Feeling Good and Baby Praying Mantis

I slept like a log last night. The epidural seemed to really help in that department! I was able to sleep like I normally would and only woke up to use the bathroom and not because my arm was throbbing. I was so happy to be feeling good this morning that I decided to try to get some exercise in. I set out on a long walk as soon as the kids got off the bus. An hour and ten minutes later I was home with 4.5 miles under my belt and feeling pretty good. I did have to be careful about how I used my arm while I walked because swinging it back and forth caused some elbow pain, but other than that, it was a perfect walk. 

The sun was sunny, the sky was blue and it was me and my music and my thoughts out there on the pavement. Life is good.

I couldn't help but notice all the blooming trees and this one in my neighbors yard is looking particularly gorgeous right now:

I don't know what it is but holy hell it's beautiful!

I ran lots of errands and after school I took the kids over to a friend of Dakota's for a play date.

We weren't there long, only an hour, but it was fun and I'm hoping to host them here at our house next week. Their schedule is as busy as ours so we'll have to make the most of it when we can! They played outside and then inside for a bit and we even got to see the praying mantis' that they hatched and plan to release in their backyard. They found out that praying mantis eat mosquito's so they got a pod of them from Amazon to hatch and then release in their backyard! Right now they're teeny tiny but sometimes grow up to 6 inches long! (A little trivia they imparted on me while I held one of the tiny's in my hand!)

I don't know how many little mantis were in there but it looked like at least 100! I thought the whole thing was really cool!

And, this is Dakota's little friend "N" from school. He's just the cutest little thing! When I told Harper that we were going to play at one of Dakota's friends from kindergarten Dakota chimed in with "N" is so kind and one of the nicest boys in my class! (Her exact words!) He's a keeper for sure and his parents and sister are sweet as pie as well!