a homework project I could help with

For the most part Mark is the homework helper parent.  I do pretty much everything inside the house, as well as keeping up with all the appointments and shots and camps and playdates, so I feel like Mark can cover the homework end of parenting.
I also happen to be totally impatient when it comes to helping with homework and there are big gaps in my knowledge base.  I  have the English thing nailed, but when it comes to math and science, I am sort of old fashioned and out of practice.
On Friday Maxwell came home with a potato that he had to make into a character with a costume.  If ever there was an assignment that I am perfect for, it was this one.
We brainstormed a little and came up with Robert Plant, and I was off like a shot knitting a tiny longhaired wig for the spud! I happen to have some silk and micro-suede scraps in my sewing basket, that were perfect for a rock star potato's clothing.   We spend quit some time looking for some kind of foam for the microphone head, when I noticed some sponge paintbrushes, and VIOLA!
My life has been so intensely cruddy lately, this was just the thing to lighten things up.  Maxwell is thrilled with the outcome-win, win.

Much like the Dude, I abide...

My kids spent this past week with my mother at Rockaway beach.

They have been going there for about 10 years.

The last week of August is my crazy busy time at work, when we prepare the school for the new school year.

It is best not to have family commitments during this time of year.

I am pretty single minded about getting everything done and not good at switching gears and thinking about parenting duties.

This year was the most painless for me yet, with the cleaning, list making and trainings going really smoothly.

I did a lot of work ahead, I had the re-credentialing done in MAY!

I have learned a thing or two over the years and while I fully expect there the be a few unhappy customers, I would say that on the whole things go better and better each year.

It looked like there was going to be a big wrench thrown in the mix last Saturday, when my grandfather landed back in the hospital, after showing up to my nieces softball game with a temperature of 104!

My mother thought she would have to scrap the trip, because it was unclear when Grandpa would be released from the hospital, and even if he were released he couldn't be alone for a week, right?  After much calling on friends and family, we figured it all out and I did a last minute shopping trip to get food for five for a week and off they went.
I was supremely relieved to have the freedom to get my stuff done without having to parent. 

They came home today and a whole new set of issues came to the surface, when my mom let me know that she hadn't really cleared the whole idea of picking up my kids after school, with her husband.

OOOPS!

So I am scrambling for childcare at the 11th hours and sweating bullets between bouts of sobbing.

Mark keeps telling me that "everything will work out" and Rolf has sworn to help out with Freyja, and Maxwell has agreed to take the city bus (it will require my beautiful spaced out baby to get on THREE filthy buses to make it home!)I took the city bus from the time I was ten, but I have visions of Maxwell winding up at a truck stop in Troutdale with no cell phone, and it makes me sick.   Two parent friends that I have heavily supported over the years have stepped up to offer car pooling for three of the days.

If I was a religious person I would say that god provides, but I am not, so I say, it's a damn good thing I have been such a good friend for so long.