He always knows

Today I felt more than a little down. I got out my sewing and watched Amelie while the boys napped. That movie always makes me want to buy fresh vegetables, wear a red dress and reorganize my closet. It also resolves my decision to never ever live in France and to never ever own a garden gnome.

J walked in a little before noon and announced that he would be taking me to the garden center today to buy a few plants. I smiled at him.

We took off after nap time, boys strapped in with toy dinosaurs grasped in each of their hands. We put the windows down and drove away. The Bear and I pointed out every construction vehicle we spotted on the way down. Cubby complained about the wind whipping around his face.

The boys helped pick out flowers and carry them to the cart. I love when we buy flowers with the boys. They always want to help out and they look adorable walking around the flower stalls, grabbing random pots and taking them back to our little wagon.

Being around all those flowers and plants soothed me and made me feel better again. I felt starved for sunshine this week, I'm so glad we got to soak it in together, even if only for a few minutes.

While J and Cubby stood in line to pay for our new additions, the Bear and I strolled carefully around the display of succulents. We figured out which plants had stripes and which had spiked ridges. We looked for ones with blossoms and ones with colored leaves. We walked around classifying plants for a few minutes, every so often the Bear would look up at me and say, "I missed you, Mom."

We returned home happy and smiling. I had a few more minutes left in me, so I quickly whipped up the final ingredient for our perfect afternoon together. A nice fruit smoothie with raspberries and peaches. I snapped a great photo of my two smoothie hounds, J and Cubby, sitting together in the nursery rocking chair. Cubby is tainted a sweet shade of pink, his face is sticky and his fingers are locked in a possessive hold around his cup of smoothie. J is balancing Cubby on his knee and holding his own smoothie glass in the other hand. They make quite the pair and I love how everything in the photo is so particular to who they are and the way they interact together.

I am back in bed now. The baby is moving around, trying to settle down again after the electric shock of smoothie he received ten minutes ago. We opened the windows to let the breeze in and I feel better knowing that in a little while J will walk out into my garden and plant flowers for me.

He always knows just what to do.