Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Unplanned pleasant surprises

My no-plan morning turned into a play date with my friend Cristina and her daughter Fiona. Fiona and Bennett colored and did stickers, played in the playroom, and ultimately got rice all over the entry way. But they had fun. Bennett was not too into sharing and was really being a pill. I finally had to put him into a timeout for hitting me and that seemed to do the trick, as he straightened up after. :) Cristina and Fiona stayed for lunch, which was nice so that I didn't have to haul Bennett across town to pick Morgan up from school when he was already hungry. We came back home and after all the kids were done eating, Morgan got to play with the rice also. :)

After the fun was over, the kids went down for naps. Bennett slept until 4:15, when I had to wake him to take Morgan to ballet. That was a nearly three hour nap, which is pretty good for him lately. Morgan slept until 3:45, and then asked to practice her site words. Asking to do homework?? Wonderful! I dropped Morgan off at ballet and then took Bennett in the jogging stroller on a nice three mile walk. We got back to the dance studio just in time to pick up Morgan and then the three of us walked home.

When we got home, the first thing I noticed was that Lance's car was in the driveway. The kids noticed too, because suddenly I was some second class citizen who was keeping them away from their Daddy! Morgan was running and Bennett was yelling "Daddy!" We walked in and Lance got his kisses and hugs from us all. He was home an hour before he normally is, which was, in itself a pleasant surprise. But then, Morgan asked if she could work on her Starfall stuff on the computer and Bennett played and so Lance came into the kitchen where I had started dinner and asked if he could help. It's been AGES since we were actually able to prepare a meal together in peace. It was really nice.

Add to that that I was throwing together a mish mash of stuff to make our leftover roasted chicken into something else for dinner tonight. That turned into a yummy surprise. I diced up the chicken and threw it in a skillet with some diced sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, and sliced olives with a little bit of fat free Italian dressing while I was cooking the pasta. When the pasta was done cooking, I combined all those ingredients with the pasta, added a little more of the Italian dressing and some goat cheese. Mixed it all up and it was delicious! Lance made the salad to go with it and everything was on the table in under 20 minutes. Nice!

Since I missed out on the grocery shopping this morning due to the play date, I was planning to go after the kids went to bed. Instead, after Lance bathed Bennett and put him to bed, he offered to go and I stayed home and helped Morgan with her homework and did the bedtime stuff with her. She's been working hard at her "sight words" and learned three new ones tonight alone! I'm so proud of her!

All in all, not the day I had planned. All in all, a day full of pleasant surprises!

No comments: