Oh, what a busy day!

Friday was really busy and eventful, and by the end of the day I felt like I could have written my own version of Gyo Fujikawa's Oh, What a Busy Day!  We had this book when I was little and I remember certain pages of it very clearly.  On one of my parents' many visits to see us in NYC, my Mom got this book for Leighton.  He really likes it, and I laugh when he asks Roy to read it with him because Roy always comments that some of the poems/pages give him the impression that Fujikawa may have been writing while in an altered state of mind.  That's my PC way of explaining that, but of course you all know Roy better than that and can come up with your own idea of the much more colorful and comical version of how he'd be phrasing his thoughts!

Anyway, back to our busy day!

We woke up early (well, normal time for Roy & Leighton but early for me and Riley!  We're sleepyheads!) because we had to be at a school for registration for Pre-K for Leighton for next year.  To those of you scratching your heads and wondering if YOU are in an altered state of reality - yes, Leighton has already done Pre-K, but because he has an October birthday, he does not meet the Texas cut off of Sept 1st and will be doing Pre-K again instead of moving on to Kindergarten like he would have been in NY, where the birthday cut off is Dec 31st.  This was bothering me a lot for a while, but then instead I started worrying about what school to send him to because most of the public school Pre-K programs are a free Kindergarten readiness program for children qualifying based on having a language other than English spoken in the home or the parents' income lower than a certain amount, including the Pre-K program at the elementary school at the end of our block.  That leaves expensive private schools or a handful of public schools that fill spaces with tuition-based applicants as our options.  Luckily a few of these public schools are reputedly 'good' schools and are close to us.  They are all schools with a gifted and talented program and each school has a specific focus.  The three we are applying to include a music school, a science/math/technology school, and a languages school.

When we got home from registration, Roy headed to work and the kids and I walked to Foodarama (I love saying the name of that place!) for a few groceries.  As we were returning home, we met up with our new neighbor, her son (age 3.5), and the daughter (age 5 this month) of the people across the street.  She invited Leighton over to play, so Riley and I put away the groceries and then joined him.  It was interesting to watch/listen as the kids played because the little boy only speaks Hebrew, Leighton only speaks English, and the little girl speaks both languages so was playing with the boys one at a time.  Leighton was thrilled to play dress up and begged me to take a picture of him as the Minnie Princess Fairy.

 While the kids played, I chatted with our neighbor, Ronit.  She offered to make lunch for the kids and explained that she is trying to introduce her children to American foods (they moved here from Israel a week ago) and bought a box of KD to try.  Well, it technically wasn't KD.  KD (Kraft Dinner) is the Canadian (and MUCH better) version of Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.  So, she pulled out the box of KD Macaroni & Cheese and asked what exactly the components were and how to make it.  She read the instructions aloud and when she got to the part about cooking the noodles, I had to stifle a laugh so she wouldn't think I was laughing at her.  I was actually thinking of the time that Clyde (my brother-in-law) was very proud to tell me that he cooked KD all by himself and explained how he boiled water in the kettle, and measured 6 cups into a pot on the stove because the directions said to cook the noodles in 6 cups of boiling water.  I love that he measured the water.  And I really loved that he boiled it first.  This was probably 13 years ago and it still makes me giggle.  I wasn't expecting Leighton to want to eat the mac and cheese since he doesn't usually like sauces like that on his noodles, but he cleaned his plate and was MORE than happy to then sample the yogurt she had bought for the kids - vanilla yogurt with Reese Pieces to shake on top!

I took Riley home for a nap and Leighton stayed a bit longer before coming home to play while I got dinner ready.  When Riley woke up, we went to the playground in hopes of finding some of the friends Leighton had made the other days we had been there.  Sadly, they were not there, but I made my first mommy friend connection, I hope.  There was a woman there with her three kids (5.5, 2.5, 8 months) and after chatting for a while, I found out she's from a small town in southern Alberta!  We exchanged numbers and hopefully we can meet up at the playground sometime soon.  Riley and Leighton had some playground fun and snacks before we went home to wait for Grandma and Papa to arrive for their visit!

It was very exciting to have Grandma and Papa arrive, and after dinner, some play time, and bath, the kids were tucked into bed after a very busy day.  Well, not actually tucked in since it was about 80 degrees and too hot for covers!!