Phew

Snack was a success today. Their teacher wants the recipe for the Oatmeal Zucchini Chocolate Chip cookies and the peaches were completely gone. I'm so happy that the kids like the snack-you never know. This morning we biked to school (from the rec center) and actually were the first ones there!! That never happens. They start in the gym now with "Movement." Yesterday was jump rope and today was yoga. It's only 20 minutes and they think it helps wake the kids up as the mornings get darker. Sam had his cooking class (Orange Julius smoothies today with Butterfly Bagels) then we were off to swimming. For the 3rd week in a row, the other 2 kids in Mae's class weren't there, so Cynthia said Sam could get in and then we could leave early. Sam had a blast pretending to be a baby and Cynthia did a really good job of keeping him swimming most of the time, like he would in his class. This gave Mae a chance to nap for an hour at Wendy's before picking up Ted. He swam great but developed serious stomach pain (cramps?) and didn't do TKD-preferring to lie on the floor of the van. I felt so bad for him. Sam didn't do very well but was at least being quiet and he ended up with a star! Figures that when Ted really needs a star, he misses the class! I contemplated bringing him to Urgent Care, but after an hour and some change, he said the pain went away. Phew! I wanted to go to my meeting tonight and decided to bike. Oh, the naivete! In the car, 88th St. looks like gently rolling hills. On a bike, it's 4 hills, one right after another, and they are steep-at least to my un-trained quads. Still, it was refreshing. This leaving the house at 7:15am and getting home at 6pm is for the birds! I'm exhausted and still need to prepare snack and pack all the lunches. I also need to come up with a better budget for next year, because we're living like movie stars over here (according to that bastard Quicken) and that just isn't our reality. Swimming is an easy one to drop because Ted can just go onto a swim team or drop it completely if his asthma is OK. I really want Mae to start preschool in January, so I'm going to talk to Ted's school about the 'optional' Kindergarten fee. I appreciate that it's optional, and it is much less than the standard K-care cost at most schools, but it would pay for Mae's preschool. Heck, when she's in preschool maybe I can come volunteer in exchange! We'll see. Good thing I'm back into cooking so we won't eat out much and I truly believe that eating the local foods is going to end up being cheaper. After all, it's in season and it's not being shipped from somewhere. I'm newly resolved to put up as much as I can for the winter so we can have some variety in our meals til the spring. Oy. Tomorrow is Sam's 4 year well-check at 3:45. I really love well-checks with no shots.