Another Busy Saturday

Steve is away playing in a tournament this weekend. Some bloggers intentially don't mention when husbands are away for safety sake, but really, who's going to read this then take the time to track us down and come to the house - and then do what? Steal what, exactly? Please take the tv, it's old and small and on it's last legs anyway, it would give us a reason to get a new one. Or not. Anyway, with four kids, single-parenting is busier than with two (simple math). At 11am the girls had dance and the boys had hockey, in two different places in two different cities... and since I haven't mastered the art of cloning, I accepted A&A's generous offer of help. I gave them the girls so they wouldn't have to deal with hockey gear (though Paxten dances like she's wearing full contact equipment instead of her choice of ugly dress of the day). I dropped the girls off a little after ten and took the boys to hockey thinking I had LOOOOADS of time - yea right. Elliot was on the ice with moments to spare and Jack was sauntering to the bench when the coach blew the whistle to join him at centre ice. Jack doesn't have a speed above saunter, just as Elliot doesn't have a speed below neck-breaking. The rink was COLD today and practice long and boring to watch, except the exercise where the kids paired up, each held a stick in each hand so that one was towing the other down the ice - that was comical.

After hockey, we headed over to Wendy's (the restaurant, not A,M&I's Mom) to pick up lunch. Shock of shocks, they messed up my drivethru order. We headed back to meet A&A and the girls at their house for a living room floor picnic of burgers, chicken nuggets and fries. Our new budget does not allow for fast food, so it had been a LOOOONG time since I've had a Wendy's burger - I think it was the best one I've ever eaten!

After some regrouping, I had a few moments to kill and errands to run before the boys' basketball game. A&A offered to keep the girls with them which made sense when I thought they were staying home. Apparently my girls would rather run errands with A&A than run errands with me. Go figure. I took the boys to get their hair trimmed. Elliot was very precise on how much he wated cut - showed the stylist with his thumb and finger held less than a quarter of an inch apart. That strange boy, his hair is his pride and joy. Jack wanted his kept longer too, but we cut off the mullet-esk back inch and a half. I rewarded their cooperation (neither wanted to have it trimmed) with a trip to the bulkbarn to pick out some candy.

Across the street was the grocery store, so we hopped over there to get some milk (might as well get the week's worth - five, 4L jugs), and our contribution to dinner. Since I was there, I remembered to get some Canadian Gravol for my Yankee friend. Apparently that stuff is a controlled substance, you're only allowed to buy one bottle at a time. I had to buy one, then go mill about for ten minutes and come back, catch another pharmacists eye and buy a second bottle. I'm such a rebel. Now I'm going to illegally mail it to another country.

We headed to the YMCA which is in one of the worst areas of Halifax. Elliot practices with the team because Steve is the assistant coach. It was agreed upon that he could practice and he could be on the bench and he could play if ever the team was in need of a body. He is sooo good about this, though he does wonder aloud as we arrive, if so-and-so may be missing the game and starts listing off players who may not be there. This was the Bulls third game, and the first win. The last two were blow-outs, as the league tries to even things out and sort teams into divisions. It was great to see an even game where the kids felt good about their play. Jack even got a few shots on - I mean, towards the net.

And after the game, more running - back to A&A's to pick up the girls, for real that time, and head to the home of one of our church families for a family fellowship dinner and evening. On the way, we were passing a H1N1 clinic that I was sure was still opened so I pulled in there to see if I could get Jack shot. The priority list precluded him on Monday when E, PJ and Wen and I got ours because he was too old and too healthy. However, they've opened the priority so that family members of people who are immune deficient can be included. We see enough of A that he and his third kidney are considered family. Jack was very brave, especially for Jack.

After the shot, we had to wait in recovery for a few moments to make sure he didn't negatively react to the immunization. When we went on Monday, they had mats spread out on the floor, on which the five of us sprawled so the boys could do their last minute music homework. The clinic tonight (a different one) also had mats so Wen went and sat on the mat and I sat nearby on a chair. She watched me, but didn't say anything, then played around with the rest of the kids on the mat and on the chairs near me. At one point she was sitting over a white board that had had a written message on it moments before. I called her over and asked her if she had rubbed the words off. She said "no". I knew she was "lying" though I'm not sure she knows what lying is, yet. I pressed her on it, trying to get the truth so that I could use it as a teaching moment about truth and lies and never did get her to say "yes" to it, regardless of how I approached it. It was time to leave so we headed out and I put her in her carseat, at which point she burst into tears. I asked her what was wrong and got some unintelligible wails... After several moments of discussing the words and my being upset at her not telling me the truth, not about her rubbing the words off, it turns out she was crying because she "Sat on the mat and you (I) sat on a chair". She had assumed that b/c we sat on the mat on Monday we'd all sit on the mat tonight, and while she didn't react when I sat on the chair, it became the focus of her upset by the time we got to the car. I have NO idea. I'm sure I'm going to mess that one up for life.

She was still unhappy and clingy when we arrived at dinner (which was just around the corner), but seemed to warm up gradually and by the time eating was over she was happy and silly again and easily went off with the sitter and other kids while the adults talked. It was a good meeting, after which I went to Chapters to buy the book I was supposed to read in preparation for the meeting (been too busy reading parenting books about kids who Explode).

I told the kids that it was late and when we got home it was straight to pjs and bed, with only a very short story and that only if they were fast getting changed. PJ was not fast, so Wen and I read a short story while PJ wailed and belatedly put on her pjs. They were asleep before I left the room, I think. I agreed with the boys that a "short story" could be a couple of pages of H@rry P0tter instead of a full chapter, but then the part got good and I wanted to know what happened. Five chapters later (that's 106 pages) and we've finished the book. We might just have to go rent the movie tomorrow. I hope that performance goes a little way to winning me brownie points - when I told them that Steve was away for the weekend, they whined and pouted that they didnt' want him to be gone. Then Jack told Elliot in a cheer up kinda way "Well Mommy's going away next weekend" and Elliot cheered. Yeah. Yay me.

SOOO tomorrow is Sunday again and I skipped church last week... I may do it again tomorrow. Hockey at 3 and grocery shopping in there somewhere. Steve's not back until after supper, I think and with Jack being up past midnight, it may be a long day. Guess I shouldn't have just spent the last half hour on here instead of sleeping!

N