Sunday I wasn't feeling better but I went to school anyway. I taught the first three periods of the day and then did some walk throughs. The last two periods of the day I sat at my desk and caught up on paper work.
Once I was home, Millie arrived shortly after. We then started back out to pick Jack up from swim squad. Stuart got home at that moment, so Millie stayed home with him and did her homework.
When I collected Jack he proceeded to tell me how popular he was. It went something like this:
Jack: Mom, did you know I'm really popular?
Me: Is that so?
Jack: Yep. Everyone wants to be my friend.
Me: Well, if you say things to your friends like you just said to me, they might not want to be your friend. Try being a little more humble, son.
Jack: What does that mean?
Me: It means that you need to be thrilled that kids want to be your friend, but not brag about it by announcing how popular you are.
Jack: Well, I am.
So I put my arm around him. He asked me why and I said, 'Because I want to hang out with the popular kid.' He laughed.
Just before rugby we went to pick up the Kia. Sadly, we were then informed that our transmission was going out. That would be approximately $2700. Super! Everyone we have spoken with says we need to get rid of it now. Thoughts? We really didn't want to have to buy another car while we were here, but we may have to do so. Boo!
I worked out at the gym while the kids practiced. Then I remembered that I had misquoted the time we would eat the roast dinner at the club. This was the introductory evening, so we were excited and had arranged for the O'Reilley's to meet us for dinner. Once I was finished working out I went into the restaurant and sat with them while they ate. I apologized for my goof up, which they were fine with.
By the time the kids were finished with practice the club had run out of roast dinner. Well, as you would guess this made Stuart mad, and he told off the chef, stating that the committee members had warned the club there would be a huge crowd for the first roast dinner. We ended up going home and ordering curry. The kids showered and went straight to bed.
I got up to walk after only a few hours of sleep. My hacking was out of control so I chose to stay home from work and go to the doctor. I was diagnosed with bronchitis and given two days off work. The doctor said I needed rest and antibiotics. Hopefully that will take care of it.
I laid around the house all day and dozed in and out of sleep, which was lovely. When Stuart got home, I headed out for an hour or so to the Monday Meet Up crew. I can't miss this get together no matter how sick I am. By that time I had one dose of the three doses of antibiotics in me, and I had perked up a bit.
Millie had arrived safely at Jacob's for her play date after school on Monday, and Jack was on his way home from school.
I went to the 101 Cafeteria and met up with the ladies, which was lovely as usual. Once I returned, Millie arrived about 5 minutes after me. Jacob stayed for a bit while his mum ran to the supermarket. He's adorable!
Jacob was collected and we planned another play date. Jack and Millie bathed and ate. I took a shower as well. Mandy dropped by and had some tea, potato chips and a glass of wine. We had a good ole chat. She left just after 8 and I st down to watch my new obsession, Jane the Virgin. I was pretty sure I would finish it by Tuesday afternoon, which made me a bit sad. Sure enough, I finished the first two seasons on Wednesday and I felt a bit upset because now I had nothing to watch.
Tuesday I got up and helped the kids get ready for school, made them cinnamon rolls, and drank a cup of coffee. I also did some ironing and got dressed. At 8 am, I decided to go to the supermarket to buy a roast because I had planned to make pot roast in the slow cooker.
I got everything ready and put it in the slow cooker around noon, keeping my fingers crossed that it would be done when he kids got back from rugby practice. I didn't go to rugby practice because I hadn't been in school and I really did need more rest.
Once Stuart and the kids were back, we sat down to a family meal. It was a yummy pot roast. The kids had already showered before they ate, so once they were finished I put them to bed, but not until I called one of the moms to talk to her about an incident that happened at rugby practice on Sunday evening, involving Jack. She had spoken to one of the other coaches on Tuesday and Stuart came home to me, telling me the story and saying he hadn't spoken to Jack yet.
I found out the story, as best as I could. The short of it was Jack was very unkind to one of his team mates, possibly calling her chubby and slow, but definitely laughing when another boy had done so. I was so disappointed. I told Jack that whether he said it or not, he didn't defend the little girl when the other boy said it. I told him he was guilty by association. After I spoke to the little girl's mum, I told Jack he would be apologizing to her at the next practice. My final words to Jack were, 'Son, you need to defend those who can't defend themselves. Be kind. It's really one of he best human traits.' To which he responded, 'I like that, Mom. Defend those who can't defend themselves.' It was a moment for sure. He really took it to heart. He's a thinker like his dad, but he does it out loud instead of keeping it inside. Wonder where he learned that?
One of the little girls on Millie's team, Ciara, the same night, got her finger mangled. It seems that the kids were at the playground before training started and a little boy threw a huge piece of concrete at her hand. It must have hit it just right because it split her finger open to the bone and she had to have surgery. Poor dear! Millie hadn't said anything on Tuesday evening, but said something Wednesday morning when she was getting ready for school. I had a hard time believing her, but Brian confirmed it when he picked the kids up for school.
