My Kind of Party

Whew--it's been awhile, and with good reason! The last 10 days have been beyond busy (abnormally so--usually I manage to keep it pretty tame). Last week was the kid's last week of school and I spent a day there with each of them. Tuesday Ana turned 9 and we also had her annual girl scout troop end of year party that evening. Friday we celebrated the end of their year with a trip to the dairy queen and seconds for everyone (followed by MAJOR MELTDOWNS!). Saturday morning I took Lij to the doctor with a mouth full of ulcers and he was diagnosed with strep (pretty soon we all had sore throats and were given meds without being seen). I worked the weekend and I don't remember what I did on Monday but I'm sure it was important (I just remembered we had Stacy, Henry, and Kate over all afternoon, and ended up getting Allie in the evening, I will explain more later); Tuesday Joanie and I took Ariana and two girlfriends to the Mall of America for her birthday adventure. Yesterday I went back to the cities with Charlotte to take my state boards, and today we capped things off with Elijah's cub scout den end of year party. We also had Ana's friend Paije over for the afternoon. And we've had swimming lessons Monday through Thursday mornings for the older two.



And somehow I found time to turn 36 today.



That's enough, i guess.



So, now a bit about each of the above events. The school year ended well for all three kids. They got excellent grades. Of particular note is that Elijah got an O in reading. This is noteworthy because in the beginning of the year he was sent to a special classroom for extra help because he was slow getting started. He most certainly caught up and then some! He also fell in love with his special reading teacher and according to her it is mutual. He made thank you notes for her and Mrs. Tulkki and both notes had hearts all over them. Ben made as construction paper card for Mrs. Trimble and that was full of pink hearts too. I'm so afraid I'm going to have to deal with pissed off fathers when they get to high school.



Ana made a wonderful thank you for her teacher. She worked all week on a book for her. The book was "Why Ms. Schmidt Is the Best Teacher Ever" and it was so well written and so well illustrated. It really was something. I got to be there when. Ms. Schmidt unwrapped it (of course, my most competent girl also wrapped it and put it in a gift bag!) and it was obvious she was so touched. I was really proud of all of them.



Ben aced kindergarten. We recieved the news that he will be in Mrs. Tulkki's room next year, so he is excited about that (and I think she is too).



The girl scout end of year party went well. At first the girls sat around like little old ladies and so did their mothers. I was like...come on, people, this is a party. Finally stuff got going and we had fun. We always do a potluck and we get great food. We have a mom who is a dentist and she always brings fruit--really good fruit like blackberries and strawberries. So the food was great, but you know how women eat in groups? Chew carrot, chat daintily, chew broccoli, visit nicely, have a celery, wash hands. I was panting over the cheetohs and stuffing myself. Damn, that was fine food. I had Zac in a baby carrier on my front and I found out later (by looking at his face and hands) that he had been partaking in the offerings as well. At the e nd of the party there was a lot of food left because of the parsimonious way women eat in public, and I was thinking maybe they would leave some, but no. They packed up their carrots and their broccoli and their cheese and their blackberries and they left. Pfffft.



So tonight we have cub scouts. Hence the title--my kind of party! We had weenies on the grill, the little guys ran around like heathens, and the dads scarfed down hotdogs with me in the kitchen. I told them how much more fun they were than the girl scout moms and one of the dads said they all probably went home and ate there. I know he is right. Who do they think they are kidding? They're FAT! (The girl scout mothers). And then the best part, of course the boy scout dads didnt even think to bring home the leftovers (there were some, despite the happy eating all around). So here I am with chips, cheese, pop, ritz crackers, even a few weenies left. The feast! Ana, Ben, and Wil went to Lynn's and played so I could attend to the party and they had even more fun, I think. She always bakes with them and tonight they made rhubarb crisp. They watched movies and chased cats. I think Lynn really needs to be a grandma, she would really enjoy it. Zac stayed here with me because he goes to bed around 7 and he didnt notice anything unusual with a house full of boys. I watched his little hands around the food though.



A quick story about Lij's friend Allie. Monday night I was standing in my kitchen and I looked up and there was Allie! She had Elijah's jacket that he forgot at school (I'm not sure how she ended up with it) and her mom and Gramma were waiting in the van for her, they had stopped by so she could drop it off. Lij was so happy to see her he did sommersaults on the couch. He looked very dorky. So I asked Allie if she wanted to stay and play for a bit, because she lives very close. She did, so I went out and asked her mom, who said that was just fine. So she stayed for a few hours and they had a ball--so did I, I like that girl! Brian was also awake (I think he is starting to wonder about all these spare children I keep bringing home) and Allie was very interested in our signing so I explained some to her. She asked ana and I to teach her certain signs. She picked it up very quickly and well. Yesterday I called her mom to talk about arranging another playdate and her mom told me a cute story. She said Allie's gramma used to be a teacher and they were visiting when Allie got home from our house and allie told them she was going to teach them some sign language. So she demonstrated and th en she said "OK, now let's do that again." Like a teacher. Her mom and gramma thought it was so cute.



The girl day in the cities with ana was very nice. It was very important that Joanie be with because 1) she can drive in the cities and 2) she has patience for girls in malls. Neither of those things can I claim. I did pretty well for the first couple hours; the store we took them to was called Friends 2B Made. They got to choose dolls to be stuffed and then buy clothes. Like Build a Bear, but with dolls. After that we went to Rainforest Cafe and that was an adventure for them too. After THAT, however, my torture began. My goal was to get the hell out of there. Nobody else shared that goal. We had to meander to and fro, and the conversation was along the lines of "ohh, that is sooo CUUUTTTEEE!!" "Are you going to buy that?" "Ohhh, LOOK at this one!".



We'd have to duck into these little shops and they'd scatter out and regroup and scatter out and ....keep in mind this included Joanie among those who would scatter out and regroup and stop and look and blah blah blah blah blah. Finally it go to the point where I had to say "I'm done, I'm getting ornery, we have to get me out of here!".



I don't mean to sound like I didnt enjoy it, because I did. I was very happy to have that day with ana and give her that wonderful time. I just wouldn't do it for anyone else in the entire world!



Story from swimming lessons today....I had to take Wil into the girl's locker room with me. It was pretty much empty sans a few girls in their swimming suits. I told Wil to let the girls have their privacy. I was carrying him and he said "MOMMY, ARE THEY NAKED?"



State boards yesterday went fine. I had two big problems and they were not on the test. The first was that I was hungry. That's been happening lately, I forget to eat! I've always thought that was some kind of stupid, don't you? But it's happening and then I find myself in a pinch with no food. So I had to try to work through that. Worse, however, was the fact that as soon as the test started I had to take a crap. Good luck getting up to do that in the middle of state boards. Boy, that got tough. When I do it again for my RN I'm wearing depends. It was actually pretty fun driving down with Charlotte, and we met up with Carol (their other sister). Charlotte is the only literal blonde but they are both proverbial ones. Pretty entertaining. Charlotte was telling me about her daughter Maria's new boyfriend Sing and her husband Bernie's friend Yumyum (sp?). These are ethnic names. We went to Olive Garden and Charlotte bought me a birthday dinner.



So then after this long, long, day, I finally pull my weary self into the driveway at 7 pm. I was met by the sight of sleeping bags and pillows in the yard, where a camp was in place to await my arrival. They ran to greet me and the first thing out of Ben's mouth was " Did you fail?"



I passed just fine and am now licensed.