Mom of the Year (not so much)

I definitely won't be nominating myself for that award based on the happenings of last Friday. In my defense, Aubri woke me up from a sound sleep during the Unholy Hour and since I couldn't immediately go back to sleep, I replied to a comment on my blog and clarified some ingredients for Marinated Cheese to Scott's sister via e-mail. I am sure that little hiccup in my sleep pattern is what rendered me incompetent for parts of the rest of the day.

To wit:

Typically after breakfast, once the kiddos are all ready to walk out the door, IF we have time, the Little Ones can watch a DVR'd episode of SuperWhy while I finish getting ready. Friday morning, I selected their show, put the dogs up and gathered up my stuff when I heard David say "Oh my gosh!".  When I got to the Living Room, I saw that my precious little kiddos were watching Hell's Kitchen which is a complete departure from the educational show they were supposed to be watching. At this time, the winning chef team was oohing and ahhing (and no doubt bleeping and smoking) over their reward (which I haven't seen yet). I immediately snapped off the TV and told the children to let me know if one of mommy's shows is playing instead of their shows so I can fix it. Fat chance that they will; I will probably have to record my saucy shows in my bedroom from now on....lesson learned.

So, on the heels of all the negativity that might have filled their ears and eyes, I got the kids loaded into the car and headed off to school. About 5 blocks down the road while I was making a left turn, Aubri let me know that she was not buckled. Luckily we were only a few more blocks away from the school. {Sorry, baby girlie}

After we got David safely to his class, Aubri and I headed to the Urgent Care center where the kind doctor verified that she did have an ear infection. While we were filling her prescription, I let her eat an entire bag of gummy bears. Actually, that's not true - she shared a couple with me and she didn't actually finish the bag until we got to my office.

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So anyway, the rest of the weekend was nice and productive. We were so very happy to not have anything planned that was geared towards "Back to School". Friday night Emi's summer camp did their annual program and they did a great job. I am soooo glad she is not like me in that she's completely cool with being on stage, projecting herself and making eye contact.  To this day if, I was up there on stage and made eye contact with someone I knew, I'd probably immediately start projectile vomiting. After the program, there was pizza, so dinner took care of itself that night. All we had to do was put the 2 kids we left with (Emi had a sleepover) into their prospective beds and then it was Dexter: Season 5 {Thank you, Amazon!} for the rest of the night. Well, just 2 episodes, actually.

Saturday was about catching up on laundry (like that's possible), purging Emi's room of her hoards of crap (and organizing her locker and shelves so she can handle Putting Things Away), finding school supplies out of the hidden caches of supplies from years past, and zipping outside here and there to try to maintain some semblance of the opposite of neglect. Later, I went from pajamas to my swim suit after Emi got home, and we took a nice dip in the pool with her friends. After a very late lunch, the whole family packed up to get Emi some new soccer cleats and then grocery shopping at Target. I know, big time fun! It was too late for a full meal when we got home, but because it is still technically summer AND it was Saturday night, we celebrated with fresh from the oven chocolate chip cookies and milk. Then we shuttled everyone off to bed so we could watch Seven Pounds. Whoa...this movie was a good one! I would totally recommend you add it to your Netflix list.

Sunday, we went to our bible study for the second time and I have to say, I am really enjoying that class. The people are nice and it really, really, really helps to discuss what we read so as to have a deeper understanding of the lessons involved. Some stories in the bible are hard to digest without discussion. Something that really hit home this time were the effects that decisions of earlier generations of people have on the generations that follow. ... the sins of our fathers.  Very thought-provoking stuff indeed. It's been a long while since we've been a part of a bible study group and this has been nice.

After a short nap, Emi and I went shopping to update her clothing options for school and pick up the remaining school supplies needed. We were on a tight budget so it was a challenge but we made it. Our budget was $125.00 but we could have gone up to $200 if needed. Emi needed some new shoes and some other pieces to go with what she already has in her wardrobe. We went to Kohl's and scored some sneakers, "toning" flip flops and cute turquoise slip ons; 3 skorts (1 for me); 3 camis; and 2 tees for $100.18.  It would have been $118 but we applied for the store credit card (which would have been a 20% discount had we been approved but because I have a freeze on my credit, ended up being a 15% discount instead). We went immediately to the Dollar Tree to retrieve the remaining school supplies plus other sundries and ended up spending $22.50 there. So, things were solidly under budget. The weekend was packed with good lessons for Emi in budgeting her money. She wanted the magenta soccer cleats which were $5 more than we were willing to spend so she had to cough up that extra money. I owed her $10 for past allowances so I gave her a 5 spot and the transaction was complete. Now, for the Little Ones who were quietly observing the deal, they learned that if you whine a lot about wanting the more expensive shoes, mom and dad will eventually give in and also give you money.... oy!

Sunday dinner was a nice home cooked meal of Chicken Curry and Spinach Sauteed with Olive Oil and Garlic to round out the weekend. After the Little Ones were tucked away in bed I had some time to comb through some of Emi's hair. I'm hoping that tonight the rest will be combed out and she will have a new style for a while. If we could get a few more days like the 3 we just had (minus the doctor visit) we could catch up a little more life...