Because Aunt Laya is visiting and wanted to spend time with the kids, and because the cleaners were coming this morning and we generally like to get the kids out of the house, and because it was picture day and I wanted to sneak them into my yearbook picture...for all these reasons, we undertook the following adventure:
I got a ride to school from my friend Kate, while my mom and aunt arrived at our house early to help with breakfast and getting the kids dressed. Then it was out into the van and down the peninsula (while Daddy got some much needed "me" time) to meet me at school. According to Aunt Laya, they chattered all the way down and I can attest that they were still in good spirits when I got to them in the parking lot. We unloaded them and walked over to the gym for our picture. The photographer took one of me by myself (for my school ID) and then we piled the kids on my lap. She took a picture while I was laughing and proclaimed it looked "great". When I unloaded the kids and looked at the screen, I saw Max had his hand in his mouth and Caroline was looking sideways - but we embrace what they actually look like, right? I hope to have that picture to share soon.
From the gym, we went up a tall flight of stairs to see Taylor and the dance class, who sang "Happy Birthday" to the Salvateenies. We'd interrupted their warm-up, so as we were leaving, Taylor told them to reach down and touch their toes, and Caroline got a round of applause when she did it too.
Back down the stairs and outside, where we bumped into Lauren and her therapy dog, which was a big hit, then into the main building to Mozy's art class, where the kids climbed up in the big kid chairs and drew with markers for a bit. This was their first time with markers and they were definitely a big hit!
And then it was back to the hall, where we encouraged them to break the rules and RUN.
Around the corner and down the next hall, making a quick stop in the cooking class, then around another corner to see Belen and Evelyn in Spanish class. The sound of me calling them to stop and come back prompted a few folks to filter out of offices to see who had such bad control of their students in the hall, but we were already on our way to see Ms. Gleaton in the vice principal's office. The kids ran right in and started taking things off her desk (about which she was an amazingly good sport, even washing off the apple from her desk when she expressed an interest in it).
Caroline devoured the apple - the first time she's eaten one! She ate it while she stood, while she walked, while she went up and down stairs. (She has become a master at stairs - going both up and down without holding on - and now going up and down while eating!)
Both Max and Daniel also begged for bits of apple, so I guess we'll have to run down some of these soft, sweet, yellow apples for home!
From there it was on to the counseling office, then the vice principals', then up the stairs to the water fountain and Melissa's class (Melissa didn't even steal Caroline this time!). My friend Scott's daughter was also coming for picture day, but we missed bumping into her, unfortunately. We took the kids down to see my classroom and my roommate. She has a student in class who got very concerned that the kids were going to get into something dangerous and who popped up out of his seat and ran around after them trying to move dangerous things like staplers and cords out of their way. It was really cute.
Then outside and down the big stairs and across the parking lot to the district office, where we left Grandma and Aunt Laya outside in the comfy lobby chairs while we went to visit the secretaries. There is now a big wall of baby pictures (titled "Sequoia Saplings") that was started a year and a half ago with a picture of the Salvateenies. They ran right up to it and found their picture, pointing out who was who and getting so excited they tried to rip it off the wall! We went into my friend Donna's office (Donna's twin daughters were in my class about 14 years ago) and they migrated to her filing cabinet to rearrange all the magnets. It was funny how much the moms of grown kids were completely immune to worrying about my kids messing up their things.
We went back outside and found the ladies sitting and relaxing and then we trekked back across campus to the car, making it just after lunchtime got started.
And then home for a big, long nap!
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