So, this is "normal"?

Things are back to “normal” in our little corner of the world today. PDQs babysitter is back from sick leave and PDQ was excited to go back to her house today—thank goodness. I was a bit worried that playing with the little girl next door in the morning, spending time with the great Miss Lois and more Mommy/Daddy time was going to make a return to normalcy a bitter pill to swallow. Luckily a preemptive Thursday afternoon playdate worked wonders for reminding her how much she loves to play with her friend A at daycare. Huge sigh of relief, with crossed fingers, five more weeks until the end of the school year and we all know what could go wrong more often than not does go wrong to screw up the carefully crafted schedule.

The weekend was a relatively drama-free one from the girls, I was the instigator. Saturday morning soccer which PDQ still professes to be the best thing ever went well. She scored a goal during the scrimmage with the other team and that made her day. Then it was home where I was a serious crab. Not nearly enough sleep Friday night and a few extra hormones circulating makes for bad news. Boobah asked what seemed like a hundred times to play on the computer and I kept telling her to wait until I was done with what I was doing. After the 101st time Gman apparently told her to leave Mommy alone so she could finish what she was doing. So she followed me downstairs and says “Daddy says not to talk to you.” I told her she could talk to me but NOT to ask about the computer again until I was done. Two minutes later, Mommy? Yes Boobah? I’m going to ask you something different this time. And she did, I don’t remember what but the asking was cute and it wasn’t about the damn computer.

Finally PDQ and I rolled out to a birthday party at the bowling alley. I didn’t take a shower, threw on my gym clothes and figured I’d kill two birds with one stone since the bowling alley is across the street from the gym. Yeah, not quite. There were THIRTY kids at the bowling party. Not somewhere I felt comfortable dropping off PDQ and abandoning her. I stayed and chit-chatted with the other Kindergarten Moms while the girls bowled. I swear the one Mom has told me the same story every time I have interacted with her and I grinned and bore it yet again. I was so happy to get sprung after a mere two hours of torture. The parting gift? A bowling pin water bottle that I swear is the size of an actual pin. Where exactly do I store that?! Gman had the privilege of freeing all the candy from said pin later. The bright spot was a call from the birthday boy’s Mom later on raving about our present being the best one ever. Thank goodness, it was some foam rocket thing and I wavered about whether it would be a welcome addition but I decided to roll the dice. Score.

Yesterday we had friends for brunch that I threw together the night before. Es came bearing meat in her always overachieving way we had not just bacon but regular bacon, turkey bacon, low fat sausage, regular links, and kielbasa. No one in her circle has ever starved, just one of the things we love about her. Other than the children’s whining that they weren’t going to eat anything I cooked and my little explosion that they could starve, things were relaxing. We had a little champagne, a little of Paula Deen’s French Toast Casserole with Praline topping (which I dare say would be better with less butter) and all was right with the world. And then my dear, sweet husband played with the children outside and I took a nap. I can’t tell you the last time I snuggled deep under the covers on Sunday afternoon and actually slept, it was heaven. I woke up and could hear the girls giggling outside, apparently Gman was a criminal and they were the police who were going to track him down. Thankfully I missed his escape through the landscaping on the side of the house and only got to hear it in the re-telling. Thanks hon for a fabulous day of being you.