And I give myself a B+

So today was parenting finals. She had laid out a rigorous exam: get Coulson to preschool on time while somehow also sleeping in (I'm not a morning person), watch Charlie while simultaneously taking care of my normal morning grooming, and then take Coulson to a dentist appointment. That's right - a dentist appointment. It's like having to take the calculus AP exam all over again--the anxiety, the stress, it all takes me back there. Add in a surprise challenge: Coulson found a pair of crocs in our room that Val had gotten for him that are too large.

"I WANT TO KEEP THEM"

"No Coulson, they have to go back, they're too big."

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So naturally I promised him we would return them today and get an appropriate size. NO big deal right?

Knowing that this day would test my mettle I wisely planned ahead. I filled a little container with milk and put bowls and cereal out so they could feed themselves in the morning and went to bed early at about midnight so I would be slightly less groggy at 7AM when they invariably wake up. I should have anticipated though that they would fight over the cereal so I had to get up anyway to separate them and ensure the kitchen would not be covered in milk. Also apparently 2 cups of milk is not enough for 2 small children and a normal sized bowl of cereal. It seems that there is only enough milk when all the cheerios are floating in their own little sea of milk - like personal space for cheerios.

Coulson got to school on time (with teeth brushed) and one episode of Diego later I was clean and clean shaven and Charlie and I played. Or more like Charlie played while I 1) did the laundry 2) vacuumed out the cars 3) cleaned the kitchen and straightened up the playroom. We also managed to get to the dentist on time and had an uneventful visit there. At Coulson's request I took him straight from the dentist to McDonald's where we got another KidzBop CD (the current toy in the happy meal - think Billboard #1s from the last few years sung by kids) which the kids LOVE and so I have had to listen to it like 40 times today. We got home and Charlie took his nap. Oh, I forgot to mention that I also took them to walmart to exchange the crocs WITHOUT INCIDENT (by which I mean child related incident). Chinese food for dinner and now it's just about bedtime. Total TV time for Coulson today - 1 hour.

So how did I do this weekend? Feel free to leave a comment below. If I had to grade myself I would give me a B+. I did cave on the TV and junk food and there was that 45 minutes on Sunday that I lost track of Charlie but I did clean the house and go shopping and church with both kids with minimal help from my parents. Overall we all enjoyed the weekend so I think it was a sucess. Now Valerie is home and can resume her normal blogging duties - I hope she gets a kick out of the record of the last couple of days. It will probably guarantee I won't have to do it again. So long!

-Casey