Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

It was a big weekend, people. On Thursday the 6th I had a Field Day Committee meeting for PTA, went to Costco, picked up and dropped off kids, and then went to the elementary school art show with my family, (except that I had to leave that early so I could go to my Stake Women’s Conference committee meeting). My treasurer’s report happened AFTER I got home for the night, because Friday morning was our regular PTA meeting (and my third meeting in 24 hours). I went straight from there to donate blood and then came straight back to the school to write a big check for our Little Caesar’s pizza cards (we sold them for our fundraiser), went home, ate lunch, picked up kids, went to piano, picked up the last kid, and went to dye eggs. By the time we got home it was scramble scramble to feed people and pack them off to bed, after which Easter things needed to happen.

On Saturday morning we had our chocolate muffins and then woke the 16-year-old up at 9 so we could do Easter baskets; after that it was a hodgepodge of family scripture time, chores, lunch, more chores, my hubby’s birthday dinner, and then scrambling to leave for a Grizzlies (hockey) game at which our high school’s choir sang the national anthem. (And then reading Easter scriptures in the parking lot because we got there in plenty of time.) That was totally fun, except that it was longer than I realized to begin with and then there was a delay because some of the glass around the rink cracked, so we ended up leaving early–which was fine with everyone but my son, who wanted to stay and did NOT appreciate being outvoted.

Easter Sunday started early, since my oldest sang in the choir and left early for practice and my hubby and I said the prayers in sacrament meeting and so needed to be on time for sure; after church we made birthday treats for my hubby, prepped a salad, and then headed up to Clearfield. Easter dinner was more like lunch, which worked out better than I expected because I could feed the littles rolls and ham and let them pick at the leftover salad in the car on the way home. I thought we’d done well at bedtime, too, until I got a text from my daughter’s friend, checked on her, and realized just how depressed she was feeling–and then was too worried myself to settle to much else for the rest of the night. Yesterday was a day of do, chill, do, and chill, but at least I did two towel washes, ran the dishwasher twice, took my son to his appointment, ran an errand with my oldest, and fed people real food. Which brings us to this morning!

Today is actually going to be another day of tasks until after school, which will be a blur of the dentist and dance. One of those tasks, however, is to review Sophie Escabasse’s Witches of Brooklyn, which I started in December, put down when I decided against it as a Christmas gift, and just recently picked up again. Luckily, it was totally cute, so this review isn’t a hardship to write; the only reason I didn’t gift it to my youngest is that Effie does some adult-sassing at the beginning, when she’s grieving her mother and left to live with two aunts she doesn’t know. Understandable? Completely. It’s just that my youngest doesn’t need any ideas/help/prompts in the sass department, you know? What’s nice is that the sassing turns into a teasing relationship with one of the aunts that reminds me of how my dad and I used to be. Effie settles in quickly–because hey, it’s a kids’ graphic novel–and ends up quite thoroughly involved in the magic she didn’t know ran in her family. Her friends are fun, the crisis-to-be-dealt-with is both original and entertaining, and all comes right in the end. Mid-elementary to junior high and beyond should enjoy this one!

In the meantime, please keep my oldest in your prayers. Life is hard right now.