Field Day

It was field day today.  #1-#4 went off to school in gray t-shirts that were a size or two too big that had their school mascot lion on it wielding a light saber.  The t-shirt said, "May the 4th Be With You."  For kids who follow me around the house reading a joke book we have asking me things like, "What did the horse say when he fell down?" and then telling me, "I've fallen and I can't giddy-up," May the 4th Be With You was the awesomest t-shirt declaration ever.  

I love field day because it kept me outside for hours today.  All I really want out of life is to be outside...and for Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to not be the major candidates for President.  It's not a lot to ask.  I really don't think so.

Anyway...

#1 is reading a book called The Big Nate or something like that.  He says it's a lot like reading Calvin and Hobbes.  When he gets home from school, though, I make him read The Red Badge of Courage during his required reading time.  Because I say, "Why laugh when you could otherwise be seriously depressed by the world?"

#2 gets a little whoop-whoop from her mom today.  At this most stupendous of field days they had one of those trampoline things where you get hooked into a harness attached to bungee cords so that you can jump super-high in the air.  Little girl figured out how to do a back flip.  I wasn't there to see it, but with the blue light of her eyes bouncing off her freckles she proudly told me she back flipped four times.

#3 was the anchor on his tug-of-war team.  He pulled with all his might and didn't give up until he was absolutely sure that he had heard the word, "Stop!"  It's been a minute since I last got the boys haircuts and #3's hair grows out more than down when it gets long.  It's in a bit of blond helmet phase right now which made him a viking warrior today if you ask me.

#4 was the most demonstrably jazzed little lady about field day.  She didn't even worry that she didn't get to do what the big kids did.  There was a small pre-K set up in another part of the school.  And she got to "PLAY SOCCER!" and she got to, "GO BOWLING!" and she even got "ICE CREAM WITH BUBBLE GUM EYES!"  I've never seen Barbie ice cream on a stick before - with or without bubble gum eyes, but she, with arms out wide punctuating every word, marveled at the truth of it.

#5 asks me every day if it is a school day.  He's hoping that the answer will be yes.  For him that means that after dropping the big kids off at school he can come home, read books with me, count to ten, sing his ABC's, and then settle into an episode or two of Backyardigans.  The other day I asked him if he is excited to go to school in a couple of years.  He said, "No, I not go to school."  Sometimes life is just too good to want anything else.

#6 fell off the side of the bunk bed today.  I'm trying to be vigilant and keep the door closed to where the bunk bed is, but that crafty 18 month-old has a taste for heights and danger and the determination to make his dreams come true.  Luckily there is plenty of padding in the belly and bottom regions to cushion falls that might be inevitable.

And last but not least, the husband defended his thesis yesterday and passed with no corrections needed.  He is done with school and not too sad about it.  From all reports he did a fantastic, thorough job.  He is so the slow-and-steady wins the race type of fellow - the man kept plugging away at his work until out came over 100 pages and all sorts of thoughts in his brain to back it up about the U.S., Cuba, China relationship triangle.  I've totally got to figure out the slow-and-steady stuff.  It's appears so darn effective.