School was maybe more hectic than usual. It had to be because I had missed the two previous days. I met myself coming and going. But at the end of the day I felt I at least had a focus for Thursday and would most likely get caught up on my work.
I left school early to go to parent/teacher conferences. Both kids were reported to be doing well and behaving appropriately. Whew! With Jack we worry a bit about his squirrelly behavior and with Millie we worry about her verbal behavior. But the teachers assured us they were both doing well. We told them not to protect the kids in any way. We reminded them we were teachers and remember those difficult conferences where you really wanted to say more than you did. Still yet, nothing negative to report. Thank the Lord!
Since their report was so wonderful, and we had promised Jack we would go to sushi night at the golf club, and Stuart wasn't going to training, we told the kids they were being rewarded with sushi night. It wasn't exactly the truth, but it worked out nicely.
We did a supermarket run, came home and had the kids shower because sushi night didn't start until 7 pm and we wanted them ready to go to bed once we were home from dinner. They got all dressed up for the evening. Jack has always been that kid that if we tell him we were going out to dinner for a special treat, he wants to get dressed up.
Sushi was wonderful. There is a new sushi chef at the golf club. It was as close to the sushi we would get in Arizona than I have had here. Once we were stuffed with sushi, we headed home. Millie fell asleep on the way home so we put her straight to bed.
Thursday was another day of school fun for all of us. Nothing monumental happened, which made it a great Thursday. The Food Trucks hit Al Ain for the weekend. It started on Thursday evening. So we decided to go. We had never attended before, but this year since it was housed at the rugby club, we gave it a shot. Jack decided upon the Donut Diuble Cheeseburger. Stuart had a fried chicken sandwich, I had an avocado, spicy tuna boat, and Millie had French fries. Of course she did! We left the club sometime after 8 pm, and Millie fell asleep on the way home. I allowed myself to let her sleep in her clothes to bed. Plus, she wore them on Friday as well. I felt so accomplished because usually I am the OCD freak about baths and clean clothes and no dirty kid. However, don't get used to this behavior. It most likely will be another 5 years before this happens again, and that will only be because she fakes me out by running the water in the shower and wetting the soap so I don't know she actually never got in the shower. I did that a few times as a child. Ha!
Friday I took Jack and his friend Louie to see Batman Lego movie, while Millie went to Evie's house. Swapping kids is the way to go. Millie got to hang out with her friend and didn't have to go see the 'boy' movie.
While we were in the cinema there were some kids in there with us who were out of control. We go to the cinema on Friday mornings because usually it is very quiet and rambunctious kids are no where to be seen, but not this Friday. I said something to the mom. She acted as if she was going to do something about it, but it actually went on for about another 20 minutes. The kids were running up and down the aisle, throwing shoes and popcorn. What mom doesn't stop that? The one who was with these three little boys and one girl. She commanded the daughter to collect the kids and they headed out of the theater. The problem was they had to come back because one of the boys was missing a shoe. Shock! Finally the theater manager came in with a flash light and found the shoe. We enjoyed the last 45 minutes of the film, uninterrupted. When they left, I leaned over to Jack and said, 'If you ever behave like that in a public place, you won't leave the house for a very long time.' He replied, 'Mom, why would I ever act like that?' Excellent!
After the movie, I went to get some final items for the craft day. Sadly, one of the stores wasn't open until 4 pm, so I would have to go back then. We got home around 3 pm, after a cup Parmesan at Rochelle's to collect Millie. Once we were home, the kids played outside while Stuart cooked. The kids didn't go to bed until almost 8 pm. Jack wanted to look at his world map instead of having me sing a song. He kept asking where we were going to go next. He also told me about how in school they were studying Africa. I pointed to Morocco and said, 'I've been there!' He about jumped out of bed, 'You've been to Morocco? That's not fair! When can we go there together?' I really can't express the delight it brings to my soul to see how our life choices have enriched our children's lives. It's indescribable.
Once Jack was down for the night, I spent the rest of the evening prepping the crafts for the following morning. It's possible I bit off a bit too much with this particular craft day. Time would tell.
I was up Saturday morning and lounged around prior to the party. I finally put food out just before 10 and then the guests arrived. I totally forgot to take pictures of the kids while they were doing their crafts, but the final product is below. They had fun, but my partner in crime was sick. DeDe said she was sending her husband, which was helpful.
Eleanor came for crafting, and stayed for the afternoon. Jack, Millie and Eleanor played inside and out, all afternoon. Then they had a pizza for dinner. Stuart had gone to the club to do some work as the treasurer so he brought dinner home. We took Eleanor home after the kids ate, while Claire babysat, made sure the kids showered, and got to bed.
Stuart and I decided to have a date night looking at cars because of what you read previously. Window shopping is nice. Spending that kind of money makes me want to vomit. So we are holding off for now. We have decided to rent out our Queen Creek home so we would like to at least get a renter in there before having to spend a wad of dough on a car. We shall see.
We then decided to have our dinner out at .....the club. It's the cheapest food in town. We watched the 6 Nations rugby for a bit, then headed home to relieve Claire and get ready for a new week.
Life is good!
No comments:
Post a Comment