Bob went to Ottawa to a conference this weekend, and left me home with the kids from early Friday morning until late Sunday night. He's never done this before, so I was pretty nervous about being able to keep everything together and not lose my head. I did tolerably well, in hindsight, but am not anxious to take on the task again.
Mercifully, Bob's folks stepped in to take the kids to school and me to work (if I drop them off I can't get the bus in time to make it in before 9:35), pick up Eleanor at lunchtime and Jean at 3, and take care of them until I got home. Bob had pretty much surprised them Thursday evening with the news of his trip, so they weren't really expecting him to be gone, and combined with being removed from their grandparents' house to boring old Mom, they were out of sorts. I finally got Jean to write and Eleanor to draw pictures of the five best things that happened that week (a project I'm going to continue weekly) and that plus perogies for supper got them into good enough moods to go to bed pretty easily.
Jean's best things (edited for horrific spelling):
Eleanor's best things (she only went for two days, so I let her off with three):
I remembered during the day Friday that it was de rigueur to bring treats to Suzuki gatherings, one of which there would be on Saturday morning, and I hadn't asked Bob to bake anything. I can't bake, but I can assemble, so on the way home I bought mini-tart shells and peach-mango ice cream, with the idea of filling the shells with ice cream and topping them with blueberries from the expedition. This worked pretty well as long as I worked fast. Getting two trays of them into the deep freeze when it's impossible to stand anywhere near it for the junk, nor keep the lid open without the use of an extra limb, was a challenge, but I only dropped a couple. Quite proud of myself. I got to bed late, and didn't sleep well at all with half the bed empty.
Saturday morning dawned rainy, as forecast, so I had to figure out how to get the bus to St. David's for Suzuki registration and play-in. I got the kids up and fed - no practice this morning, rationalized by the fact that they and I would be playing at the play-in - and all ready to go out, the tarts out of the freezer and in a tupperware, and violins packed up. The girls went out to wait at the bus stop as usual, but then I couldn't find the child-bus passes, and there was no change. Usually Bob keeps the passes, but he did mention on Thursday that he'd leave them for me. I finally found them, but by that time the bus had arrived, the kids had asked the driver to wait, and I was barely out the door in time to catch it. After I boarded I realized I'd left behind not only the registration forms, but the tarts as well. Bang head on bus window and breathe deeply.
I had miscalculated, maybe from a summer schedule, that the eastbound route 4 would come five or so minutes after the 3 reached the music school, which is the only efficient way to do it since the 4 leaves MUN five minutes before the 3 gets there. It was in fact twenty minutes later - during which time another route 3 came by that we could have caught instead of the earlier one, argh! - but it was hardly raining at all, so the wait wasn't too onerous. We got to the church in plenty of time, but as we were unpacking violins in the sanctuary, poor Jean, by no fault of her own, tipped over a large heavy glass vase that some idiot not-thinking person had left on the floor in the front pew, and about two litres of water went everywhere right in the way of where people were coming and going. No breakage, thankfully. I shuffled down to the kitchen and back twice with dishtowels to mop it all up, knee flaring. I don't think anybody heard me swear.
The rest of the morning went much better. Both girls behaved well during the play-in - good, since I was playing as well and couldn't wield the butterfly net. Even Eleanor, yet to lay bow to string, sat with the violin in rest position and smiled. The power going off in the middle of emcee Alistair's introduction was a bit discomfiting, but it was short-lived so we didn't actually have to play in the dark! Eleanor was ecstatic to meet up with a friend from summer daycamp, and Jean found her previous group- and school-classmates. I re-did the registration forms and paid up (didn't forget my chequebook!), signed up for e-mail duty again and found a colleague to help me with the webpage, and indicated my interest in parent orchestra. The first group class is September 24th. The rain had stopped by the time we clued up and I was feeling good enough to walk home.
The afternoon wasn't so hot - the girls were bored and got into fights which culminated in raised voices and bedroom exile, but Jean used the time to do some cleaning, badly needed. I wish Eleanor could lift a finger to put away a toy or two without supervision. The tarts went back into the freezer, probably not so badly damaged by their stint in the warm. The Bauers came by for a flying visit to return some stuff, and the afternoon lumbered to a close. I fed us with noodles and veggies - Jean is now in love with roasted garlic, go figure - and rolled the girls and myself into bed.
Sunday was undertaken with much better attitudes by all. We were up in reasonable time, dressed, practiced and ate breakfast, and got the bus to church with a bit more time to spare. Two babies were baptized: Jamie and Lisa's Evelyn Annetta and Bernita and Jacob's Lauren Diane. Along with Lori-Kim's Benjamin Pieter, church is Baby Central these days - wonderful to see. The girls came when called to leave the coffee-hour - unheard of! - to catch the bus home, which we did, but it turned out that there would be a twenty-five-minute wait at the mall once we got there. Jean had been asking for a "restaurant meal" for some time, so I negotiated a Mr. Sub lunch as filling the bill and we managed to get subs, eat them and get back to the bus stop in time to catch the Route 3 home. If we ride the whole way home instead of getting off early and walking down Long's Hill, it takes an extra twenty minutes, but it was still pelting rain and my knee just wasn't up to the job. We got home around two, and the girls played nicely for a couple of hours and watched a movie, letting me have a lie-down for a bit. Jean even tidied and vacuumed the living room. The Fear of Mom is not a bad thing for kids to have. Supper was eggs - scrambled for them, mushroom omelette for me - with veggies on the side, and bedtime didn't take all that long. I got a bit of a scare when Bob's dad called saying he didn't see Bob get off the plane, but half an hour later himself walks in the door - turns out they'd just missed each other, and Bob, told to find his own way home if his father wasn't there, had done just that. Whew. We finished making lunches together, and headed for bed for the best sleep all weekend. The upcoming week should be positively tranquil by comparison.