Busy Day

We had a very fun, and full, day. In the morning I took the kids to storytime at Barnes & Noble. They do a weekly story followed by a craft. Today’s book was Puff the Magic Dragon and the kids learned the first verse of the song. It was hilarious to listen to them goof up the words to it!

“Puff the Magic Dragon, lived in a tree and followed in [indistinguishable mumbling] a land called Halloween.”

After we left the book store we went to lunch at a soup and salad buffet. These are great places to try out new foods. I was surprised to find that they both loved an oniony tuna pasta. They also tried gingerbread for the first time. They are familiar with gingerbread because of the “Gingy” character in Shrek. They liked the bread and I made a mental note to make a gingerbread house with them this year.

Then it was time to go home for a short rest. Well, they rested. During that time I passed out flyers for our upcoming block party. I am sure it won’t surprise anyone to learn that I am organizing the block party.

Once the kids were up we headed off to the McDonalds playarea for our weekly playgroup of four year old boys. One of the moms had planned to host it in her house but her son developed a fever in the afternoon so we switched to McDonalds. The moms enjoyed the air conditioning in the indoor playarea where we made plans for our Halloween party. Our group meets every Wednesday and since Halloween falls on a Wednesday this year we decided to do a big celebration with the boys. One of the moms has a half acre backyard and we are going to set up a carnival, complete with bounce house, games and prizes.

When the playgroup split up it was close to dinnertime and I had nothing planned. So we made a run to the market where I picked up a nice rotisserie chicken and some sides before heading home. After dinner Jed took over with the kids while I went back out to pass out more flyers.

I made it home in time to put the kids to bed. This is my favorite time of the day. Not because I am glad they are going to sleep (although I am) but because I love the peacefulness of this nightly ritual. The kids were already in their pajamas and had picked their books for storytime. Laine picked There is a Monster at the End of this Book (a funny story about Grover from Sesame Street) and Jared picked The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. After the stories, a monster-in-closet check, a song for Laine and numerous kisses they were quiet in bed.

Or so I thought . . .

Laine started crying and saying she was scared. This is a new development for her and I think she is reacting to the shorter daylight hours and darker bedroom. I ended up laying next to her bed and holding her hand until her eyes closed and her little hand twitched and then relaxed in mine. As I snuck out of her room Jared called me into his room to blow me a last kiss. I “caught” it and he reminded me not to drop it as I walked out the door.