a Breeze

Over the weekend we attended a party at Kenny's co-worker's home. It was a barbeque and the kids had a lot of fun running around playing with the dog as well as a pretty neat air hockey arcade game and the piece de resistence a Family Guy pinball machine!

I feel so completely overwhelmed today that when I look back on the weekend I think 'who was that fool that thought the rest of August was going to be a breeze?'

We didn't start the day off as well as we did yesterday.

Yesterday I basked in the pleasure of not having to wake up to drop Rhys off at school. Instead we watched the early airing of Sesame Street, had breakfast, then did a few exercises. Henry practiced his handwriting, wrote out our telephone number and address, and read a few articles from his Highlights magazine. Rhys and I went over the ABCs a few times and also paged through a catalog calling out colors and images. After which we settled down; while they played I began work on a bunch of stuff for Hilary, who has started a little side business you can check out at her blog site: Created by Hilary http://www.createdbyhilary.blogspot.com/.

At 4 ish I began to get ready for our class. Had to make sure that everything was in order before we were able to leave the house at 5 to pick up some food and eat it in the car before heading up to the classroom at a quarter to 6. Dropped the boys off in the little childcare room and sat waiting for the class to begin and Kenny to show. We had a quiz first thing. It was fun.

Today I woke with a start. Slept in until about 7:30a, missing half of Sesame Street! The kids were ready for other activities than workbooks and since all I was thinking about were the things I was doing for Hilary I just jumped back into the designs and did not stop until it was time to get going. We dropped Kenny off today and then went to pick up Grandpa who graciously agreed to come keep Henry company while I took Rhys to his Gymboree class.

Once we arrived at my parents house both boys jumped out of the car and raced to the door to ring the doorbell. While Henry is tall enough to successfully push the buzzer Rhys was not, and turned around to announce to me 'I can't reach it!' So cute!!

The teacher was so happy to see him and we bumped into Jalin and his mommy, Angie. It was their first day back from being out for about 2 months. It was our first day back from being out for about 5 or 6 weeks. I could tell Rhys was excited to be back on his old stomping grounds. He couldn't stop running around the room. I do feel he must be one of those kids that do much better when their parents are not present. I keep hearing from people what a great job he's doing in class, yet when I'm there I don't feel he's doing so hot. Or maybe I'm being overly critical? I don't think so...

I felt my fuse was pretty short today due to my mental state (hyped up and tired) and Rhys' inability to stand still did not help. The teacher had a new aide (probably someone in training), who came up to Rhys just as he began a rather violent coughing fit (as if he had swallowed wrong... I think he might have just caught a little bug -something I might be getting as well). Her version of small talk with a 3 almost 4 year old involves instructing him to cover his mouth with his hand so as to avoid "making others sick". Wow that really set me off. I thought 1) that's really great loading a little kid with the guilt of getting everyone sick and 2) everyone knows you are supposed to teach kids to cough into their arm, not their hands! Especially at a place like Gymboree where all the kids are all over the equipment doing their obstacle courses... touching everything with their hands. The same hands she had just instructed him to cough into! Real smart.

I did help with another project a couple of weeks ago. It was for Jamie's 30th birthday invite and since it's been mailed out already. I hope it's okay to share: