The Last Gasp
It's the last week of school around here, and it has been a great deal of madness mixed with a touch of hyperactivity and a dollop of illness. Doesn't that sound like fun?? I don't know what bug decided to hit our family, but it's been a real drag. Though it could have been worse. J and M ran fevers, sore throats went all around, B & M & I had skull-cracking headaches, chest congestion and snot were a given, and about half the family lost their voices. This is normal winter gunk, not end of summer party time stuff! It's 100+ degrees outside, for heaven's sake!
PHhhhht. That's all I have to say about that.
Tuesday night B took part in a short second grade play about bugs. Honestly, I wish I had caught the whole thing on video because it was just one of those classic nights, where the crazy cuts loose but doesn't get too badly out of hand. B was assigned the part of a boll weevil, and I was told to make her a costume out of a t-shirt with cotton balls or batting glued on it. (This was a bit baffling to me-- I didn't know boll weevils were fluffy and white-- but all became clear when the other boll weevil's spoken lines said something about munching on cotton.) I decided to use spray adhesive and stick tufts of stuffing all over her shirt. It left her looking extra fluffy, but unfortunately, the tufts were only stuck to the shirt on the bottom, so little sections on the top kept working themselves loose and falling off. Our boll weevil left cotton droppings wherever she went. . . . Even better, the cotton fluffs were just too tempting, and the boy standing next to her on the stage couldn't keep his hands off it. He kept picking at it all through the play and B would try to push his hands away and still sing the songs. By the end of the play she had bald spots.
The play was quite entertaining! B said her lines perfectly, but didn't seem to remember the words to the songs (her singing came and went). She came up for a dance number that I don't think that she belonged to (since she wasn't a lady bug) but since four or five other non-lady bugs came up too, it was just a case of the more the merrier! One of the little boys who was supposed to be a caterpillar turning into a butterfly got completely tied and tangled up in his gauzy coccoon, which caused some consternation before the teacher came and rescued him. The boy who was supposed to sing a solo during the marching ant song fell into fits of the giggles and couldn't get his composure again. All in all, it was a typical funny, cute elementary age play.
In the audience, my kids had to be patient and wait in the chairs for way too long before the play actually got started. So by the time the 2nd graders were parading in, S was done sitting on my lap. The room was packed with families (and about three dozen parents trying to get the play on video) but S wormed her way to the aisle where she could stand and have a clear shot to watch the kids sing and dance. At first it was fine, but eventually she got tired of that and went right up to the foot of the stage and laid down on her stomach in front the microphone, so she could have a front-front row vantage point. I tried to crouch walk my way to the aisle so I could dart up and grab her before she got that far but I was too slow. In the end I had to crawl on hands and knees up to the front to snatch her before she decided to commandeer the microphone. I got carpet burns on my knees, but at least my head shouldn't be blocking anybody's videos. Probably.
Today's adventure included a broken garage door, which made me late to pick up the kids. The spring decided to snap, and my van was trapped inside. I couldn't get the door up manually either until Terence finally made it back home and helped me pushed it up. Then Mr. He-Man held the door up himself long enough for me to back the van out of the garage. Luckily when I called the school they were very understanding and just held my kids in the office until we could extricate the van and I could make the drive out to the school.
Never a dull moment, right?
One more day until summer break officially starts. I AM SO READY!!!!
PHhhhht. That's all I have to say about that.
Tuesday night B took part in a short second grade play about bugs. Honestly, I wish I had caught the whole thing on video because it was just one of those classic nights, where the crazy cuts loose but doesn't get too badly out of hand. B was assigned the part of a boll weevil, and I was told to make her a costume out of a t-shirt with cotton balls or batting glued on it. (This was a bit baffling to me-- I didn't know boll weevils were fluffy and white-- but all became clear when the other boll weevil's spoken lines said something about munching on cotton.) I decided to use spray adhesive and stick tufts of stuffing all over her shirt. It left her looking extra fluffy, but unfortunately, the tufts were only stuck to the shirt on the bottom, so little sections on the top kept working themselves loose and falling off. Our boll weevil left cotton droppings wherever she went. . . . Even better, the cotton fluffs were just too tempting, and the boy standing next to her on the stage couldn't keep his hands off it. He kept picking at it all through the play and B would try to push his hands away and still sing the songs. By the end of the play she had bald spots.
The play was quite entertaining! B said her lines perfectly, but didn't seem to remember the words to the songs (her singing came and went). She came up for a dance number that I don't think that she belonged to (since she wasn't a lady bug) but since four or five other non-lady bugs came up too, it was just a case of the more the merrier! One of the little boys who was supposed to be a caterpillar turning into a butterfly got completely tied and tangled up in his gauzy coccoon, which caused some consternation before the teacher came and rescued him. The boy who was supposed to sing a solo during the marching ant song fell into fits of the giggles and couldn't get his composure again. All in all, it was a typical funny, cute elementary age play.
In the audience, my kids had to be patient and wait in the chairs for way too long before the play actually got started. So by the time the 2nd graders were parading in, S was done sitting on my lap. The room was packed with families (and about three dozen parents trying to get the play on video) but S wormed her way to the aisle where she could stand and have a clear shot to watch the kids sing and dance. At first it was fine, but eventually she got tired of that and went right up to the foot of the stage and laid down on her stomach in front the microphone, so she could have a front-front row vantage point. I tried to crouch walk my way to the aisle so I could dart up and grab her before she got that far but I was too slow. In the end I had to crawl on hands and knees up to the front to snatch her before she decided to commandeer the microphone. I got carpet burns on my knees, but at least my head shouldn't be blocking anybody's videos. Probably.
Today's adventure included a broken garage door, which made me late to pick up the kids. The spring decided to snap, and my van was trapped inside. I couldn't get the door up manually either until Terence finally made it back home and helped me pushed it up. Then Mr. He-Man held the door up himself long enough for me to back the van out of the garage. Luckily when I called the school they were very understanding and just held my kids in the office until we could extricate the van and I could make the drive out to the school.
Never a dull moment, right?
One more day until summer break officially starts. I AM SO READY!!!!
Comments
I am so glad school is out too!