Tuesdays with Heather

Tuesdays are by far my busiest day of the week.  Every day is busy with something but Tuesdays are sort of non-stop with lots of running around.  My alarm rings just after 6 a.m. and it is DARK!

In the morning Lindsay gets dropped off at school by 8 a.m. for Orchestra as Rick drives the early shift to school.  The sun has just risen when they leave and Haley goes with him.  I drop Tristan off at 8:45 for his private cello lesson and then snake my way through town to arrive at the YMCA by 9:30.  Kaitlyn has a tumbling class which I take her to and she loves.  Nathan screams for the staff in the play room downstairs and they bring him to me.  He is as happy as a clam back with his Mom.

Since this is an open gym day the teachers invite Nathan to “tumble” with the big kids.  There’s nothing he’d like better.

 

What an adventure!  After tumbling we drive a couple towns over to the pediatrician’s office to get stitches taken out.  Usually we attend “Story Time” at our nearby public library but no time today.  The doctor examines Kaitlyn’s chin and declares that they need two more days and I should go and get my co-pay back from the front desk.  As we pick out stickers for being good patients I hear him telling the front desk that I will be needing my money back.  I stand in a long line to wait for my $25 and to make a new appointment. 

I packed a lunch for the three of us this morning and we make our way to a nearby park.  Kaitlyn has been dying to have a lunch time picnic and it is the perfect day for it.

 

Peanut butter sandwiches, yogurt and milk and some apples.  Nathan has a hard time concentrating on lunch when there are so many squirrels jumping around. 

Kaitlyn feels like a big kid eating yogurt out of a thermos.

There are some nice trails, some of which are not too rugged for the stroller.  Here we play around in the butterfly garden. 

In the spring we remember when we watched turtles laying eggs in the dirt right here.

There are still a few flowers left blooming… not too many though.  The drought has ended most of the growing prematurely this year.

Both children investigate and smell flowers.  Both children need to be persuaded not to pick flowers.

We found some awesome leaves with neat shapes on our walk.  Kaitlyn’s looks like a mitten!

Kaitlyn walks along in front looking for the bridge and bird houses.

We peek over the bridge and spot a frog.  Just one today… a week before we had found 8 of them.

“The Pond” and it’s reflection with a rocket shaped bird house nearby is what Kaitlyn spots.

T’is the season for… witches brew???  Kaitlyn doesn’t want to come back here at night time.  We are feeling tired and head home for some quiet time before making pickup rounds in 2 hours.

Once home we go into the bathroom to brush teeth and wash hands but we are not alone!  These pictures are taken looking UP!

She comes down when I give her some lunch of her own.  She wants play time as well.

Afternoon involves waking up some very sleepy children and piling them back into the car with promises that they can finish sleeping in their car seats if they need to; they rarely take me up on this however.  We pick Lindsay up from school, then go pick Haley up at school and end up running Kaitlyn into the school to use the bathroom.  Then we make our way back to school to pick Tristan up by 5 p.m.  after Chess Club is over.  Rick cannot take the late pick-up rounds since he is in rehearsals every evening at this time of year.  Rush hour is a headache.  One week prior there were so many accidents that I had to try 3 different ways to get from one school to the other since police had completely blocked roads in both directions and then we tried two different ways to get home again.  These were accidents that involved motorcycles and also a pedestrian who was killed.  This day just involves the regular traffic crawling along the crowded streets.  I do not have time for traffic jams. I don’t even have time to fry up some hot dogs for dinner.  Don’t tell my Mom but I actually put the hot dogs in the crock pot on days like this with a little water in the bottom for a quicker dinner at home.  We have to be back out the door by 6:20 p.m.  I quickly change clothes.

Lindsay participates in a Talent Show at Recognition Night for Activity Day Girls tonight where she is awarded for her hard work and accomplishments over the past 6 months.  Haley is at YW and Tristan is at Cub Scouts.  I got coverage for myself at Webelos so I could attend this event with Lindsay.  Rick made sure to take the later evening off from work as well so he could come and support Lindsay. 

At Recognition Night I was presented with this very special and beautiful gift for my service to the group over the past 6 1/2 years.  The charm bracelet has my name engraved on the large heart with many tiny heart charms fluttering from the rest of the chain.  It is to remind me of the hearts of all the girls I have touched through my years of service.  I estimate that I have worked with 35 to 40 girls in that time and think to myself that while I hope I have touched the lives of these girls, my heart is the one that has been touched through my interactions with the girls and adults that I have worked with.  I know I am a different person and a better person for my work here.  I loved this job but I have left it in good hands.  This is a treasure to me now reminding me of a treasured time.

Collecting all of our children from their evening activities we arrive home to clean up and get them to bed.  I fold a few loads of laundry to my favorite TV show of the week and quickly check on our budget with Rick.  After a warm shower I am ready to make rounds to check on children and close up the house.  Rick stops me in the kitchen to tell me some tidbit about our budget as I am finding my way to the latest novel I can’t wait to spend a few minutes with when we hear someone bounding down the stairs and slamming the door at the bottom.  We wonder who is up for the bathroom now at this hour.  Tristan emerges from the dark living room FULLY DRESSED in the clothes that have been laid out for morning and says “Hi guys”!  We enquire of him “what are you doing”?  He states that he heard us talking so he knew it was time to get ready for school.  We inform him that it is 12:30 a.m. and he still has a few hours left to sleep.  Rick and I decide we’d better hurry to bed before they all start getting up for the new day.   -All in a days work.