Time Out to Play

Today was one of those wonderful days where so much has happened that it seems like three days were packed into one. Unlike our Sundays which seem to always be over packed with too little time, today was full of fun activities at a nice pace....so though while busy, it felt relaxing and wonderful.

We visited my friend Mary, and all of her little munchkins after Crispy got home from Kindergarten. We planned this really well over the lunch hour so that Mary could make us good things to eat. Michael had a special request for homemade tortillas, so Mary made us plenty. And they were really good! We also had brie cheese and crackers with apple cranberry chutney....fantastic! The kids were so excited to see each other....it has been more than 2 months since they last played. Laura fits right in between the twins and Zoe, so it is always a little girl party when we get together. Crispy and Henry (exactly one month apart) were playing big kid video games while the girls ran around giggling. At one point, Mary was frustrated with Henry as he kept interrupting Crispy's turn with the game and she told him to stop bossing Christopher. He replied, "I'm not, Mom! I'm telling him what to do!" Don't you just love it!! Michael did his homeschool as usual, but appreciated the change of scenery.

When Jonny did not call me at the regular time of 3:03pm, I began to worry that the inside garage door had gotten locked before we left. Time kept ticking away, and still no phone call. Michael and I began taking turns calling the house, encouraging Jonny & Melissa to pick up the phone. I am not sure why I thought this would help, since it was now 3:15 and they were obviously not inside the house. I felt very helpless as we were 45 minutes away, driving home, and the temp was barely 2 degrees. I imagined 2 little popsicle kids frozen on the porch by their very own tears....3 once Alex arrived. I was beginning to get a bit panicked. At 3:25, I called a neighbor that I knew would now be home, and she calmed my nerves with the news that they were all warmly in her house, having a little snack. The OUTSIDE garage door controls had frozen, so the kids had no way to get in the house. After 10 minutes, Jonny thought well enough to take his younger sister to the neighbors. See, there they are, the neighbors bailing us out again!

This evening, we left the baby home with daddy, and went to Open Skate at the ice arena in Chaska. It was Melissa's first time, and she was a champ! After the first 2 minutes, she came off the ice complaining that it was too slippery. With some coaxing, she went back out and skated for an hour and 20 minutes. At one point, I was helping her stay balanced by holding one hand and she said to me, "Thank you for taking us to so much fun, Mom! At first, I thought~What am I doing out here?~but now, this is AWESOME!" She was very excited and proud about her first skating accomplishments, as she should be. Laura had fun pushing and riding in a little green chair. She remembered somewhat how to stand up on the ice. Jonny was thrilled that he remembered how to skate....he had not been skating since quitting hockey 2 years ago. Crispy had fun skating around with so many siblings to play with on the ice. Michael cruised around with his friends and fellow hockey team members. I enjoyed getting out of the house again and away from my crabby baby...it was also lots of fun to skate. When I was a kid, I met my friends at the outdoor rink almost everyday, many days even twice! We did not get home until nine, but everyone had had such a good time, that they were all still in good moods. Everyone should sleep great tonight, and we shall see how the moods range tomorrow morning!