Sundays

After Tom works until 2am (AM) on Monday, 7:30pm on Tuesday, 2am (AM) on Wednesday, 7:30pm on Thursday, and 6:30pm on Friday, all four of us are ready for the weekend when it finally arrives. Unfortunately though, Tom doesn't get a full weekend to relax...he usually works during nap time on Saturday afternoon and puts in a full seven or eight hours on Sunday as well. Sometimes on Sunday afternoons - after a long week and a not-long-enough Saturday and when I think about the week ahead of me - I start to feel a little nutty and have a tough time not losing my cool with the kids.

So to keep myself sane and to save the kids from their soon-to-be-crazy mother, I've started coming up with Sunday afternoon adventures. Here are our first two simple, free, and amazing popular Sunday ____

First up, a neighborhood scavenger hunt.  I found this four-to-a-page scavenger hunt form online, printed off a couple of copies, and dragged the kids outside.  Will was pretty excited once he realized what we were about to do, and Hallie was pretty excited once she realized she got to carry a pink marker with her on our walk.

Heading off down the street.

Stopping to cross off "leaf".

A close-up of the scavenger hunt list.

Hallie realized that she wasn't very good at writing while standing so 
she parked herself on the sidewalk every single time she crossed an item 
off the list.  Will found this extraordinarily frustrating.

It also took her a LONG time to actually cross items 

off the list once she was sitting down.  I see from this picture that 
I need to work with Hallie on her writing utensil grip.

After the scavenger hunt (we found everything except a ladybug 

and a cat) Will gave Hallie a wild ride in her stroller.

The following week we went to the mall, not to shop for anything, but to cuddle the puppies at the puppy store.  (The store isn't actually called The Puppy Store, but I'm not sure how else to refer to it.  It's a store front, and they have puppies there, so we've chosen to call it the puppy store.)  Will is usually afraid of dogs, but this one particular puppy was so mellow (I was actually worried that there was something wrong with her because she didn't wake up when I transferred her from my arms to Will to Hallie to Will to Hallie and than back to the employee) that even Will found her delightful.

The puppy is completely asleep while draped across Will's lap.

And now the puppy is completely asleep while falling off of Hallie's lap.

I'm not sure a cuter animal ever existed.  That afternoon I came 
closer to adopting a dog than I ever have in my entire life.  
We may go back to the mall tomorrow just to visit her again.

We've also played on the McDonald's indoor playscape, walked to and played on multiple neighborhood playgrounds, and browsed the children's section at Barnes & Nobel.  I have a few more ideas for Sunday afternoon activities in the works (thanks to Pinterest), and I'll be sure to share them here once we've given them a try!