Back to Reality

This week had a rough start- I hit some major construction on the way to the kid's school Monday morning and the boys just barely made it to school on time and Lucy was late. Not great. I spent the rest of the day catching up on cleaning, laundry and all that fun stuff. 

Tuesday Steven had an orthodontist appointment around lunch time and afterwards I felt lazy and decided not to trek him back to school (the orthodontist is right by our house). In exchange for missing school I had him clean his room and finish painting his solar system for a school project. I think despite those chores, he was still glad to miss school. Near the end of the afternoon, I was making some super awesome 10 commandment cootie catchers for his Primary Class and he decided he wanted to make some of his own. This led to some frustration when he couldn't find the exact one he wanted but it was fun to reminisce on my elementary school days where these ran rampant :)

Wednesday morning I spent being very motherly- I made cookies for Steven's Writing Celebration that was the next day, I painted Penny's nails and we read books together. Then that afternoon I subbed for Ben's class. I did not give off the impression that I was a great sub that day which was made worse by the fact that his teacher was still at the school (she was off so she could see her daughter's kinder program). Her sub plans said read aloud begins at 1:25 so I mistakenly interpreted that as the time to pick up the kids from lunch recess. I was on my phone checking emails and thinking I would go get them in a couple minutes when Ben's teacher came in saying they were pounding at the outside doors, begging to come in. I thought that was strange since lunch recess wasn't over yet but it turns out it was and I was late picking up her class. Then later on when Ben's class was packing up to go home, I happened to check my phone and noticed that Caroline needed someone to pick up Peter from Jr Kinder. I never make phone calls while I'm subbing but I needed to let Tyler know to get Peter along with Lucy so I called him. Of course, Ben's teacher walks in while I am the phone. So not my most impressive day.

Thursday morning was spent socializing with a few friends and killing carpenter ants that have suddenly started appearing in our playroom (I think we need to get pest control here soon). Then that afternoon me and Penny went to Steven's Writing Celebration. He had done his report on the solar system. While he had painted the solar system and worked on the report at home, he did the pop up visual at school and that was a fun addition to see. It was also fun to talk to his classmates and hear about all the different things they had researched- from bananas to football. 

Friday I subbed for a Fourth Grade teacher and it happened to be Field Day. This meant we were outside for all but 2 hours of the school day. In the morning the kids did the field activities for 2 hours- basically there were various PE activitiy stations set up and they would just roam from station to station. After the first hour outside kids were getting tired (it was warm) and after an hour and half they started to get bored and make up their own rules for various stations. I was not impressed. Then we came back inside and they watched a movie and went to lunch. After that they had 2 hours at the bounce houses and playground. Once again, kids started to get bored. They did a kickball game with teachers near the end of the 2 hours which helped change things up a bit. The day was easy in a lot of ways because it seemed like all the teachers were lax about rules and I didn't have to do any teaching but I didn't love it. I had a lot of concerns about the safety of the kids because they could have easily walked off campus and on the same token any one could have walked onto the campus. Plus I like structure- it keeps kids from getting bored and into trouble. The perk of it though, was that I got to see my kids and take some pictures of them having fun and I was being paid to be there- I was not a volunteer.  

Friday night we had agreed to meet my friend Stefanie and her kids at Spring Mill Pond for picnic and fun. After being in the sun all day and feeling pooped I really was thinking I was going to miserable but it turned out to be a good time. The sun had went down some, the weather had cooled down some and the kids had a good time, they did not seem to mind the cold water.