dashing

That was today... got up at a reasonable hour by anyone else's standards, but early for me, to help get the kids ready for school. Today was Field Day, and they both needed lunch and suntan lotion, and I had to put up DD's hair. DH could've handled it all (well, maybe not the ponytails) but I had told him I would help, so I did.

Then I read for a while until I realized it was 8:45 and DS2 had to leave for Atrium at 9, and he was still sleeping! Rousted him out of bed, got him dressed, and made him a chocolate protein shake for breakfast. Got him there on time, too, where he proudly presented his teacher, one of our parish's seminarians, with a fish he had more for him. Last week, they talked about fish -- maybe the miracle with the loaves and fishes? I'm not sure; usually they follow along with the regular liturgy pretty well. For whatever reason, on Monday DS2 insisted on making this fish, so we did, and we managed to preserve it until today so he could give it to his teacher.

I am always fascinated by the things the kids find interesting. You never know what is going to appeal to them, particularly.

Anyway, after dropping off DS2, I dashed over to Target to do Easter shopping. I tried on a few things and have come to the conclusion: I hate cheap clothes. Even if they are well cut, they are poorly constructed. I tried on this cute dress (and it was really cute), but I couldn't do up the zipper because the lining was all bunched up around it. Poor construction. What can we expect for $24.99? Crap, that's what. I don't mind getting cheap clothes for the kids because they grow out of them so quickly; it doesn't make sense to spend huge amounts on clothes that will be worn for only a few months. But I haven't bought myself a decent article of clothing (I'm not talking t-shirts and yoga pants here, after all) in months.

So: the clothes all went back on the racks, and I focused on the other Easter shopping. I found a cute hat for DD (she has been begging for an Easter bonnet) and a nice little cardigan she can wear to church; the a/c gets brutal in there sometimes. And I got a copy of The Incredibles on DVD to send to the writer from my online writers group who is now stationed in Iraq. I had just enough time to pay up and dash over to get DS2.

I figured he would be starving, but he had a huge shamrock cookie (green frosting) and an Easter egg cupcake (they are always giving treats in that class!) so that held him over; we came home so I could wrap up the DVD and write a sappy (but sincere) note to my friend, and then we dashed to the P.O. to send it off.

Then we dashed over to the Mall to See's Candies, where I got Easter baskets for all the teachers. Tomorrow is the last day before Spring Break, so it was now or never. This is a tradition with me. I always wish I could do more in the classroom, and I really appreciate how hard the teachers work. So I like to do something for them when no one else does. There's nothing overtly Christian about these baskets -- they are filled with eggs and bunnies, after all -- so I don't expect anyone to ever be offended by this. I'm not exactly sure how I would respond if someone were; it's not that big a deal, really: it's candy. You don't want it? No problem. Moving along now...

Came home to drop off the EBs. DS2 insisted he was not hungry for lunch, so we went to get DD, who had lunch at school today. Hung out with her for a while, then wandered around in search of DS1. DD showed off her monkey-bar prowess for me, and DS2 got to go down the big slide on their play equipment, and then we resumed the search.

We ended up finding DS1's teacher before we found him (he was in a different classroom). She was glad I had come in, because there was an "incident" yesterday with DS1; he stuck his tongue out at another teacher, and basically told her off ("I'm not listening to you!") Oy.

Got the boy, brought him home, fed DS2 lunch, talked about the tongue-sticking-out situation with DS1, got him to sit down and do his homework, and then write a note of apology to that teacher for being so rude. All this was more or less like pulling teeth... then I had my own lunch and felt a bit better. (tortillla, leftover chicken, jack cheese, avocado, salsa. mmmmm)

Then I took them out to the barber's where they all 3 insisted on haircuts. DS1 needed it the most, but the other 2 had not been in quite a while, so, OK. Everyone looks nice and neat now. DS2 insisted that I needed a haircut too, but I declined...

Now we're home and I'm dead. All the way home the kids were pestering me about going out to eat tonight. Ain't gonna happen, I think... they just don't want to have to eat anything in particular, and that's what happens at restaurants.

On the other hand, about the only thing I'm up for cooking is PB&J. I don't know where this day went.