Busy days

Yesterday and today have passed by in a whirlwind. Yesterday was a scheduled "Game Day" for school. I try to have them once a month, but I usually forget. What this typically means is that we do the absolute minimum of regular school work and play games for the rest of the day. Yesterday morning, I continued our chapter book, Hittite Warrior. It's a great story, Holly really enjoys it, and Trevor seems to be off in his own world, no matter how much I try to keep him focused. I think all the unfamiliar place and people names threw him off from the beginning.

We played games for a couple of hours, pretty much anything the kids chose. Sometimes we play together, sometimes just two play; it really depends on what else is going on, who's being nice, and who wants to play what. We decided to run errands with Robert, who had the day off, and I postponed Holly's riding lessons. I can't remember much of what we did--nothing exciting, but nice to just be out. Our last stop was the grocery store to buy whatever meat he uses to make Beef Noodle Soup. The kids were thrilled that he made that for dinner. I don't like it at all and made Crab Cauliflower Chowder for me instead. Meanwhile, Trevor had basketball (indoors, as usual!) and had a great time.

This morning I realized there were a zillion things I wanted to get done, so we raced through everything necessary to finish up the week, spelling tests, history, math, writing assignments, etc. We were out the door at noon, drilling Latin in the car and listening to a classical music CD from the library. My "lure" was to use our free reading coupons for lunch at Pizza Hut. The kids were able to eat from the buffet instead of getting free pan pizzas. Now THIS is a deal--unlimited pizza slices, salad bar, hot pasta dish, breadsticks, pizza dessert . . . I couldn't believe how much they both ate! We also hit the library, gas station, the post office for Christmas stamps, and a store to buy something specific for Robert for Christmas. (That was a bust, they didn't have what I wanted.) We drove around an old neighborhood downtown I'd been wanting to see. We took our free Frosty coupons to Wendy's, and Robert called. He was leaving work, headed a block away from where we were. We met him there as a surprise, and Trevor took off with him. Holly and I went to another library (she just HAD to get a gross mummy book with photos of REAL mummies), stopped at Blockbuster for a gift card, and went to Walmart before finally heading home.

Her last dance class is Tuesday, and we spaced out "teacher appreciation" week last week. She wanted to get her teacher a "movie night bowl." She made one of these a few years back for another teacher, decorating a plastic bowl with puffy paint, and then filling the bowl with a couple of movie sized boxes of candy, a pack of microwave popcorn and a Blockbuster movie card. It's SUCH a cute idea, totally out of the ordinary, and it's fairly inexpensive. It's also nice that she has to take responsibility for almost the entire thing, instead of me doing any work!

I'm glad to be "stuck" at home tomorrow, with no real plans to fight the masses shopping. Ugh! It's bad enough on regular weekends! Staying home to do laundry and clean house is excitement enough for me. At least I don't have to search for a parking spot or wait in line!