All Kinds of Random

There's lots of things I want to post about, but I don't really have time to do five or six posts so I'm going to just pile it all into one mishmash random post. It may get long, or I may forget half of what I'm going to say, and it will just be average. Either way... here goes.

The Last Hurrah
Friday was the last official day of summer. The last day to be all me all the time with all four boys. We celebrated by going to the Children's Musuem of Tampa with our friends. Just us 2 moms, and 7 kids between us. Surprisingly, it was just nice. Not stressful at all. No complaining, no meltdowns. Someone tell me why I haven't been there before! It was a typical Children's Museum (well typical of the one other I've been to.) We walked along the street of the miniature city. The streets were lined with buildings. The Post Office, where they decorated a stamp and pretended to be mailmen. The bank, where Mark sat behind the desk and gave me a funny look when I asked him to give me a loan so I could pay for allllll my many children's college educations. Zack handed me laminated "Euros" and I handed them back and asked for US Dollars please. They had no clue what I was talking about (turns out I was in the currency exchange line. Eric was running the check cashing window.) Once finished in the bank, we walked through a travel agency. The kids worked the McDonalds drivethrough, and we went to the library and they put on a puppet show. We saw a house that was for sale and then later visited the Remax office where we could browse real estate listings. I got a kick out of my kids playing. OH and they got to ride down the street on Scooters and Tricycles. It was a really fun setup! Not bad for a last official outing of summer!

_____________________________________

The Big Bad Bowling Finale

Saturday was the last day of our summer bowling league. What's that sound? Oh that's me breathing a sigh of relief. Okay, fine. Bowling was fun. All except Mark tormenting Eric and Eric WHINING that Mark was bothering him and well... the last day was no exception. No, in fact the last day was the worst yet. I finally got Mark to quit pestering Eric by threatening him that we would LEAVE and he would not get ICE CREAM which was planned for after bowling & the awards ceremony. And we danced, because since this was the end of league party it was "cosmic bowling" meaning in the dark, with disco lights blazing and LOUD music. So we danced. Um, typically I only dance at home, but this situation warranted desperate measures.

Then, there was the awards ceremony. Mark by sheer luck of the draw won first place, along with his partner. What I really should say is Mark's partner was an uncannily good bowler for a five year old and single handedly won first place in the league. Being a first place winner, Mark got an insanely tall trophy. Which he proudly showed Eric and I immediately knew that there were going to be problems. Maybe even tears. Eric, who steadily improved with each time bowling, and did just as well as Mark, did not win a trophy, but did get a Participation Award (which was a really little trophy.) He was crushed. There were tears. I tried to comfort him but for quite awhile the poor boy was just inconsolable. It was one of the times as a mom that I have felt completely helpless and just broken hearted. On the one hand, life can't always (ever?) be equal. It was FAIR because Mark's team won. It's not so easy to explain that to a six year old. I know I can't protect him and make it all right for him, but it was devastating to see him so sad. I tried to explain that sometimes he would win and sometimes Mark would win. I reminded him of his Outstanding Reader award from Kindergarten and whispered to him that reading was WAY more important than bowling (without letting Mr. First Prize Trophy hear me) and nothing consoled him. Finally, ice cream overcame the sadness, and while he wasn't completely over it, he let it go (until later when we revisited it at home, minus the tears.) To add insult to injury... since this was not a league game that they bowled they called it a "tournament" and they didn't have to play with their team, but could play with whoever they wanted. Mark picked his buddy Jack to play with. Any guesses who won the tournament and got to pick a prize? MmmmmHmmm. Yep. Mark and Jack. So I then got to explain to Eric why HE didn't get to pick a prize too. So, after having to hold back my own tears once that hour, I told him quickly that we would go to the store and pick a toy there later. And we did that today. Because, sometimes, Mommy can fix it. Even though I'm still not sure THAT was the right move either.

______________________________________________________________

Hey, Fay! Stay Away!

Hurricane Fay is heading our way. Okay, I'll stop rhyming now, I promise. Anyway, (arghhhh I'm not doing it on purpose now!) Fay is looking like it will be a category 1 hurricane by the time it reaches land sometime Tuesday night. EEK. Our very first tropical storm/hurricane. We are as prepared as we can be. We aren't in a flood zone. Just expecting wind and rain. It will be interesting. As for me, I'm just hoping Fay will fade out like Edouard did a few weeks ago in Houston or change her path and go back out to sea. Go away Fay!

Oh, and a funny side note, Kevin pointed out tonight that the name Fay just doesn't sound much like a big and scary storm... We'll see what she has to say about that I guess.

__________________________________________

And Just One More Little Thing

I did it! I survived the summer. It wasn't pretty. There was chaos. And yelling. And bribery. And messes. And meltdowns, some by me. This last few weeks I pretty much gave up on any semblance of creating order and just went with the messy flow. I am going to try with all my might to get back on a cleaning schedule this week.

I've been so caught up in my school starts in 10 more days, 9... 8... 7.... counting down that it somehow escaped me that Mark was starting kindergarten and sometime yesterday I developed this lump in my throat and feeling bittersweet about him being in real school. And Eric being in first grade which is REALLY REALLY real school.

Don't get me wrong. I'm definitely ready to send them to learn for 6 hours a day. I hope it will get me settled into a routine of sorts again. I'm glad they are getting bigger, but (sniff) they are getting SO big. Motherhood is just chock full of contradictions. Or is it just me?

So, we have backpacks packed. I've filled out all the first day of school paperwork (twice) and laid out their clothes. We did a last minute run for school shoes this afternoon because I realized that while I thought their current shoes would be okay, that suddenly they looked more like play shoes than school shoes. They are revved to go, and so am I. First day of school pictures to come tomorrow!