Thursday, Aidan's last day of school. (And for those of you who are curious, he ended up being sick enough to stay home through Wednesday, but not sick enough for me to take him to the doctor-although it was a difficult decision everyday...to call, or not to call?) He was able to go to school on Thursday and say goodbye to his teachers and friends. We have absolutely loved STRIDE Academy. It is at the top of my list of things I'll be most sad to leave in MN.
Friday, no school...so we headed to the Minnesota Zoo.
It only took me about 20 minutes to lose Colin. On the upside, it was the only time we lost him all day. LESSON: Aidan must hold Colin's hand if they go in any of the kid exploring tunnels. (I sent the kids in one side and waited on the other end, but Colin turned around and went out the entrance rather than the exit...he got a lot farther than I expected, luckily some ladies saw me, the panicky mom, and told me they had just handed a little boy off to one of the zoo personnel.) Some good things about losing your kid at places like the zoo: there are lots of moms on the lookout, and it happens a lot, so the zoo has a good system for getting them back - and they don't make you feel like a bad parent for losing your child-it just happens. (Stores also have pretty good systems. I have found it is better to alert the staff immediately rather than try to look much by myself-they issue Adam alerts, block the doors, check the bathrooms. It's sad and scary that I know this...Colin is a runner.) I found him just as they were radioing the "lost child alert". We also lost everyone's hat at least once during the day...we found them all again, but had to do lots of backtracking. LESSON: Hats stay on your head. DO NOT give Ellie your hat to 'hold'.
Saturday, Tom is home! Yeah! We had a slow start to the day...did some chores then headed to the cities to play with family (my cousin David, his wife, Maile, and their cute little girl, Lorelai). The kids fell asleep on the way down, so Tom let me pitstop at the outlet mall to visit some of my favorite kids stores. I love shopping for Ellie. Tom is concerned that I buy things for Ellie at the expense of the boys...true, but here's why: 1. She is a girl-it's just fun to buy the girly clothes (and accessories, too). 2. She is the only one who will let me dress her the way I want, the boys just want track pants or shorts and a t-shirt, preferably one with some goofy cartoon character on it. 3. She's not as destructive to her clothes...so we can use them as hand-me-downs or trade in at Once Upon a Child, maybe I'll even try selling on ebay sometime. Anyway, after my shopping spree, we had linner (my new favorite!...see last weekend: update) at Buca di Beppo. Our kids were pretty well behaved. Cade was excited about spaghetti and meatballs...his was the last plate to come out of the kitchen, he saw the size of the giagantic meatball and said, "That's why mine took so long-that's the hugest meatball in the world." Then we met the Wilsons at the Maple Grove Maze (think: big playplace...reminicent of my Leaps n Bounds days). It was fun to spend time with them. I'm sad that we didn't get together more often this past year.
Sunday, Happy Mother's Day! This is the first year Mother's Day was really a kid event. It was great. Aidan and Cade both made projects and cards for me at school and church. They were good at wishing me a Happy Mother's Day throughout the day, too. Even Colin picked up on it and wished me a Happy Mother's Day. Tom gave me some quiet time in the afternoon (ahhh) and got dinner started. {Tom, I think every Sunday should be Mother's Day.} One of my favorite parts of Mother's Day is when the kids told me where they hid there gifts so I wouldn't find them. It really lets me know the areas of the house I neglect...
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! I feel so blessed to have a great mom, and to have great kids!
2 comments:
Happy Mother's Day! Sounds like you got spoiled, which is just as it should be.
You make me laugh -- the zoo hat story was classic. And of course Ellie needs the clothes. Losing a kid in a public place has to be frightening. Sounds like you are pretty experienced - thanks for the staff tip.
Christi--Brenda just told me that you had a blog while we were running today. I'm excited to add it to my favorites list and hear a bit more about what you're up to!
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