Back to the Grind.

After having all of last week off for Thanksgiving break, Ellie has minimum days this entire week for parent-teacher conferences. Why they couldn't have combined the two is beyond me, but okay! The good news is minimum day means they're only out an hour and twenty minutes earlier, so I still have the morning to get stuff done, AND depending on how the day is going, I've been having her lay down for a nap if possible, much to her chagrin. Though, on Tuesday I told her she didn't have to nap, but I was taking my own wretched cold and going to bed, so she could do whatever she wanted as long as she stayed quiet and didn't wake up me or her brother. Parenting at its finest! (also, kudos to Tim for getting her ready in the mornings this week so I can grab another precious half hour of sleep before waking up and hacking up a lung.)

Her conference yesterday morning was quick and painless - she's doing great at math, she's slightly above grade level for reading and improving all of the time, she listens well and is a good student and most important to me, she's friendly and kind to all of her classmates. We'll keep her.

Adam got the thrill of his life this morning when we had the large item pick up (or as he calls it, the Large Giant Pickup) come by today to grab a busted up chair and the remains of his crib. Still loves him the big truck.

In "only in California" news, the other day I took the kids to the park so they could burn off some energy while I sat and read a magazine. We'd been there for a bit when suddenly there was a huge influx of kids, which was fine - they were letting my kids play with them too and everyone was having a good time. Then I realized the mom was being followed by a small camera crew and looked weirdly familiar. That's right, the kids were hanging out with Octomom and her litter of children. Kids seemed normal enough, but she seemed sort of wacky and like she was putting on a show - she made a big production of chasing the kids around, then told the camera guys she shouldn't really be running because she had a sprained ankle. No, you shouldn't run on a sprained ankle. And stop making the rest of us lazy park-parents look bad!