May Day

Whew! What a week it has been!

Monday night Alex had his regularly scheduled baseball practice. It is always a challenge to get there on time since it starts at 5:30 and I don’t get home until 5pm. This week was particularly hectic because not only did he have practice, but team pictures as well. The kids did a great job after school getting prepared for the evening. It was the first time in the whole nine months that they actually did what they were supposed to do instead of what they wanted to do. But, it’s progress so I’ll take it! Alex and Eva had completed their homework and changed clothes. Alex was nicely dressed in his baseball uniform and actually managed to locate two matching, red socks and his baseball cleats. Grace was also awake and fully ready for her volleyball clinics which started this week as well. I almost thought I walked into the wrong house, but knew I was in the right place as soon as Alex and Eva started fighting over who was going to sit where on the way to practice.


For the first time this baseball season, I remembered to put dinner in the crock pot so we could eat before leaving. However, I did not account for the time it would take to actually serve and eat dinner. I knew I should have just grabbed a sub sandwich from the grocery store over the weekend. A home cooked meal isn’t easy to eat in the car. I left the food in the crock pot and grab some Capri Suns and Vanilla Wafers. Not fancy, for sure, but something to hold the kids over until we could get home to eat.

The girls and I walked over to the park during Alex’s practice. I helped Eva with her book report while Grace pushed Layla on the swing. Eva finished her report in enough time to get some play time in. I had previously told Alex that if I wasn’t back to pick him up from practice at 7pm to just wait patiently because I would be there soon after. Grace’s volleyball clinic started at 7, so I was going to run her there a little early and try to make it back before Alex’s practice ended. Around 6:30, my brother-in-law called to ask if he should take Alex home. His practice ended early and Alex told him I wouldn’t be back until 7. Fortunately, I hadn’t even left yet for Grace’s clinic. I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to run back and forth between the two places.

After walking Grace into the gym, I came back to a car full of hot, hungry and cranky children. I planned on just hanging out in the car for the duration of the volleyball clinic. I quickly changed my mind. The kids and I went home where I was able to feed them dinner and get them ready for bed before piling them all back in the car to go back and get Grace. They weren’t very happy about having to leave again, but what other choice did I have.

On Tuesday when a neighbor offered to stay with the kids while I took Grace, I jumped on the opportunity. I typically have a hard time accepting help from others, but I knew the kids would be so much happier if they got to stay home and play as opposed to being in the car for the next 3 hours. She was so sweet to stay with them and even ordered in pizza for dinner.

Yesterday night, I woke up several times with a bad stomachache. Apparently the left over pizza did not sit well with me or I just managed to pick up a stomach virus. I debated going to work or not, but decided I could stick it out. By late morning, I knew that I didn’t want to be at work anymore. My stomach was still bothering me, and I just didn’t want to be at work. I took a half day and a 2 hour nap. The weather was absolutely beautiful and I couldn’t justify not taking advantage of it. So after my nap, I moved out to the back yard and soaked in the sun. It was absolutely glorious and I began wishing I had kept the kids from school and spent the day at the river with them.

Grace had her last volleyball clinic last night and I thought it would be a great day to take the kids for sno-cones during her practice. We had the windows down, the sun roof open and the music pumping on the way to the park. I was envisioning a picnic table by the lake, sno-cones and kicking the soccer ball around. It would be the perfect little evening with my kids. Or so I envisioned.

When we reached the park, we learned the sno-cone vender didn’t actually open until May 4th. The kids were bewildered by a park with no playground and had no interest in a picnic table by the lake if sno-cones weren’t involved. I drove to the neighboring playground only to see it overflowing with children. Alex took one look at all the “babies” and declared it a big fat NO!

We were close enough to the Westport area and still had enough time to get ice cream. When we reached Cold Stone, both Eva and Layla were asleep. They didn’t want to wake up even for ice cream. So we skipped the ice cream and went back to the high school to wait for Grace. We had 30 minutes before her practice was over and the thought of sitting in the car for that long sent Alex over the edge. He went into meltdown mode. I was finally able to rectify the situation by forfeiting my phone to him for Netflix and the promise of both a soda and a candy bar from Quick Trip on the way home.

There was a group of freshman girls standing near our car after getting Grace from practice. I asked Alex if he enjoyed his view while we were gone. He said, “Yes! I’ve been looking at myself in the mirror and I am hot!” At least he doesn’t have self-image issues!