Science Fair Eve - Science Fair projects are due tomorrow. This week is also Spirit Week at school and today was Pajama Day which is PERFECT for right after losing an hour in Day Light Savings. I love pajama day, wearing soft flannel pants and a simple T-shirt and warm robe ... to school! awesome! I did think to bring regular clothes with me to change into when I finished yard duty and headed to town (I forgot to pack "real clothes" for the kids to change to though) but I was too busy and too rushed to get to changing until much much later. Our automatic clocks adjusted themselves automatically (thank you Mom) and we changed the other ones for daylight savings, but silly me forgot to do the extra step of flipping the button to turn on the alarm, so we woke up late (good thing it was PJ day) and we started the day rushing, and it just increased until about 8:30PM.
-missed Seminary AND Michael missed the bus that would have gotten him to school on time and he had to wait for the next one, and got to school too late to order lunch (specific number of school lunches ordered each morning and they're sent over from another school in the district where they're made)
-got Nathan and Jess to school just late enough that they had to go to the office for a late pass (Jacob officially starts an hour later so he didn't have to get one)
-I work as an aide in the morning including working one-on-one with a 7-year-old on reading skills and I've been helping him put together his Science Fair Project so we tested it a few more times, he put the finishing touches on his poster (he wanted to draw skulls, which had nothing to do with his project, skulls are just "cool") and he practiced bits of his presentation
-Then I yard duty the 6th-8th graders' lunch and break (my own offspring caught holding hands, which is against a school rule - she is SO sweet and adorable, but they are just babies! well okay, not babies but wasn't it just yesterday that I was a chaperone on their Nutcracker field trip and we adults had to hold THEIR hands when we crossed the street?!?!)
-Then I yard duty the Kindergarteners' lunch and recess, who are adorable but when they are in mass they have the magical power of zapping and draining all strength, energy, intelligence and common sense from any adult within a half mile radius. I've been noticing a pattern - I'm doing okay until about half-way through their lunch when I'm suddenly feeling like the room is spinning and my head aches. About 15 minutes after their recess is over my head feels fine though. Mysterious, huh. And we didn't have any 7th or 8th grade TAs today so my head was really swimming today.
-Then I rush to the college, find parking - HA! - and get into class, soak up knowledge and facts and propper nouns, spill forth at least a couple intelligent comments or questions to prove I'm awake and read the chapter (that's the idea anyway), then rush off as soon as class is done to pick up Michael (who I found out hadn't eaten)
-grabbed some stuff from the market, ran errands as quickly as possible including driving way out of the way to pick up more papers I have to fill out and return tomorrow and dropping papers off at other places not so out of the way and picking up more glue and cotton balls, then rushed back to the school
-Jessica had gone to her friend Jenna's house to finish up their science project, but I picked up Jacob from extended day and Nathan and his friend Sawyer from practice and went home so they could finish their project (involved glue and sap and although the sap had been drying for days - near heaters, in sun, and using a blow dryer - it still hadn't completely dried so they waited until the last possible minute to do the actual experiment)
-at home, while Nathan and Sawyer hung increasing amounts of weight from their glued and "sapped" hooks and Michael took pictures of them, I got the boys a healthy snack and rushed to make a salad for a potluck later (I was supposed to make jello too but scratched that idea - NO TIME) and tried to get Jacob to pay attention to his own poster, which only needed the additional cotton balls which I had picked up for him, and to do his homework, and I called Jenna's mom to say I was running late to pick up Jessica.
-Discover that Jenna's mom was having her own crisis while trying to help our girls, and her other daughter, put the last minute touches on their posters because her printer decided to go on strike. She'd called another mom, who also had a housefull of her own kids and their friends trying to put last minute touches on their posters, and emailed her what they needed and was heading over there to print it, cut it out and slap the stuff on the board. We arranged to meet there.
