretch of working and running around.  Of course I’m starting it exhausted, because I was awakened by weird road work noises – humming? what is that? – multiple times during the night.  Here’s to the weekends!

Reading.  Sort of a slow reading week.  I’ve been pretty overwhelmed with work and family stuff, and entertaining – as fun as it is – also takes a lot out of me.  Over the course of the week I finished up Does Jesus Really Love Me?, which I had wanted to read anyway and tossed in my library pile when I realized I could also count it toward the Book Riot Challenge.  It was excellent – well-written, well-researched, sensitive and thorough – but I started finding it a bit tedious and wondering if the author couldn’t have shaved a few stops from his spiritual pilgrimage itinerary.  That’s due to my own (exhausted and overwrought) state of mind while reading it, no doubt – because it’s really a wonderful book.  Needing some comfort reading, I then turned to Emily’s Quest, the third and final book in the Emily trilogy, and I’ll have a readalong post for you next week.  Finally, I went back to A Gentleman in Moscow, which I’d had to lay aside in favor of library books, and I’m starting the week with Count Rostov.  After that – I think I’m going to read Pachinko, which I’ve got out of the library and will have to read quickly as it’s got quite the waiting list.

Listening.  I was sort of stressed out all week, from a few things, and it manifested in a lack of attention for long audiobooks – so as a result I’ve rather taken a break from The Once and Future King.  Made my way through my podcatcher and subscribed to a new podcast (The Mom Hour) which I’m looking forward to discovering.  Highlight of the week was Sarah McKenzie and Greta Eskridge discussing books to get kids interested in nature on the Read-Aloud Revival podcast.  They mentioned Thornton Burgess, which brought back such memories of my own childhood that I had to fly off to Amazon to order Old Mother West Wind and The Burgess Seashore Book for Children for Peanut.

Watching.  Ladies, I have a coup to report.  Steve has decided that it would enrich his life greatly to watch THE COLIN FIRTH PRIDE AND PREJUDICE ADAPTATION!  We’ve been reading the book aloud, because he’s nice and wants to know more about my favorite books, but he’s found it hard to keep track of the characters and decided that he might enjoy the book more if he’d seen it on screen first.  Personally, that’s not my style, but I won’t complain about my husband wanting to watch Colin Firth smoldering as Mr. Darcy.  Last night we watched the first episode and I think he liked it, although he is convinced that Caroline Bingley is a man, and he was mystified every time I shouted “FORESHADOWING!  OH, POOR CHARLOTTE LUCAS!”

Moving.  Another slow week.  I was feeling a little tense from work and family stress, so I did squeeze in a yoga practice, which helped.  And there were long walks around the zoo and Old Town with Grandma.  Strolling with a beloved family member much beats powerwalking or running alone.

Blogging.  I’ve got a fun post about spring at Mount Vernon for you on Wednesday, and another Robert Frost poem on Friday – check back!  This has been such a fun spring and I can’t stop myself taking millions of pictures or writing paragraphs and paragraphs about it.

Loving.  It’s been so wonderful seeing everyone in their Easter finery on social media over the weekend.  I was a bit lame this year – I did baskets for the kids, because I always do, but didn’t color or hide eggs, host a brunch or even make it to church – too stressed and angsty over things to make any of that happen.  But I have so enjoyed watching from afar-ish as my friends celebrated.  Next year, I will try hard to do a better job at being in the Easter spirit.  This year, I’m just enjoying living vicariously through people who have their acts together more than I do.

Asking.  How was your Easter, if you celebrated?