A Typical Day in May...

Last night was CRAZY. I forget every year how busy the end of the school year gets and I think it gets even busier the older our family gets. Here's what went down last night:

My wonderful visiting teachers came which was nice. I straightened Rachel's hair while we talked and I really enjoyed our visit, so much so that the time got away from us and when they left I realized it was 5pm and dinner needed some work as we had an evening full of activity. At least I had done some preparations before they arrived.

I had the hamburger defrosted and the onion trimmed and chilling in the fridge as to help with the tears upon chopping and cooking. (It really does help. I didn't see one kid with underwear on his head, goggles on his eyes nor did I hear any accusatory complaints of "my eyes are burning! are you cooking onions?!!!") I also had my pinto beans soaked and ready to pressure cook.

After they left, I hurried and got the beans going with their onion, garlic and spices and frying my hamburger/onion. I asked Rachel to start on the rice and we were on our way. I realized there was no way dinner would be ready by the time we needed to start going but figured at least it would be ready when we all got home.

Here was the line-up. Samantha needed to be at softball practice at 5:30, Rachel needed to be at the jr. high at 10min. to 6. Her 9th grade awards night begins a 6 but she needed to be early as her choir was singing at the beginning. Jacob needed to be at the elementary for his country reports parent night at 6pm. Carly was at work. Mark was at work. I was a little stressed.

I got the hamburger cooked and seasoned. Heat turned off. Rice cooked. Heat turned off. Beans in pressure cooker whistling away. I gave Jacob instructions to turn off the pressure cooker before he left to walk to the school. I set the timer and I also put a note on the door handle he would be exiting. It was 5:38 when we left so Samantha was going to be a little late. I called Mark on my way out the door to find out where he was and let him know where he needed to be this evening. He was on his way. I called Carly to tell her I needed her to pick up Samantha from softball practice at 6:30 on her way home from work.

I took Samantha, Rachel and Mason in the car. We seemed to hit every red light to the softball practice field and back. I called Jacob at 5:49 and reminded him to shut off the pressure cooker and leave for the school. (obviously I was a little anxious about that pressure cooker. I did not want a hole in my roof and beans splattered to kingdom come!) We were so anxious that Rachel wasn't going to get to the jr. high in time. We did. Barely. Mason and I went into the auditorium and saved seats for Rachel and Mark. Mark arrived just in time. I told him he was going to have to leave at 6:45 to go to the Elementary school to see Jacob's country report. I had already seen it when they had set up their display boards for the rest of the school during the school day. So... Mark left our good 2nd row seats to sit in the back so he wouldn't draw attention leaving in the middle if it went long.

We were so proud of Rachel. She looked so beautiful in her new outfit walking up to get her award for exemplary student of the year and her certificates for being part of student council and having a 4.0 GPA. She works so hard for her 4.0 and wants it so bad. I felt a little silly because I got all teary but I was so proud of her because I know how hard it is for her and how much she wants it and I'm so proud of her for setting high goals for herself and achieving them. I also felt such love in my heart for her as I watched her smile at & congratulate each person that came up to stand with her. She is always thinking of other people.

Her program ended at 5:45 and we took a few pictures and then she stayed to go to her 9th grade Night dance which ended at 8:45.

Mark had left to go to see Jacob's country report exhibition. Jacob chose the country Greece to research and report on. He was able to use his "Greek Spartan Warrior" costume from Halloween and got a lot of attention from the kids in younger grades during the daytime program. To add to my stress level, that morning at 7:45am Jacob says "so, can you make Baklava for my display?" whaaa-aa--at? I've never made Baklava before. He had asked vaguely about a week before and I had said "maybe, you'll have to talk to me later." His later was not what I had in mind. I said "well, I really don't think that's possible. You would need to shell a cup of walnuts and its' time for you to leave for school. I would have to go to the store for phyllo dough and I still haven't' showered and gotten ready for work. It's impossible." He looked at me like I was ridiculous and said emphatically "it's possible. Can't you do it at lunchtime." I replied that my lunchtime was only 25 minutes and after looking at the recipe showed him it takes an hour to cook. His reply as he walked out the door, "It's possible"

Whatever dude. I was slightly irritated. While I sat eating my lunch, I thought about running to a local Greek restaurant to get him a piece of Baklava for display because I felt guilty for not following up when he talked to me about it the firs time but then I recalled his cocky "It's possible" attitude and decided not to.

All of the 6th graders set up their display boards and sit with it in the lunchroom and the students/parents are able to file around and ask questions, look, etc. Hopefully the students are able to discuss the information on their display intelligently. That is the hope of the 6th grade teachers. It was fun to see all the 6th graders and most especially my kid who did not seem to miss the Baklava. He didn't ask about it again......

I called Mark as we left the jr. high. He wondered if we were coming to see Jacob's country report and I explained that I'd already seen it. I called Carly to make sure she had picked up Samantha. She had and was on her way home.

We came home and ate dinner and then I had to drive Samantha to the fabric shop to pick out some fabric because she has an activity coming up next week called Entrepreneur day in which she has to come up with a business (selling fabric hair flowers) and study the laws of supply and demand and buying and selling in action with the rest of the 4th graders. The saleslady at Hancock fabric was so cute. As we were buying 1/8th of a yard of several different colors of satiny material she knowingly asked "you're making hair flowers?" We acknowledged that we were and explained about Samantha's "business project" and she went on to regale Samantha with sales techniques. Dont' price them too low. Show People you have a great product. Wear your product! Put them in your hair, on your bookbags, on your shoes, on the cuff of your jeans! Do you have a mirror? Oh! Take a mirror and set it up so they can see how cute they look. Be interested in your customers. Talk to them and tell them how cute they look. She was fun and gave Samantha lots of ideas to think about.

After a quick trip to the library and a quick trip to the dollar store for hair elastics for the hair flowers we were headed home at 9ish. I quickly called Carly to see if Rachel had called for a ride & did I need to swing by the school to get her and she said, "she called and said she's getting a ride home with friends".

9:15, Finally home. Mark had sent the boys to bed but of course they had some nonsense going on in their room. I could hear them giggling and talking and I hollered up the stairs for them to shut out the lights and get to bed. I heard a knock on the door, answered it and there was Rachel- face lit up- pointing to the driveway, in which sat a very black, very long limousine! "I got a ride home in a LIMO!!! A LIMO!!!! can you believe it????!!!!! A LIMO!!!!!" I could believe it. It was hard to miss. It took up most of our driveway and most of you know how long my driveway is!

After we goggled at the limo and came inside I heard more giggling and talking from the boys upstairs and some footsteps running downstairs and then "Mom, we made a surprise for you! come see" It was now 9:45 and I was in no mood for surprises but I was going upstairs anyway so I went and saw and there was their room, clean and organized as could be. SHOCK! wow. I complemented them over and over. What a nice surprise. Let me tell you- this is not usually the kind of surprise I get...... Usually my surprise is a cool lego tower or a set-up or army guys.

10ish pm. To bed. Read a little to unwind and finally sleep.