Anatomy of A Day Off

This is a very grainy iPhone photo of Eric at the bus stop this morning. He decided to wear his backpack backwards. He is goofy enough to constantly bring a smile to our faces but not too goofy that we are annoyed, for the most part anyway. :)

I had the day off today, and although this wasn't necessarily a "typical" day off, there were things that were typical about it. When I'm off there are some things that I like to do. I like to take Eric to the bus stop in the morning and I have to get my goodbye hug before he gets on the bus. I was able to do that today. The difference was that Natalie came along too, even though she obviously doesn't ride the same bus anymore. She is a big middle schooler, after all. I have been able to walk Natalie to the bus this year, but she doesn't want me to stay. Today she got a special treat. The two of us, just the two of us, went to Starbucks for breakfast after Eric left on the bus. She has not been to Starbucks in a while. Eric got to go with Patrick and me on Sunday, but Natalie was still sleeping then. I haven't gotten to take Natalie to school yet. I did today because we didn't finish breakfast until it was too late to get back home to catch the bus. She wanted that anyway, because then she got to school earlier. She wanted to be able to return her library books before school started.

I also like to exercise on my day off, preferably at the gym with Patrick. I was able to do that after he dropped Alex off at school. I don't get nearly enough exercise, and I prefer to exercise in the morning, but on a regular work day, I get up way too early to exercise before work. I also got to get a smoothie after I exercise. They even had one of my favorites today, Pineapple Mango. Patrick and I also got to go out to eat at Bin 555, one of our favorite lunch places. We love the food, but the dessert is to die for, Dark Chocolate Nutella Torte. Yes, we definitely like to be able to go out to eat when I have the day off.

This is, of course, another picture of Eric with his backpack on backwards, except that he was wearing his backwards backpack backwards. This is the way he came off the bus. I wasn't able to take a photo right when he got off the bus because my phone was updating. For those of you that don't know, the new operating system for iPhones, iOS7, was released. That took up much of my afternoon, since everyone else in the US was also updating their software, or at least it seemed like it. I was happy that I was at home to be able to do that, though. I was also happy to be at home when Eric got home from school. He always acts very happy to see me and gives me big hugs when he gets off the bus. I also managed to bake some brownies before Eric got home on the bus, despite all the time spent on the computer. I like to make something special for the kids when I have a day off. It made me a little sad, though, because one of the biggest fans of my brownies won't be getting any since he is far away at college. At least Alex made a big deal out of it and really appreciated that I made them.

As for the different things I did today, Natalie told me last night that she wants to participate in some of the UIL (University Interscholastic League) middle school competitions this year. She said she was particularly interested in the Math and Number Sense that her math teacher is running, and the Spelling and Dictionary Skills, which her friend Margot is especially interested in. I participated in some of those competitions when I was about her age, so it's nice to see one of my kids also interested in competing. In any case, the meetings are on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon. Margot's mom called today and we decided that since I had the day off, I would pick them up today and Margot's mom would pick her up tomorrow. Of course, when I got to the school at 4pm and texted Natalie, she told me that she didn't know there was a meeting and that she was on the bus on the way home--with Margot. Sigh. I also had to pick up Alex from school less than an hour later. He stayed after school to "hang out with friends" and help them with their homework. Usually Patrick picks him up when I'm off work.

So, I got to do a bunch of things that I like to do today, so overall, it was a great day off from work. Eric even told me that he likes it when I'm off from work because then he gets to see me more. He is such a sweetie. Now I need to go explore that new iOS7 on my phone and iPad.