A big weekend

For me, the weekend started on Friday, with me teaching another "double shift" at the club - 6am and 5pm. I'm tantalizingly close to being a solo teacher - by the end of next weekend I may have everything I need. But it wiped me out but GOOD - a double workout for sure! In the evening, we made some beef stew for the weekend, which filled the house with incredible smells. Sort of the opposite of cooking eggs.

Saturday started with swimming for the kids, and Isaac continues to do very well: He's an amazing backfloater, no stress about having his ears under water, and I only need to place a single finger at the base of his skull to have him floating. Bella is also a superstar swimmer - she's with girls a year older than she, and is holding her own with LOTS of full lane length swimming.

Immediately after swimming, we welcomed Grandma and Grandpa, and Carrie and (fiancee) Scott for a little combined birthday for the kids. The stew flavors had come together, and we had a fun couple of hours. Grandma got Bella a foam stomp rocket set and spent the afternoon strafing the family (with the kid's help, but I note that she held the aim).

A short break, and then it was Bella's birthday party with her friends: 10 kids, with a horse theme: The table was covered with oats, carrots, and apples. The chandelier had carrots hanging from it, and in what may be a first for birthday parties everywhere, the kids had a one-upmanship thing going on with WHO COULD EAT MORE CARROTS. We had an obstacle course set up in the front yard with hay bales and corn stalks.

By the end of the party, the kids had discovered that the corn stalks had actual ears of corn in them, and shucked them all, de-kerneled all of the cobs into a pot, and stacked all of the stalks into a "bonfire" in the middle of the yard, with our solar-powered yard lights all uprooted and piled in the middle as "fire". They took the hay bales and formed a ring around the "fire", and told stories. This was all done with absolutely NO intervention from any adults - they made this all happen. It was amazing to watch kids at work.

In the night, Bella was tossing and turning with concern for her loose tooth. I told her "Tell your body that if you feel something loose in your mouth, DON'T SWALLOW IT - WAKE UP". And sure enough, around 2 am, she called me in to her room: She had woken up with a tooth in her mouth! So now she's got a cute little gap in her bottom teeth...

Today was much lower energy: Isaac and Bella helped me with some errands in the morning and we got Burritos. Then during Isaac's naptime, Bella played with friends and I mowed. Bella was pretty fragile all day - she was quick to cry, and prone to inactivity. Perhaps it's because of all of the activity, but I also think she had not been sleeping well with worry over that tooth for several days.

In the afternoon, we had one more birthday party - Bella's birthfamily had us over for sandwiches and snacks and presents. Poor Bella actually lay on their couch the entire time, barely moving, with half closed eyes. Even the present opening failed to elicit much activity. She was flat out dead on her feet (or tush, as the case may be). I felt kind of bad for the family - she wasn't really "there"... but they were understanding. Isaac made up for her by being extra-active, along with his cousins Macy and Clayton.

Today's Isaac amazingness: As he opened presents, he said "Oh my GOSH!" He also ate a frightening amount of pickles.

So now we're home - Bella went right upstairs and passed out. Isaac has finally stopped thrashing around too - these kids need to catch up on their sleep!!! Mom and Dad could probably use a break too. The tooth fairy has been left a note asking politely if Bella could possibly keep her tooth for her collection: I suspect the tooth fairy will respect her request: Pamela still has a box with all of her baby teeth too, so we know the fairy can be flexible where girls who like to collect nature are concerned.

Tomorrow, I'm off to San Fran for a single day - meeting with a new client with room to grow, so it'll be worth it. My boss is a Ritz Carlton "superdude" and secured us a suite downtown SF for $200, so we'll be living MUCH larger than our budget would indicate!