Tuesday was our 14th anniversary. A friend told us a year or two ago that if Josh and I ever broke up, it would ruin all faith he had in marriage. It's a compliment if you think about it hard enough.
But anyway, Josh went to New York for his brother's graduation from law school, so I was on kid duty. After Jesse and I picked Jocelyn up from school, the 3 of us headed to the mall. Jesse wanted to ride the escalators, so we went to JC Penney and rode up and down a bit. Their escalator is wide enough for the 3 of us to fit side by side by side. Both Jocelyn and Jesse managed to consistently step on the crack, but then would adjust so we didn't have any major incidents.
We were actually on a mission to buy Jocelyn some pants. Hers are all too short! But apparently one cannot buy pants in the spring/summer. There were some jeans at The Children's Place but they were $15/pr! Geez, she can just wear capris. So after our unsuccessful mission we headed to Build A Bear Workshop, where we were the only ones in the place. I tried to talk them into what I consider to be the more interesting non-bear animals, but Jocelyn was quite sure she wanted the pink bear. Jesse at first picked a rather cheezy looking baseball with arms and legs, but I had to put my foot down there, so then he wanted the blue bear that matched Jocelyn's pink choice.
So off to the fluffing machine with our clearly unhappy Build A Bear helper who seemed rather annoyed that my children require frequent repeating of instructions. After stitching up the bears, the helper went back to moping in the front corner of the store. Maybe her boyfriend had broken up with her earlier. We headed on to the air bath and took our sweet time as there was no one behind us.
Jocelyn was very decisive about which outfit and shoes her bear required, where as Jesse really didn't care any more at this point. So Jocelyn and I dressed the bears while Jesse played 20 questions with what's-behind-that-door. On to birth certificates where the bears were named Sweetie and Awesome, and then $80 later we were headed home. Both carried their bears proudly out of the store, at which point the boxes became much to heavy for them to handle on their own and I was given the responsibility of getting them safely to the car.
After I put the kids to bed I watched Temple Grandin, which I DVR'd months ago. Have you seen it? It's really quite an amazing (true) story, much more so than I was expecting. I highly recommend it.
Friday was Timothy's birthday so I worked at home and took a break when he got home to have cake and presents. He wanted those silly bandz things, what a dumb fad. But whatever, a cheap enough indulgence. Then he had a school dance (it was very important, they were being graded on it, for gym). A girl asked him to slow dance, so he came home floating on air. He also reported (only to Josh - to me he said he didn't want to go into details) that another girl had offered to do a "sexy dance" for him for his birthday, so now I have a permanent migraine.
Saturday morning we headed over to Morgan's school to help plant the new garden his special ed teacher coordinated. I had thought we would be digging up the earth and hauling soil. I didn't realize how much prep she did beforehand. She got a grant from the town and had a whole area fenced in with one middle circle bed and 8 rectangle and square beds around it. The middle bed was planted with oranges, reds, and yellows to look like fire and there were large tree stumps set around so it looked like sitting at a campfire. She had contacted a master gardener from town to help design what went where, and her husband and a few others had already set everything up. There was a DJ and she'd found a restaurant that set up and served grilled hot dogs and chili and beverages (a huge cooler of juice boxes - boy were my kids happy!) to everyone for free. Some parents donated cookies for dessert. We were each assigned to one of the beds for planting and shown what to put where. Dozens of little watering cans were set up at the entrance. This was so well organized!
There was a water table set up as well, along with large yoga balls. Morgan brought a yoga ball over to our area and bounced while the rest of us worked. It only took a bit over an hour before everything was planted and we all were sitting and having some lunch. We really had a fun time!
Last night Josh took Timothy and a friend to a minor league baseball game for his birthday. They sat in the VIP seats where waitresses bring you food instead of having to wait in line. Apparently at one point Timothy nudged Josh in the side and said "hot chick!" Josh looked briefly in the suggested direction, but then looked away immediately - the girl was about 14. Josh explained that Timothy needed to keep some things to himself. Josh also reported that the car ride with Timothy and his friend was filled with farts, penis jokes, and other such lewdness. Joy.
I'm happy to report that Morgan rode the bus all week with mostly no problem. One day they forgot to return his gameboy, which we started sending for the ride when he started having problems, so the next morning he balked a bit but eventually complied. We still have no idea what the problem was/is.
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