Another week gone by ...

So, where did we last leave off?

Okay, Friday was Michael's birthday. It was a quiet celebration.
We went out to dinner with the kids (Thai food, yummm).
(It was a little busy at the restaurant. And we thought we had ordered a Pad Thai for Bubbles AND Bucket each ... so, when meals came out, Bruise didn't have a plate. And he started to cry.
So, I had to take what WAS his plate from Bubbles ... and she was horribly cranky [as is wont for a two-year-old] and started a tantrum at NOT getting a pretty Fiestaware plate ... so Bucket volunteered to have HER serving on an appetizer plate ... and peace was restored again. Thankfully.)
Michael's folks dropped by a birthday card (with a gift card -- Date night!). My mom got him some button-up shirts. I got him the latest Barker and Llewellyn novel (just came out a couple weeks ago). My dad and L sent him a birthday card.
Saturday, we took the kids to the Home Depot Kids' thing -- and they made little wooden riding lawnmowers. They even got to paint them ... even Bubbles. And she and I bought some more plants (a rosemary for outside and a couple aloes to share a pot inside).
Then we walked around the Farmers' Market. The kids bought honey sticks. And we went home ... where Michael spent the rest of the weekend sick as a dog. Poor guy.
I was going to go out solo to the new Hobby Lobby ... but I didn't want to shuffle ALL the kids on him if he's feeling poorly. (And THAT is an understatement. He was horribly ill.)
Sunday, he wasn't feeling well enough to go to church. I was substituting in Nursery for a friend. Bubbles was QUITE out of sorts. By the end of church, I really was ready for a break (Sundays lately have had the schedule of: church, make the kids lunch, Michael naps on the couch while Bubbles takes a nap, the kids go out to play, and Mommy has some quiet, alone time in the bedroom. ... I did NOT get my fortress of solitude. I read on the bed next to Michael as he coughed and dozed and ran for the bathroom, poor guy. That virus was a fierce one.)
(Did Bubbles throw up on Friday or Saturday night? I can't recall. It's all flowed together ...)
Monday, Michael was still not doing well enough to go to work.
Mom C came and picked up Bubbles for the day, since I was helping to chaperone Bruise and Bucket's field trip on the coast.
We ended up giving a lift to R and her son, T. (We LOVE their family. And it was lovely to get a chance to chat with her. She's really one of the nicest people ever. And that is NOT an exaggeration at all.) They were catching the bus back home, so it was fine ... since we were going to head straight from the coast to Mom C's to fetch Bubbles.
It was a good thing that we chose to drive. One of the buses broke down just out of our town ... so it was about a half hour later than the other buses. Of course, the buses were all off to a later start. Somehow, instead of receiving 500 breakfasts for the students (the school provides free breakfasts for all students), they only got 200. They tried to see if they could get the other 300 ... which took a while. It ended up that they just split what they had among all the students on the bus.
At first, I was a little worried ... would I have enough time to get my group (I had five kids in my care: Bruise, Bucket, two girls and another boy) through everything at the aquarium before we needed to take them back to the bus (and sign out my kids so we could get Bubbles).
I should not have worried. The two hours I ended up with was sufficient. A little rushed at parts, but sufficient. We missed the otter feeding; it was so very crowded that we couldn't see anything, so we hit the touch pool instead. The kids got to play for 20 minutes or more at the play area ... and we headed back through the other way, since the kids really liked seeing the sharks. We went and played at the touch pool a little more (Bucket FINALLY faced her fears and touched just about everything. She's liked touching the sea anemones and sea stars in the past ... she finally also touched a sea cucumber and a sea urchin. YES!). Then, instead of going to the other indoor play area (it's a fish market), we HAD to get to a bathroom for the kids.
I had been warned that one student might pull some attitude with me ... I didn't have a problem with him at all. A couple fist bumps and some praise on good answers/excellent vocabulary choices ... it was all fine.
However, one of the two girls got her heart set on going to the gift shop to get a present for her mom ... but in all the paperwork sent home, it was stated that we were to AVOID the gift shop. The principal, herself, reiterated that we shouldn't go.
And, since I said no ... and her teacher said no ... well, this girl was rather pouty about it.
And so she'd run ahead of us and hide (seriously, if I start showing more grey hairs, I know why) or lag behind and hide. It was ... hella annoying. But not something that I couldn't really handle.
In fact, Bucket took it upon herself (since this IS her friend) to try and keep up with her, so that, at least, I'd see Bucket standing around and know that A-girl was next to her.
That other girl? Yeah, I'm glad that both Bruce and Bucket asked for her to be in their group. I really like her.
So, yeah, I had a healthy lunch and a LOT of Cherry Coke to get through the day.
And Michael got some good rest ... so he could head back to work Tuesday.
Tuesday was mostly quiet. Bubbles and I headed out to Hobby Lobby and Fred Meyer. I found more of the Dry Sodas there (I've now tried 7/11 flavors. I just need to find Ginger, Wild Lime, Juniper Berry, and Apple ... I think that Lavender and Blood Orange are my favorites. Their Cherry one is pretty good, too.)
Michael finally got something he's been waiting about six months for ... a company vehicle.
It's really pretty. And his commute gas is paid for (we get taxed for it) ... it's really nice.
So, we need to clean up the blue truck so we can sell that.
The kids are pretty excited about it ... though we had to STRONGLY IMPRESS UPON THEM that this truck is really NOT ours. Daddy gets to use it. We have to take really good care of it. But it belongs to WORK, NOT us.
He already got to use it to help a friend take some furniture to Goodwill. And we picked up bucket from Activity Days in it.
The kids and I got up EARLY yesterday so we could drive Michael down to work in the van ... so he could get the blue truck back up here. ... So, the kids have been a bit grouchy and lacking focus (especially when it comes to cleaning *sigh*). So, this weekend, we'll be cleaning up the truck and getting it listed on Craigslist. This way Michael will have the money to buy company stocks that are coming available (and that his boss would like him to own).
The front rooms are a lot cleaner now. I still need to clean the kitchen. And I'm donating blood this (late) afternoon.
I finally got a shower today (yesterday it didn't happen. I collapsed into a two-hour nap instead).
I've been working on my Duolingo and Memrise ... and Rosetta Stone. I still don't really feel like I know Spanish at all ... but I'm almost caught up on where I had left off in German in Duolingo. So, well, that's something, right? And I'm digging how the Memrise (being like flashcards) is helping me to learn how Spanish words are spelled ... those crazy accent marks and eñe ... 

But, yup, that's most of what's going on around here. We have some things going on this weekend (like readying a truck for sale) ... next week will be a little busy, since it's the kids' last week of school (FINALLY) ... so, well, I should get ready for that, shouldn't I?