Busy day

We had a busy day, of sorts. Actually, it was kind of an exponentially increasing pace up through bedtime for the kids.

The kids slept in a bit, then played outside a while. Maggie even consented to play make-believe with John for a while, which made him ecstatic.

The house was filled with almost constant piano music, since we reinstated the summer rule (one-to-one equivalent screen time is earned with music practice time). This year, we allowed them to pool their music time for collective cartoon-watching, which had the unexpectedly positive effect of spurring them to work together. "Maggie, you read to John so he won't cause trouble while I practice for 15 minutes. Then, I will take John for a bike ride while you practice for 15 minutes." Even John wants to help. He isn't taking music lessons, but negotiated with me that if he "practices" piano, his time can also add to the screen time total. I assented.

We eventually got a menu plan for the week finalized, and a shopping list together. Maggie helpfully made an early lunch (mini-pizzas, the kids' favorite choice) so we could get off to Meijer. With 4 kids, it feels more like a  polar expedition than a grocery shopping trip, but we got everyone there with all the required gear. (List? Check. Purse? Check. Diaper bag? Check. Baby backpack to carry Helen? Check. Shoes for each person? Check. Shirt for each person? Check. Snacks? Check.) The whole trip didn't go too badly, except for the low moment involving potato chips. (I had told the kids that they could each choose one food item "treat." Candy was excluded, though John pushed that limit with giant, pink and white marshmallows. James wanted shells to try making homemade cannoli. Maggie wanted salt-and-vinegar potato chips. I agreed they could snack on the chips in the store, then got distracted looking for produce. When I next tuned in, the 16-oz bag was almost empty. Ugh. And James ate almost none of those, so double ugh. There goes 10 servings of chips between  two kids who together weigh less than one adult.

Back at home, I got the groceries put away and started to pull out things for dinner. Then, Jeremy walked in, earlier than I expected. I had forgotten (but glad that he hadn't) that it was my night for Yoga class. So, I zipped out the door while he made dinner instead. James also zipped out the door to ride his bike over to swim team practice. I returned from yoga an hour later feeling relaxed and refreshed, just perfect to make the transportation plan with Jeremy.

"It is 5:30. Nobody has had dinner yet since it won't come out of the oven until 5:50. John needs to be at swim team practice at 6:00. Maggie needs to be at piano practice at 6:00. James needs to be picked up from swim team practice at 6:10 and taken to piano practice at 6:30. Maggie and James need to be brought home at 7:00. John needs to be retrieved from the pool and hustled through the shower at 7:00. "

Somehow, we worked all that out, but I felt grateful that (a) we have a second car and (b) this is only the second, and definitely the last, week that swim team and piano times conflict.

We all reassembled at home at 7:15 for dinner - burrito bean bake. Nothing fancy, and a bit shy on veggies, but all will eat it without complaint. At 7:45, we should have left well enough alone, but tonight was the transit of Venus across the sun, and it will be the last such occurrence for the next 100+ years. So, we had to go, right? Off the Calvin observatory we went. Actually, we didn't end up waiting in line to use the big telescope, but just watched the reflection card set up on the roof of the science building, plus some special sun-viewing sunglasses that allowed us to look directly at the sun. Both were fun. John just liked being up on a fourth-story roof, and out past his bedtime. Probably worth the meltdown that came as he was actually tucked in bed at 9:30 tonight. Ahh, memories.