June 13

The kiddos and I have an informal tradition: on the first weekday of summer vacation (or Spring Break, if we're in town), we go to the Black Bear Diner for brunch. Since Abby was at Adam's parents' house yesterday, we had our brunch today.

(I really have no idea what compelled Abby to make that face, but it's being memorialized here because Brady was blinking in the only other one I took. So that's that. Anyhow....) I remember taking all four kids out for meals now and then, and it's so different now: for the most part, they cut up their own food, they tell the server what they'd like, and they usually finish their meals. And they're quiet.

I miss having the four of them together, even when they were all essentially babies who needed constant supervision and help. But there's a blessing in being able to watch this trio be self-sufficient (and in having the opportunity to actually eat my own food at the table rather than an hour later from a take-out box).