Ups and Downs

This week has been a busy one for all of us. The busy-ness and craziness won't end for a few more days either. The kids have been very good the last couple days despite their parents' obvious full schedules. I came home from work yesterday to screams in the living room - they were good fun screams, but screams nonetheless. Mike was playing steamroller, a favorite game of the kids that simply involves Dad rolling back and forth on the living room trying to trap the kids in his steamroller, the kids run around the living room trying to avoid getting caught. When one gets caught, the other tries as hard as they can to free their trapped sibling. Much laughter and fun ensues and they are all quite exhausted when the game is done. Well, shortly after I arrived I took a break from watching the fun to change out of my work clothes. At this time, Karl got too far from Mike's clutches so Mike tried to lure him in by pretending he was really hurt. He did some fake whimpering in hopes that Karl would come closer so he could grab him and trap him once again in the mighty steamroller. Well, the plan backfired, apparently Mike is a better actor than either of us ever imagined. Karl really thought he hurt his Dad and was quite upset. For this reason, Karl hid. It didn't take long for us to realize Karl was sad/scared and hiding somewhere. Abby found him...in the bathroom towel closet...on the second shelf. How he got up there I have no idea. Good thing there were no towels in there at the time (add to "to-do" list - laundry) or he wouldn't have fit. It took Mike physically pulling the scared little guy out of the cabinet and some lengthy talking to convince him he didn't hurt his Daddy. Mike made it quite clear that it would take a lot more than an 8-year-old to hurt him (even though, as Karl pointed out, "he was getting old") After the drama, everyone returned to their happy joyful selves, steamroller was over, and some level of quiet returned to our house.

Also this week, Abby began to read out of books! She knows several small words so we broke out a My First Hello Reader book and she was able to read the first story with very few problems. We were all quite excited for her and proud of her. She was quite pleased with herself and has been carrying her book around ever since.

Then there is Aine. Aine loves the movie Hocus Pocus. I am not entirely sure why but it is currently her favorite. Part of it might have something to do with Halloween. Aine, a sugarholic who loves Halloween and trick-or-treating. Every once in awhile she will ask if she can go trick-or-treating and I have to get her busy with something else so she forgets about that plan. Today, Aine took that one step further...she got dressed up, got a small wooden bucket (a present from Daycare Diane) and seriously asked to go trick-or-treating. I tried explaining that it was May (which means nothing to a two-year-old) and that no one would have candy, but she was determined. So...I let her walk up and down the block in her outfit, she said "trick-or-treat" to me twice, got a couple of suckers and then (after about 15 minutes) was finally ready to go inside. Once inside, she tore into her suckers and, once done, wanted to go trick-or-treating some more. This time I was able to get her busy with something else and the idea was gone - for now.

It has been an interesting couple of days. To add to things, as I was driving home from a workshop class today when I pulled up to a stop sign that connects two highways. I didn't stop long at all b/c I noticed a big coach bus coming down the hill, what I didn't notice was the cop coming the other direction. Trying to beat the bus I did a perfect "rolling stop" and smiled, pleased at myself for getting ahead of the bus. The smile turned to a frown quickly as I noticed a cop whip a 180 in front of the bus in order to pull me over. Obviously I pulled over for the cop, the bus passed us both, and I had to deal with the possibility of getting a ticket. Luckily I didn't get the ticket, but while waiting for the cop, I did get about five text messages...that bus I pulled in front of was the entire senior class (I teach sophomores thru seniors by the way) returning form their senior trip. Apparently, the bus had to brake to accommodate the cop so everyone had to look to see what was going on...which was their teacher getting pulled over...some of my media students had to text me to let me know they saw the entire thing and wondered if I got a ticket...Great...cannot wait for Monday to get more smart-alec comments about that one.

Well, like I said, life has been interesting. Can't wait to see what this weekend brings...Hope it is great for everyone. Take care.