Daniel, Florence, and the girls on a cute family picnic!! That would be so cute!
Yesss cute family time I love it 🧡
The weekend before Lucy’s first birthday was great weather and it was really starting to feel like summer. With Clementine having just graduated from kindergarten and Penelope finished junior kindergarten, they had a bit of a reason to celebrate – not that they needed one. Daniel was also picking up at work, meaning paycheques were larger, savings were growing, and budgets were certainly helping get them out of that rough patch from the year before.
He came home from work on Friday night with his guitar case in one hand a large shopping bag in his other.
“What did you do?” Florence asked cautiously, following him into the kitchen with Lucy on her hip.
“Got a hefty paycheque. Decided to treat my ladies.” Daniel smiled, dumping out the shopping bag onto the kitchen table, five shoe boxes falling loudly onto the wood.
“Daniel.” Florence breathed, still hesitant that he didn’t run such a large purchase by her as she eyed the name brand logos on the boxes. “We have enough shoes. You, especially, have enough shoes.”
“Not like these.” Daniel grinned, reading one of the labels on the medium sized boxes and passed it to an eager Clementine who stood beside him and then handed the second one to Penelope on his other side. One of the larger boxes went to Florence and he sent her a small wink as she opened the top.
A pair of soft pink high-top Converse stared back at her.
“Pink shoes!” Clementine squealed, dumping them out of the box and flopped onto the ground to put them on.
Penelope copied her sister, the two little girls struggling to put them on without untying them first.
“First pair of laces.” Daniel smiled proudly, opening his own box to reveal the matching pink pair for himself. “We’re all gonna match when we go out tomorrow!”
“How much was all this?” Florence whispered as Lucy tried to reach for the shoes in the box.
“Don’t worry about it.” Daniel leaned in to kiss her. “I saved up a little. Gotta get some fresh kicks for my ladies.”
He grabbed the smallest box and opened it, taking out the teeniest pair of Converse and held one out to Lucy, “Even my littlest lady.”
Lucy squealed and reached for it with both hands, pulling the shoe against her chest with a wide grin.
So the next morning, Clementine and Penelope sat in the foyer as Daniel tied up their new sneakers, reciting a little song to help them learn and remember how to tie their own laces as he did so. Florence brought over the picnic basket, the diaper bag tucked over her shoulder and the baby on her hip and they all made their way down to the parking garage to head out for their picnic lunch.
The butterfly garden in the park on the west end of the city was in full blossom that time of year so they drove out there, parking in the lot and started to walk to their destination. Daniel had his guitar case in one hand and Lucy on his other arm with her arm around his shoulder, her tiny pink sneakers kicking in the warm spring air and her matching pacifier bumping contently against her nose. Clementine and Penelope powered ahead, their brand new clean running shoes standing out admits the green grass and they found a perfect spot for them to set up for lunch, dropping the blanket down. Florence helped them spread it out nicely and they all got settled for lunch.
Daniel had gotten up early to make sandwiches and he passed them out to each of his girls, labelled with a differentiating sticker for each one and apple juice juice-boxes were passed around as well.
“Since when do you make lunch?” Florence chuckled.
“Since always.” Daniel retorted, leaning in to kiss her as he passed her a sandwich.
Lucy was sitting right up next to him, watching his every move as he handed out lunches to her sisters. He finally pulled out a Tupperware container from the basket and clicked it open with one hand, pulling her pacifier from her mouth with his other.
“No!” Lucy whined, reaching for it with a pout but he met her halfway with a little bite of ham right into her mouth. She squinted up at him in the sun as she chewed softly.
“Much tastier, don’t you think?” Daniel said to her, holding out another bit of ham and she ate it right out of his fingers.
“I see a butterfly!” Clementine whispered loudly, throwing out her arm to get someone’s attention and nearly smacked Penelope in the face.
“Where?” Florence asked lightly, gently pushing her hand back down.
“Right there.” Clementine whispered, pointing to the sky as a small orange butterfly fluttered its way into their picnic. They all stayed quiet as it landed on the handle of the basket.
“It’s so pretty.” Penelope breathed.
“Isn’t it?” Florence smiled, inching away a little bit.
Daniel smiled at her as he fed the baby another bite of lunch, remembering Florence’s slight fear of butterflies. With the next gust of wind, the butterfly took off and Florence screamed and rushed to her feet to get out of the way of the small insect.
“Mommy!” Clementine laughed. “What are you doing?”
“Butterflies give me the heeby jeebies.” Florence mumbled, carefully sitting back down on the blanket.
“You’re scared?” Penelope frowned through a mouthful of sandwich.
“Mommy’s scared of a lot of things.” Daniel said, offering Lucy a sip of juice.
“Am not!” Florence gaped at him. Daniel only chuckled at her.
When lunch was over and Lucy was falling asleep in the middle of the blanket, Daniel had his guitar on his lap and was playing a few songs. Clementine demanded her song so ‘Clementine’ was played first. The breeze was lovely and warm and after a few songs, the older two girls got up to play in the grass nearby, Lucy napping on the blanket.
Florence shuffled up close to Daniel, resting her head on his shoulder as he played on, singing softly for just the two of them, watching their daughters play together in the park.
This turned out better in my head and I hate this ending so im sorry :(
dededos
ellievsbear
andulkaphoto
discoholicmusic
theartofmadeline
yousharknotpass
