Yesterday it was raining when Nathan walked to work. Rather than wake me to drive him to the train, he decided to brave it. He was only about 1/2 mi from home when he saw a big puddle... and heard a big truck. He was drenched from his waist down. He said if he'd been just a foot or two ahead of where he was, he would have gotten it over his head, so he counted himself lucky... until the rain began to pour. Then he was wet from head down. And the water ran down his leg into his shoes. The only dry part of him, when he arrived at work, was the top of his head, thanks to his lovely LL Bean Scottish Tweed hat.

I had an appointment yesterday morning just a few miles from the house. Half of the signs nearby said "No Parking 9am-10am" The others said "4 hour parking, 10am-6pm" There was no place to park and it was now 9 am. I was already late so I parked under the second sign, hoping maybe there was regular parking outside of that time frame? Nope. We got a parking ticket. We deserved it.

The ticket lady was walking around when we came out, I guess to get any she missed before 10am hit. I am very obviously pregnant now and was carrying Joseph (in his jammies, by the way, since he refused to get dressed yesterday), Mary was running around in a santa hat, polka dot pants that are a little too short (sudden growth spurt!), dress shoes, and a striped (not even close to matching) shirt. Plus it was windy and her hair was a mess. Lil'Nathan was up ahead and yelling, "Mom! We got a ticket! We got a ticket!" I set Joseph down and asked him to walk and asked lil'Nathan to bring me the ticket. Joseph collapsed on the sidewalk in a puddle of misery and fury and refused to budge. I took the ticket from lil'Nathan and then walked back and scooped up Joseph. When I turned around, the ticket lady was standing beside me. "Just give it to me," she said. "Forget about it." Then she sat and voided it while watching me shove all the kids into the back of the (little) car--Joseph still screaming.

I can't imagine what she was thinking.

Sorry I don't have a picture of Mary's ensemble.