Day in the Life 9:45

March 22, 2011

I go upstairs and check in on the little kids. Make sure they have turned off their reading lights. Have their covers on. Are still breathing. You know, the usual.
My daughter’s lamp makes me smile. It is the last remnant of the princess phase that seemed to last an eternity when we were in the midst of it. I know it too will soon be gone. Along with the My Little Pony sitting in front of it.

Day in the Life 9:15

15 yr old: Hey, guys, want to play quarters?

Them: Yeah, cool!

Me: What? Quarters?

15 yr old: Yeah. Have you heard of it?

Me: Of course. I was a master of it in college.

15 yr old: Cool.

Watch them play it for a minute. They whip the quarter at each others knuckles. That is pretty much the whole game.

Me: Yeah… our quarters game was very different. The pain happened the next day.

Day in the Life 8:30pm

Reading in bed.

The elementary school age kids are supposed to be in bed at 8:00pm but that only happens in the months between football and baseball season. My fourth grade son has games and practices that BEGIN at 8:00pm a couple nights a week. There was one day the week before Spring Break where we didn’t leave the baseball field until 10:45pm. I had two kids asleep on the bleachers. The only thing that was keeping me awake was the 9:00pm coffee I had. That followed the 6:00pm coffee.

My fourth grade son hates reading. Hates it. I really don’t even understand how a person can hate reading. I mean, what’s to hate? I think he might not be my son. Finding him books he finds interesting is a challenge. If the book is too long he refuses to even give it a chance because the thought of reading that many pages overwhelms him. I gave him the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing and the first thing he did was look at the end to see how many pages were in the books and then do the math to see if he read 20 pages per day when he would be finished.

Miles likes reading so far. He is reading Harold and the Purple Crayon and has a little bookmark he sticks inside it. Because Lord knows if you miss a couple pages in that book you’ll miss the entire plot line.

Day in the Life 8:00pm

Adding something to the calendar. Everyone who is old enough to write is old enough to add their own activities to calendar. I can’t remember everything. I am old and all my brain space has been used up.

Day in the Life 7:35

Driving home from baseball practice.
One of the things that struck me the most when I moved here is how big the sky is. And how the clouds are a part of the landscape.

Day in the Life 6:05pm

Field of dreams.

Day in the Life 5:30pm

On our way to baseball practice.

Day in the Life 5:00pm

I love the way the sun streams into the house at this time of day.
Everyone has arrived home from school.
The younger kids are outside playing with their friends. I heard whisperings about running through the sprinkler.
The older kids eat and eat and eat and flop down on the furniture.
I can’t tell you how many one sided conversations I have had with them before I realize they have their headphones in and have no idea I am talking to them. Payback for all the times I ignored them.
Sometimes, if I am lucky, they will share bits of their days with me.

Day in the Life 3:50

Doing the pick-up from the middle school.

Day in the Life 3:30pm

Homework time.
Or more accurately whining and complaining time.