Back in the swing of things
Today was the second day of the elementary school year, and I had already lost some of my enthusiasm for the return to classes. My kids were sluggish this morning, and I found myself running behind schedule by a few minutes right from the start.
No matter. I stood guard over the breakfast table, ensuring that the oatmeal laced with cream and butter was actually being eaten, drinking my decaffeinated coffee. Let's just say that if you ever decide to quit caffeine once and for all, and you succeed...don't start drinking it again, and then expect that quitting (again) is going to be easy.
After breakfast, the kids stepped into the outfits we had selected the night before, we did all of our grooming things and made it out the door with packed lunches and everything.
Thanks to your fantastic ideas, my children took sliced cheese, a small apple, some crackers, a small yogurt and a meringue cookie. That pretty much exhausted the "fun lunch" stash from my pantry, though, so I made plans for a trip to Trader Joe's to fill in the gaps before the weekend.
Before I could shop, however, I had to actually get the kids to school. We made it out the door for our walk to school right on time, and joined our neighborhood friends for the mile. It is foggy here in the mornings, but the temperatures have been mild, so the walk has been painless, if a little slow. I even brought my neuotic pooch along for the walk.
We got the kids into their classes, and then took our little kids to play at the park for an hour. My youngest rolled in the sand, slid belly-first down the wet slide and stomped through a nasty puddle. My friend (Kim! You guys know all about Kim.) and I kept an eye out as her son and my daughter got filthy. Once the kids had exhausted themselves, we headed for home.
Kim's son is almost three, and he can and does ride his bike (with training wheels) back and forth to the school. He was cracking me up this morning - he's figured out how to slam on the brakes and make skidmarks. Every two feet, he'd brake and go "eeeeeeeee" and then point out the tiny black smudge. My daughter was suitably impressed. At least for the first couple. Then she was over it, but bless his heart, he kept pointing them out.
Once we made it back home, I took a quick shower with my sand-covered primate of a child, and then we headed off to Trader Joes for some quality shopping.
Why? Why did I ever complain about how difficult it was to shop with one child? We had ourselves a good old time, wandering up and down the rows, choosing blueberries and strawberries, tortillas and more meringue cookies. We bought more Greek yogurt for me, and fruit leather for the kids. We bought some chocolate bars and a couple of bottles of wine. We tossed in some eggplant and zucchini for a planned broiled veggie side dish. We left the store with several heavy bags and light hearts.
Back at home, I quickly unloaded and put away the groceries, and it was time to go pick up the big kids. We took the van, because I was sure that my son would be exhausted after his first long day of school ever.
I was wrong. Again. As usual. The kids were full of happy energy, so I turned them loose on the playground while I caught up with some of my favorite moms. We closed down the park, and came home ready for some reading and relaxing before dinner.
Now that the kids are tucked in bed, I am finally getting a chance to stretch out my body and relax my mind. It feels good. I'm going to do my P.M. Yoga tape, and get to bed early.
Comments
I'm glad you remembered the wine.
Posted by: the womom | August 18, 2006 5:56 AM