-I grabbed the salad and hollered for the boys that we had to GO. Michael WITH his shoes, a very bouncy and excited Jacob, and Nathan and Sawyer and all their science stuff, and I climbed into the van and as I shut my door, I closed it on Sawyers hand!!!! He was getting in behind me and I guess reached out and held onto the frame. I heard him quietly and politely say, "um, uh, my um ..." I thought maybe he forgot something and I turned to tell him to go get it quick! and I saw his arm up and I threw my door open releasing his hand and I jumped out and made him show it to me - a blue dent looking line across his finger - and I ran for a ziplock of ice. He could wiggle them and the line went away and he was SO CALM that I wanted to scream and I felt TERRIBLE. I drove them the short distance to his house so they could print out their written parts and pictures and finish their poster and I appologized all over myself to his parents for smashing his fingers/hand! They were very understanding and forgiving and CALM! I felt, still feel, TERRIBLE! his fingers wiggled okay and he and Nathan rushed off to put their poster together. I drove away feeling TERRIBLE!
-I got to the house where Jessica was and explained to more wonderful understanding sympathetic moms about how I'd just SMASHED Sawyer's poor hand! They'd been wrapping up their own crisises and posters were completed, or very nearly so, and we decided that we (the moms) all just needed hugs and to cry on each other's shoulders but we didn't have time, and I left with Jessica. (THANK YOU Michele for all you did with the girls on their project!)
-and got into the van where Jessica and Jacob immediately started on eachother - "he's touching me!" "her stuff is in my way!" and it escallated from there and Michael kept trying to seperate them, which is a nice thought but just escalates the whole situation a thousand fold more, and none of them can seem to grasps the concept of "JUST IGNORE HIM/HER!"
-I dropped off the salad and Michael and Jessica (with her basketball practice clothes which I luckily found in the van so she could change out of her PJs) at a friend's house, where we have a potluck and group Family Night once a month, a little early with instructions to be very helpful and calm, and then Jacob and I went to his end-of-the-season-basketball-party just up the road where he was getting his trophy (VERY IMPORTANT! Jacob, as the youngest, is very excited to be catching up a bit to older siblings trophy/medal count).
-In the back seat (we have tinted windows) in the parking lot of the pizza place I finally changed out of my PJs to "real clothes" and then we went inside.
-Jacob (who'd switched to sweats at home) played a bit with his teammates and ate some pizza and had a wonderful time - it was great to see his cute missing tooth grin - and I got to visit with grown ups for a bit, including with the amazing parent volunteer who puts the whole Science Fair together for us each year - all of our craziness regarding Science Fair Projects ends tonight, but hers just increases these next few days as she coordinates table space for displays, judges for various age groups, time slots for each class to come do their presentations, answering billions of questions, putting the awards assembly together, etc. etc. etc. Oh she's also the team mother and brought cupcakes, AND she's the school Site Council President - THANK YOU Lorraine!
-while there, I also accidentally injured ANOTHER kid when I served him a piece of pizza fresh from the oven and he immediately stuffed it in his mouth, but then sputtered, "HOT!" the roof of his mouth burning. He recovered quickly though. The kids each got their trophies and Jacob and I had to get going.
-I went back and picked up Nathan and checked on and appologized to Sawyer again like crazy, and then drove back to Family Night.
-Finally there, and able to just sit without having to watch the clock and needing to leave to get anything or anyone else, we had a very nice Family Night and visit with everyone. AND yummy dessert, someone brought a thick fudgy chocolate cake which was just what I needed. Michael and Nathan helped clean up like they always do and we said our goodbyes and headed home.
-Jacob had to finish making and gluing his cotton ball clouds on, and then he finished his last few math problems and he fell asleep midsentence reading out loud to me, book slumping from his hand. Nathan and Jessica had already fallen asleep and I told Michael for the upteenth time to make sure he got enough sleep (he has a major test tomorrow) and I'm working on laundry and my stuff now.
Whew!
So, how was your day?
