Crazy Busy Fun Week

We just ended a very crazy busy fun week! Loved it! Last week was dreary, cloudy, gray, cold, rainy and full of boring homework and housework. We all had the blahs. This week, the weather was gorgeous, school was out at noon each day, we were between homework folders, and we just felt like having fun. So, we did!

Monday: The girls donned their Rapunzel dresses complete with flower hair clips and fluffy petticoats and we went to Disneyland for the day. We spent time in Disneyland and California Adventure. It was so much fun! The crowds were fairly thin except on the most popular rides, so most of our day was easy. The girls had a very special visit with Rapunzel and another with Merida. The princesses were enjoying visiting with Gracie and Libby too! Rapunzel signed our autograph book (which is a Princess Encyclopedia from Scholastic) and then she wanted to read the book to the girls. They loved it! Merida listened and laughed while Gracie talked, who knows what stories she heard, but she sure seemed to enjoy them. The girls twirled around several times with the princess. They had the best princess encounters today!  Among other things, we rode the Raditor Springs Racers ride. It's amazing! Libby loved half of it, Gracie and I had a blast! It was a great day at Disneyland.

Tuesday: We went to San Diego and had lunch at Ikea with Katie and Henry. The girls played in the Ikea play area where they offer free supervised play for an hour. After Ikea, we took the kids to the Fleet Science Center to play. Libby fell asleep between the two and continued to nap the whole time we were at the Science Center. She woke up as we were walking away from the building to the car after we were done. Poor girl was sad that she didn't get to go to the Science Center.

Wednesday: Every Wednesday morning, I meet my friends for coffee and Libby tags along and has a playdate with her little buddy too. Gracie only had school until noon.  After "mom-therapy", Libby had ballet class. Ballet is always fun - the class is so cute! We picked up Gracie and came home for lunch after which Gracie promptly reported that she was tired and going to bed to take a nap. Of course I felt her head for a fever and freaked out. I just knew she was sick! The kid who never runs out of energy took a 3-hour long nap. I cancelled our park playdate because I had this feeling of impending doom aka puking and such. Gracie was so mad when she woke up! She really didn't want to miss her playdate. I hovered over her like a hawk the rest of the week. Naps freak me out. Turns out, she was just fine. Apparently, she gets tired. Who knew?

We had our parent-teacher conference on Wednesday also. Gracie's teacher is out on maternity leave and she's had a sub for quite a while. The sub is terrific! Miss Tiffiny is the sub and she informed us that she cannot continue to sub for the class because there is a 30 day limit (she must have meant 30 school days because she's been the teacher for a while) so the class will be getting a new sub even though she is capable, willing and senses an unnecessary disruption by bringing in a new person. But, those are the rules and the classroom teacher isn't ready to return yet. I can't help but wonder who thought up the ridiculous 30 day rule. Dumbasses making the rules again. Miss Tiffiny is an awesome teacher; I really hate to see her leave Gracie's classroom. Gracie is doing very well. But... (oh no, there's the big 'but'!) she's bored out of her mind. She entertains herself rather than doing her work, and her work is easy enough for her. She just doesn't want to do it. She's much rather make character out of locks of her hair and have a puppet show. She's at the top of her class and has mastered all of the first grade skills. Because of this, she recommended that we move Gracie up to the second grade curriculum instead of continuing with the first grade work. Hopefully this will help.

Thursday: Gracie didn't seem to be sick in any way and was out of school at noon again (minimum days for parent-teacher conferences). When I picked her up, we didn't even go home. We went straight to Disneyland! We made an agreement that since today was a school-day and so is the next day, our time at Disneyland will be short. We got there shortly after 1:00pm and we were home at 8pm. A short day indeed, only spent 6 hours in the park! Since we were having a short day, we decided to  only visit California Adventure. The girls really wanted to see the Aladdin show and it started at 4:45 which gave us about 3 hours to play before queuing up. We managed to accomplish quite a bit! Our main goal was go have ice cream to celebrate Gracie's good report card and then just do whatever until show time. Whatever turned into time spent in Cars Land and Bugs Land. We had a great time and hopped in line for Aladdin right at the tail end of the line which meant no waiting. After the show, as promised, I said "Let's go home". But on our way out, we had to see this and that and do some shopping. Leaving at 6pm turned into 7pm in a flash. So much fun though!

Friday: Another half school day. Days like these make me realize that full school days are awesome! Seems like noon rolls around way too fast. We didn't have anything planned for today except housecleaning. I was too worn out to do much of that though. I had good intentions! I hired a sitter to come at 3pm until midnight so that I could go with Keith to the Champ and Chump party. (A football betting pool game that my husband organizes for his coworkers, chumps cater a dinner party for the champs) After the week of fun, I really didn't feel like going to a 9 hour party. I would much rather have the sitter come over while I sneak upstairs, lock the door to my bedroom and take a hot bath and a super long nap. A mama can dream. But, I did my wifey-duty and went to the party. I don't play the Champ and Chump game; I don't work at the school with the people who do play, and I don't even like football. But, I went to the party. I really enjoyed being alone in my car. The party was fun and I really had a great time. The people my husband works with are awesome! I admit, at 8pm I was yawning and I thought it must be after 11pm. I was dragging!

Saturday: The girls and I headed to San Diego. I had every intention of taking them to the zoo, but we went to Katie's house to pick up Henry and I just melted into her couch and that's where I stayed for a couple of hours. The kids were happy to play with his toys so I didn't bother with another outing. Katie is exhausted and she just caught a cold, so we packed a bag for Henry, went out to eat and hit the road for home. Henry is staying for a couple of days so that Katie can sleep off her cold, catch up on errands and chores, and just be pregnant without having to chase after a sneaky curious toddler.  She's due in 4 more weeks!

This last week lasted a lifetime! It was such a good week. We had lots of fun and somehow, I managed to survive. Sure wish I could have caught a big ol' nap like Gracie did mid-week, but I kept up.