A Yucky-Blucky Sort of Day

It’s gray and drizzly outside this morning. I feel a little bad for Andy who is out working in this today. There’s a bit of a wind, so I’m sure the wet and the wind makes for an uncomfortable situation. Okay, I’m over feeling bad for him. Maybe I’ll make him something yummy tonight to make up for that.

I have a few moments that haven’t happened in a while. Zander was up before 6:00 this morning, so Andy tossed him into bed with me. He really fought going back to sleep. But he did, and he’s still there. Looks like it might be a nap-free day. Abigail is off to school… that girl. This morning I tell her there is an envelope in her backpack that she needs to take to the office. Well, then she tells me she wants to go to the office to buy lunch tickets. She still has some, and the lunch tickets get sold in the classroom on Monday’s. Well, this turned into a “I want cold lunch today.” At 7:35 in the morning. She gets picked up at 7:45. I attempted to talk her into hot lunch, even looking up the menu- “Hey Abigail, it’s cheeseburger day! Or cheese sandwiches!” Yeah. I didn’t win that one. Lucky for her I had lunch supplies on hand. I don’t think I’ve ever made her lunch so fast… but she does have a cold lunch. Part of me wishes she would want cold lunch everyday so that I can use some of the inspiration I find at The Vegan Lunchbox. I love seeing what she packs for lunch every day. And if Abigail wanted cold lunch, you can bet I’d get her one of those laptop lunch cases. Of course, I was telling her this morning that I’d have everything set up for her and Evan to play MarioParty right after school, and her afterschool snack would be all set too. And what does she want for an afterchool snack? Vegetables and Dip. Gotta love that. Now if only Evan would eat that…

Evan. Grr. I am so not a babysitter. There is a real reason that I don’t take other children into my home and watch them. I simply don’t have the patience to do it. Really. However, I’m trying to be a good friend… Evan is in Abigail’s class at school, and him and his family just live up the block. When school started his Mom and I met, and we started carpooling when Andy started his new job and needed the van. Now we take turns picking up the kids, and their family really is very nice. Well, a week ago Mom asked me if it would be possible for Evan to come over after school everyday, just for a little while while she squeezed in a few more hours of work, they really need the extra income. I sucked it up and told her it would be okay, there are only two more months of school left anyway.

Well, Evan only has two things on his mind every day after school. Football and Video Games. What a typical boy. Abigail normally would be thrilled to have someone to play video games with, but Evan does not have a Nintendo at home and is pretty slow to catch on. So he complains when he doesn’t win and is just overall a pretty competitive boy, so losing makes him a little annoying. And the afterschool snack… Tuesday I gave them apples, Abigail’s favorite. He didn’t even touch his, although he did drink the apple juice. (?) Wednesday I gave them grapes. Nope, didn’t touch those either, not even once. Then late on Wednesday Mom calls and says that over the weekend she is going to pick up some juice boxes and fruit snacks for us, because she really appreciates us having Evan over. Of course, I’ve been trying to reduce the consumption of fruit snacks by not having them around. Plus, Abigail has to choose a healthy snack after school, and fruit snacks are not on her list of choices. And usually when Abigail has her healthy snack, so does Zander. I did try to talk Mom out of the fruit snacks and juice boxes. I assured her it wasn’t necessary, but she pretty much has insisted. With any luck she’ll forget. But my plan at the moment is to insist that Abigail still choose her healthy snacks, and leave the fruit snacks and his juices just for Evan if he wants. He will also have the option of enjoying Abigail’s snack, but if he would rather he may have his fruit snacks. It’s going to be a long two months, I fear. And Mom keeps dropping these little “I don’t know what I’m going to do for the summer.” hints. Oh no way lady. That’s so where I draw THE LINE. There is no way that I am going to spend my summer with her kids. I’m looking forward to my summer with MY kids.

Okay, that’s all for this morning. I have some dishes to do I suppose. And I want to see if I can get the yoga program up and running. I’ve had an on and off headache the last two days, and I want to see if I can work the kinks out of my back and make them go away. Thanks for letting me vent this morning. I will try and find something inspiring for dinner tonight so I can redeem myself with a nummy food post.

Update: Yeah…Evan did not want the vegetables. None, not even the carrots. So I pulled out some whole wheat crackers and put them in a bowl for him. Yeah…didn’t eat those either. So I felt bad that Abigail and Zander were happily munching on their veggies and dip and he wasn’t having anything, and I pulled out the Chips Ahoy because he doesn’t like nuts and the homemade cashew butter cookies were made of nuts. (Imagine that.) Then we get to the Apple & Eve 100% Fruit Juice boxes…he pulled the straw off before deciding against that. It’s a juice box for crying out loud.

So I will let Mom bring his juice boxes and his fruit snacks. I doubt I will have much problem convincing Abigail that she should just continue with her healthy snacks.