October 11: Fog and fire

On this Thursday morning I woke up to two Twins in my bed since both of them made their way in their in the middle of night because of their being sick. So the bed seemed smaller, yet fuller.

Highlights of the Morning:

• Waking up with Twin Crazy and Twin Husky’s bodies fighting for space in the bed; Red coming in and asking me to get Cocoa
• Chocolate Thursday, with Big Bro helping to get breakfast ready for everyone
• Everything already packed to go… I did lunches and snacks for the day the night before… so there was not much for me to do except make/drink my coffee and direct the kids
• On the ride we talked about birds sitting on electrical lines and also the fog. We couldn’t believe how foggy it was… even in our neighborhood, past the hill that normally keeps the fog back. It looked like it was going to be a dreary day….
• Drop of for Big Bro was great; drop of for Red was really, really difficult. She actually had big tears. I had not seen her for quite awhile and all of the kids were acting a bit clingy, but Red is always the most difficult. It broke my heart. She was clinging to my leg and she had these big, wet tears rolling down her face. I told her that I promised I would pick her up early today. Her friends were laughing and shaking their heads and I was laughing how when they smile their hair flies in the air… so then I did the same and lifted up hair with Twin Husky to be funny and also Twin Crazy and then Red… this made Red laugh but she still had those tears… uggggh.
• Twin Crazy, Twin Husky and I went to the dealership where I bought my car to get a copy of the sales contract; I still can’t believe I am waiting for co-parent to settle up our agreement on the mini-van after over four months.
• We then went to the auto mechanic to get a check for the same minivan. We were there awhile but the kids had so much fun; we were talking about the cars, how the mechanics fix the cars, how the cars go up in the air so the mechanic can see and work underneath, how the tires were getting moved around… and how they didn’t want to get to close so they would not get “cut” and “hurt”. So cute. It was freezing outside from the fog. We set up camp in the driveway with sleeping bags and we played, talked, looked at cars, danced, jumped like frogs, snacked…. for close to 1 1/2 hours. The kids were great despite the cold.
• We then went to pick up Red before her nap, as promised. She was settling in to her nap so I scooped her up.
• We went over to Big Bro’s school, I parked the car, and set up camp. This involved me getting car seats out, moving the seats back, setting up blankets and pillows, and then setting all of us up in the back bed of the car to take a nap. Just call us gypsies.

Highlights of the Rest of the Day:

• The kids were sleeping and I worked for a bit. I had one conference call with our law firm, and then another staff call that lasted one hour. During the staff call I sent out lots of emails related to the forum that I am leading two weeks from now. I also answered a bunch of emails. So it felt good to get some stuff done during nap time and also multi-task during a staff call.
• Pick up from Big Bro was fine; he was laughing at us and the sight of the van when he came over to greet us. He fell asleep on the way home – the poor kid I think is sick… coughing.
• It was really cold by the time we got home. I put on the fireplace and the kids had a snack. I did laundry and Red of course played with Cocoa. The kids were making forts on the living room couch. Lots of forts. All of the kids getting involved.  I also did a “calendar” project with Red where we made an October calendar together.  She is really into the days of the week and the calendar lately, due to her pre-school.
• We had a great dinner and a great pudding dessert. We watched 1/2 a movie while I colored with Red.
• Bedtime was fine; we read Halloween books and all went to sleep easily tonight.

I had a reasonably good day but let me tell you being gone all day long and being a gypsy is exhausting for me. I’m not sure if the kids got the sleep that they needed; I felt cold all day today. Even though I packed tons of food I was not prepared for the cold. The fireplace at the house tonight felt extra special because of this.

I’m looking forward to Friday and being with the kids again. I didn’t realize how much I missed them. I kissed them longer tonight, held them more during the day, and spent extra time with each of them during bedtime. I feel really good inside.

Til tomorrow –

– Mama K