The glass is half full

What a day today was.

Spring Break for Kai, not for Maya. Maya was so excited all week because Kai was coming to see her at Little Gym. (Gymnastics class) Kai was a great big brother and watched the whole time and even praised her-she was on cloud 9. We celebrated by going to McDonalds. The man taking my order through the drive thru sounded EXACTLY like the Formula One racer on Taladega Nights...so much so that I actually got out my digital camera and (unbeknowst to him) recorded him when I got to the first drive thru window, ("Momma, why did you record him saying that?" as I am laughing hysterically.)

We got home and the kids were playing in the front yard while I was doing a little work in the office. The doors were open, I could hear fun and laughter, they were playing with our next door neighboor. I felt GREAT. Beautiful day...I am balancing all areas of my life...I finished an email and went out to check on them. They were drenched! There were 7 empty water bottles laying in the driveway and each one of the kids had another half full bottle in their hands...they were taking the water in their mouths and spitting it out all over each other. As I replay the incident in my head I think it is HYSTERICAL!!! Kai blamed it on the neighbor boy so I told him that if he can't tell the difference between right and wrong when playing with him, he could not for the rest of the day. I made him recycle the bottles and then told him that he had to pay me for $1.00 each bottle. I felt pretty good about my choice of discipline-until I remembered the three same kids doing the same thing yesterday with their one water bottle each and me checking myself as I got irritaded-realizing it was not that big of a deal and telling them "looks like you guys are having fun, great timing..." (sounds wierd, I know, but we've been working on timing issues). WOOPS! I had to make it right. I did.

My goal today was to practice baseball with the kids. Batting in particular. We found his bat at the bottom of our sports bag. It was his T-Ball bat. (a 25" bat that we bought when Kai was 4. ) We pile into the car our mission : a baseball bat for Kai and a bicycle helmet that actually would fit Maya. We started out for the bike shop and Big 5-until mom called and she told me Target had helmets...on to Target. The kids were a little crazy, we were all happy...I was feeling warm and sunshiney...all until the point that Kai hit the end of the rocket that was in Maya's mouth and hurt her. (I'm thinking Love and Logic..what do I do?) I ask Maya to close her ears and YELL AT KAI TO NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!!!! Sunshiney flowers one minute, raving yelling lunatic mom a split second later. I look up and see the tail end of a Metro bus..."Bipolar?"

I laughed so hard and took the above picture.

I left Target with a bike helmet and PINK baseball glove for Maya. I killer bat for Kai that he loves so much he was willing to pay the difference between what I had budgeted for it and what it actually cost, 2 bags of wiffle balls and a "Throw and Field" net. (instead of a $300.00 pitching machine) We spent an hour practicing and totally enjoyed the sunshine and each other. It felt like I had closed a major deal. (priceless!)

How do I write about the sad thing that happened today? The husband of our preschool director died. From surgery complications. I told the kids that Don got to go to heaven today-that all of his work jobs were done here on earth. That I felt a little sad and that it was OK if they did too. Their family has been such a support to so many people and the past 3 years it has been one major challenging thing after another. It sure puts things in perspective. Makes baseball practice with the kids all the more important...precious. Seven empty water bottles....BIG DEAL!....hearing their laughter was worth the price...