whirlwind

today was a busy one.  i started with the normal school day rush but made three lunches instead of two (it would be much easier if i would make the lunches at night, but i just can not do it at the end of the day).  after dropping the kids off at their schools, i met my friend at the mall to walk (it just wasn't going to be warm enough (or sunny enough) to walk outside), then back to pick-up mason, then grandma from the airport.  with grandma, we raced over to madelyn's school to try and have grandma meet her for lunch.  i called over on the drive to find out what she needed to do since we have never gone to have lunch with madelyn before (i didn't know if i could bring the boys and had not called to find out - i can).  her class was already at their 20 minute lunch so there was really no point in going since we were going to be late.  oh well.  at least i had the good sense not to tell madelyn we were coming so she was not disappointed.

plan b for lunch was chick-fil-a.  mason was super excited!  we stayed around for a little bit after lunch to play.  there were two kids that kept trying to "tackle" and "arrest" mason (he was handling it so well), mommy didn't like that so i suggested that we go to playland for a little while until it was time for madelyn's bus.  the boys liked that and grandma was happy to see playland in person. 

then it was time to go home to get madelyn at the bus stop.  she was so happy to see grandma that she blew right past me.  and even better - she had her first "pink" day!!  she has been trying to hard to get to pink and she finally made it (for the school's behavior chart everyone starts the day on green and can either go down - yellow, orange, red - or up - blue, purple, pink).  there have been many days of purple where she has cried because she just didn't know how to get to pink.  we have suggested asking her teacher what she could do, explained that pink is very special and no one gets it everyday and told her that we are proud even without her getting on pink.  she is a little driven for the 'best' like her parents - despite our best efforts not to pressure her with our crazies. unfortunately, i could not take her out for a reward because we needed to hustle home for snacks and a shower for mommy before needing to go and pick daddy up from work for dinner out.

once at home grandma started giving some of her gifts to the kids and did 'crafts' at the table while i cleaned up a little (it has been so busy i didn't have time to fully clean the house like i normally do for guests) and finally got to shower off my morning walk.  then off to get matt so that we could meet a friend for dinner.

our old neighbor and blogging buddy, ann, was at a conference in cleveland and was able to get away to meet us for dinner.  we didn't want her to drive all the way south to our house, so we decided to meet up in akron.  it was so great to see her!  it is funny because we didn't know each other very well while neighbors, but have become much better friends through reading our blogs.  she has three kids similar ages to our oldest three.  i call her "super mom" because she is amazing!  she makes her own yogurt (which she promises is super easy and worth the effort), does all kinds of super healthy cooking (after extensive research which she shares on the blog), exercises regularly and seems to take excellent care of her children at home and with all sorts of fun outings and activities.  i am impressed.  she also just started working again one day a week as a pa.  and on top of all that, she has a very loving and giving heart.  anyway - it was great to see her in person for a change and catch up. 

and now i can go home for a little sleep (stress on the little) before starting another fun and busy day!  love.