Yesterday Caleb woke up at 5:30am. Mark stoically marched upstairs so that I could continue sleeping and tried to put Caleb back to sleep. At 6:00am Jericho woke up. After spending the night out with friends and leaving Mark to take care of all six kids alone I sort of felt guilty sleeping in and making him take care of the early risers. I reached over and felt the window to see how cold it was outside (because the weathermen had forcasted a cool morning) and sure enough it was quite chilly. So I flung open the window and a gush of cool, fresh morning air filled my lungs. Okay, I thought, if I'm gonna get up I'm going to do something besides sit and wrestle babies on the couch. We're going for a walk. . . I don't care how early it is. So I got dressed and noticed Hunter sitting on the couch. When I mentioned to Mark that I was taking the babies walking, Hunter ran upstairs and got dressed too. So he and I and Caleb and Jericho headed out for a morning walk. The sun was just peeking through the trees and the air was crisp and fresh and after just a few minutes I was sort of glad the babies had woken early.
Hunter found a dollar in his hoodie pocket that he must have placed there several months ago and was thrilled. We saw a mother deer and her very tiny baby. We gathered rocks as we walked and stopped by the local stream to throw them in. Then we visited the old park near the pond and the babies went swinging while Hunter climbed the tower nearby and returned to ask me what "Free Sex" and "Free Head" is and why there are phone numbers too--thanks local teenagers. Then we tossed some more rocks into the stream and meandered back home.
Jericho fell asleep on the journey home and upon our arrival joined Mark in bed for a little more shut eye. Denver woke up not long afterwards and he and Caleb and I made some pumkin cream cheese muffins for breakfast which turned out to be delicious, much better than the cereal I would have thrown at the kids otherwise.
So now I'm thinking maybe I need to do this a little more often. It was so refreshing and such a great jump start on the day. And the Hoodie Gang was awfully fun to hang out with. We could call ourselves the "Early Risers" and when Mark gets home from work he could take the "Night Owls" out for a walk. That way we'd all be getting some exercise, something us Henrichsens could really use. We'll see. It sounds like a good idea but then again, so does sleeping in.
That really sounds fun and refreshing. I almost decided that I would wake up early to take a walk in the morning. And then I remembered I live in the south. We won't get to pull out the hoodies until November, darnit! It's even hot in the morning.
That sounds so fun to be out in the cool so early with your kids. You have one dang cute hoodie gang,Shana! Good luck keeping the early risers entertained...sleeping in usually wins out for me, unfortunately!
I'm so impressed. Grandma and Grandpa are visiting us and took Emily and Dani to their hotel last night, so I just have the boys and I swore I'd go running this morning with the and its now 9:00 and I'm knee deep in blogs and I don't know if I'm going to get myself out there at all!
