My Weekend as a Single Parent
Friday night’s Pinewood Derby went very well. While the kids enjoyed chilidogs and root beer floats, the adults chatted and made car-pool plans for the summer day camp. Then, we applauded as the boys received the awards and badges they have earned throughout the year. The award ceremony was exciting, of course, but the boys were anxious to get the race underway.
The Man-Cub’s car performed well in the races although he did not take home any honors for speed, he did win an award for the Best Paint Job as well as one for Best Design, so he was pretty happy. We took a photo of the Cub and his plaques with my camera phone and sent it to Hugh, who was delighted with the news.
By the time we got the VFW hall cleaned up and finally made it home, the kids were pretty tired and I was ready to call it a day. Plus, we had to get up very early the following morning to drive to the wrestling tournament.
As expected, the alarm’s blaring the next morning was about as welcome as a hemorrhoid but, what can you do? I was a single mom with a kid to get places. Plus, I had to pick up one of the Cub’s teammates whose single parent was working and who couldn’t make it to the tourney.
Once we had everyone in the car, coffee cups and hot cocoa in hand, my weariness had mostly worn off and I was ready to face a long day. And, a long day it was. The Cub’s bracket was rather large which made for a lot of sitting around and waiting for him to wrestle. I killed the time by visiting with one of the other moms; she is also a single mom and we commiserated over our responsibilities.
I am kidding, of course; I told her how amazing I think she is since she is raising three boys by herself while putting herself through nursing school and still managing to make it possible for the boys to participate in sports and school activities. I am in awe of her and other parents like her because one weekend alone with two kids and a disabled dog just about does me in, I swear.
So, you are probably wondering how the Cub did. Well, you are if you are related to me in which case, hi guys! The Cub won his first match, lost his second match and won his third match, which put him in third place over-all. Not too bad considering how large his bracket was and the fact that he was on the low end of the weight class.
We kept Hugh informed of the Cub’s progress by sending pictures on the cell phone and by calling him before and after each match but, I could tell that he wished he was there. Him and me, both.
After the tournament, I dropped The Girl off at a friend’s party, where she stayed for pretty much the rest of the day. The Cub and I ran errands and I steam-cleaned my carpets before falling into bed, fairly exhausted.
Sunday was a lazy day. The kids and I blew the guts out of a dozen eggs and decorated the shells for Easter. We had never done that before and it was pretty cool. While the eggs dried, we went to see The Last Mimzy which was pretty cute. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really a movie suitable for toddlers and infants yet the theater was over-run with just that demographic so, we missed a bit of the dialogue and I admit to being confused a couple of times because of it. No biggie, though.
When we got home, we ate dinner and the kids spent an ungodly amount of time jumping on the trampoline before bedtime. At which time, I watched the series finale of Rome (not bad, for a complete re-write of history) before going to bed only to be awakened by The Girl puking her guts out in my bathroom an hour later.
She was sick the rest of the night, so I kept her home today. She is sleeping now so I think the crisis has passed. Which is a good thing since, the moment she started hurling, I became convinced that salmonella had poisoned her during craft hour.
That would have been hard to explain to her father upon his return this evening.
Also, whoo-hoo! No more single parenting!
Friday night’s Pinewood Derby went very well. While the kids enjoyed chilidogs and root beer floats, the adults chatted and made car-pool plans for the summer day camp. Then, we applauded as the boys received the awards and badges they have earned throughout the year. The award ceremony was exciting, of course, but the boys were anxious to get the race underway.
The Man-Cub’s car performed well in the races although he did not take home any honors for speed, he did win an award for the Best Paint Job as well as one for Best Design, so he was pretty happy. We took a photo of the Cub and his plaques with my camera phone and sent it to Hugh, who was delighted with the news.
By the time we got the VFW hall cleaned up and finally made it home, the kids were pretty tired and I was ready to call it a day. Plus, we had to get up very early the following morning to drive to the wrestling tournament.
As expected, the alarm’s blaring the next morning was about as welcome as a hemorrhoid but, what can you do? I was a single mom with a kid to get places. Plus, I had to pick up one of the Cub’s teammates whose single parent was working and who couldn’t make it to the tourney.
Once we had everyone in the car, coffee cups and hot cocoa in hand, my weariness had mostly worn off and I was ready to face a long day. And, a long day it was. The Cub’s bracket was rather large which made for a lot of sitting around and waiting for him to wrestle. I killed the time by visiting with one of the other moms; she is also a single mom and we commiserated over our responsibilities.
I am kidding, of course; I told her how amazing I think she is since she is raising three boys by herself while putting herself through nursing school and still managing to make it possible for the boys to participate in sports and school activities. I am in awe of her and other parents like her because one weekend alone with two kids and a disabled dog just about does me in, I swear.
So, you are probably wondering how the Cub did. Well, you are if you are related to me in which case, hi guys! The Cub won his first match, lost his second match and won his third match, which put him in third place over-all. Not too bad considering how large his bracket was and the fact that he was on the low end of the weight class.
We kept Hugh informed of the Cub’s progress by sending pictures on the cell phone and by calling him before and after each match but, I could tell that he wished he was there. Him and me, both.
After the tournament, I dropped The Girl off at a friend’s party, where she stayed for pretty much the rest of the day. The Cub and I ran errands and I steam-cleaned my carpets before falling into bed, fairly exhausted.
Sunday was a lazy day. The kids and I blew the guts out of a dozen eggs and decorated the shells for Easter. We had never done that before and it was pretty cool. While the eggs dried, we went to see The Last Mimzy which was pretty cute. Unfortunately, it wasn’t really a movie suitable for toddlers and infants yet the theater was over-run with just that demographic so, we missed a bit of the dialogue and I admit to being confused a couple of times because of it. No biggie, though.
When we got home, we ate dinner and the kids spent an ungodly amount of time jumping on the trampoline before bedtime. At which time, I watched the series finale of Rome (not bad, for a complete re-write of history) before going to bed only to be awakened by The Girl puking her guts out in my bathroom an hour later.
She was sick the rest of the night, so I kept her home today. She is sleeping now so I think the crisis has passed. Which is a good thing since, the moment she started hurling, I became convinced that salmonella had poisoned her during craft hour.
That would have been hard to explain to her father upon his return this evening.
Also, whoo-hoo! No more single parenting!
Damn you had a busy weekend!! Your kids are so damn cute. I'm trying to figure out how we're going to work in decorating Easter Egss while we're in FL. Guess maybe we'll have to do that poolside!
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