As we were climbing the stairs to the Y this morning, who should appear but E and L's teacher? Her Y is having the floor replaced in the group fitness classes and I had talked up my favorite instructor, so she joined us. She's coming tomorrow for step aerobics, too. My friend and I were sore from yesterday, but we can't be shown up by a 50-something elementary school teacher, right? So we pushed ourselves and agreed to crawl into the Y tomorrow.
A random lady at the Y saw us waiting to sign C up for her next ballet session and asked if they were all my children. I was braced for a negative "all girls, huh?" comment and she made my day by telling me that I looked far too young to have all these kids. I may have french-kissed her. I mean, I'm comfortable with my age, but who turns down a compliment like that?
We had brought our lunches and ate after my class and before C's ballet class. We dropped her off and then I listened to E and L whine about how hot it was while I showered. (Family locker rooms FTW!) I gave them my watch so they could time me and that amused them for a while. "You've been in the shower for four minutes and thirty seconds!" and "You have seven minutes before C's ballet class is half done!" and so on.
We went to the library afterward and finally got home. I got everyone's bike down from our garage storage and they rode bikes while I unpacked, did more laundry, and made cookies. I felt like a 1950s housewife when I called them in for a snack of freshly baked cookies. We read our library books and then C took a bath while I changed all the bed linens. E and L showered and got dressed in pjs while I made pizza for dinner.
I was making pizza when C wandered into the kitchen and I saw her in her robe, sleep mask, and fuzzy slippers and my love for her was overwhelming. I joke about eating my children, but I don't know how else to describe this urge to devour nibble delicately on them.
As I was making their beds with fresh sheets and thinking about how satisfying it is to tuck my clean kids into clean sheets in our very own home, I prayed for people who don't know that feeling. I'm not prone to sentimentality - I'm too pragmatic - but I am often overcome by my own good fortune and it will prompt me to pray for others. Today I especially remembered Arwen and her son - one of her infant twins - who are in the hospital. I know that she longs to tuck him safely into his own bed tonight and I hope she is doing that soon.
We ate pizza and started watching Harry Potter. E and L would gasp "HAGRID!" and "HERMIONE!" and so on as they saw beloved characters. They are at such a fun age and we are having a marvelous time on this vacation.
Favorite line: "I mean, I'm comfortable with my age, but who turns down a compliment like that?"
Posted by: Swistle | February 23, 2012 at 06:00 AM
Sounds like a lovely day all around. We're praying for Arwen and her crew here too. When my twins were 5 months, R ended up hospitalized and M stayed home. Really awful, terrible 4 days. I kept thinking about them all night.
BTW, I say all the time that I'm going to eat my kids up. People look at me like I have two heads, but at least now I know that YOU know what I mean!
Posted by: Michelle | February 23, 2012 at 08:12 AM
Sounds like a great time. I always tell my kids, "I'm going to eat you up with two vegetables." My mom used to say it all the time. The other one I say that I got from my mom is, "I love you, I love you, I love you, I do. But don't get excited. I love monkeys too!" LOL
Posted by: Heather | February 23, 2012 at 01:57 PM
We have pizza and movie night almost every Friday and it looks just like that with all of them sitting around the coffee table. I really should take a picture of it. We read each HP book and then saw the movie before moving onto the next book. It was lovely and I enjoyed (re)reading the books and (re)watching the movies with them so much. Now that we are done with hat series I am trying to figure out what is next...
Posted by: Megan | February 25, 2012 at 12:08 AM