A Day to Remember

The alarm clock didn't have to go off this morning, as I woke up to the sweet smile on the face of Thomas as he attempted to crawl into bed with me shortly before 5 am. I cuddled with him for a few minutes, then pulled myself out of the warm covers to stumble to the coffee pot. As caffeine coursed through my veins to rev me up, I quickly dressed and ran out the door, only to hear the faint cries of Cooper as he stirred back inside. I ran back in, made a bottle, quickly realizing that I didn't have keys and my IPod was dead. I briefly considered heading back to bed in defeat. Instead, I dialed Jenny up as light began to show itself above the mountains. "Jenny," I whispered. "Yeah?" she whispered back. We were both trying desperately to keep our children asleep before we escaped. "I can't find my keys and I'm late to pick you up. I have to get Coop his bottle." "Do you want me to pick you up?" she whispered. "Uh, yeah, I already had my coffee so I can't go back to bed." She showed up minutes later. Already late and pressed for time, we decided to walk the neighborhood hills instead of driving all the way to the gym. Later, as parent helper, I dripped sweat from running around keeping 14 preschoolers in check. They almost completely devoured a whole Costco box of GoGurts and a half pack of Costco string cheese. Cooper did fabulous as a pre-preschooler, playing nicely with the different centers Teacher Kathy has set up throughout the room. It was such a fabulous blessing, though, when Jenny showed up to pick him up, allowing me to focus on just Thomas and the other children for the next two hours of class. Jenny and I debated, but she agreed to go hang out with Cooper to get him an actual nap in his crib as opposed to his car seat, while I would pick up Isaac at 11:30 and keep him with me in class until Tommy let out at 12. I raced home with the boys, after struggling to get the car door open. Thomas helped me load stuff out of class, but tipped the coffee pump pot over while in the hallway, completely jamming up the hall with parents and a billion children trying to leave. Thankfully, Joan grabbed the two garbage bags out of my hand, I put down the two large and overstuffed bags I was heaving out, and Thomas quickly soaked up the old coffee. When I finally got into my driveway, I was exhausted, and the day was only half over. Jenny raced out to pick up Madeline at 12:30 and we agreed that we'd meet up later to enjoy the summer- like weather. For the rest of the afternoon we played outside. Outside in the hot buckets. Outside on the Firs Beach. Outside on our beach swimming and making sand castles. Outside with the Allens. Thomas played most of the afternoon with little Julia, content to roam the shoreline for treasures and the brushes for hidden blackberries to make into "soup". Cooper and I followed them around, wrestling on the grass together and wading in the water. At one point, Tommy told me he had to pee. Not wanting to go inside and break our outside streak, I told him to go over to our beach and pee in the bushes. Of course, he was looking at the Firs port-a-potty while he asked, so I knew what his real intent was. "Tommy, it's stinky and dirty in there. Don't go in." "But mom, I just want to go in, I will be real quick." "No, Thomas, it's so dirty, don't go in." "I'll be real quick." And he was off, pulling open the door and heading in. I just sat on the lawn with Stephanie, a smirk on my face. As fast as he went in, he was racing out, a horrified look of disgust on his face. "That is So gross!" he exclaimed, heading quickly for the girls waiting for him. "That was So, so, so, so stinky!" That was so disgusting!"
"Thomas, do you still have to go pee?" I asked, trying not to remind him yet again that sometimes moms are smarter than little boys.
"No way! That place is SO gross!"
By afternoon, I'd had a chance to chat with both Stephanie and Lil, who had returned from their trip to Wheaton with stories to share. Jenny finally made her way back down after soccer practice, and Isaac joined in on the hot bucket fun. Cooper loved on Jenny, and then Stephanie made her way over with Johanna. Realizing it had been a long while since snack and even longer since lunch, we all hustled our separate ways for the evening. John made his way home with a load of groceries. Perfect! Just perfect! I finally had a chance to hit the shower for the day. I had a chance to think about our day together. Sitting there, I realized that yet again my house was a mess. Looking around me in the bathroom, I could see that Cooper had attacked the cupboards again and had items thrown all about. The toilet paper rolls had been pulled out of the garbage and sunscreen was smeared on the the mirror. There was sand all over the floor, and finally, I looked at the dirty and sandy towels littering the floor. Smack in middle lay a big, fat stick. I had to smile with it all. Boys and their sticks! Messes all around, and yet I could only smile. What an absolutely perfect day with my boys!