what a difference a day makes:

this morning, 8:02 am, E and H have caught the bus and are at school ready for their day's adventures. They are both buying lunch, it's Big Daddy's Pizza. The only day E chooses to buy ever. H buys from time to time.
Lu and I are in the den, I'm eating a bowl of oatmeal and catching up on some blogs before we start cleaning up and getting to our list of the day.

The list:
clean up for mom and dad to arrive
make soup
wash sheets
take J's physical form to the doc to have it signed so she can swim
call Holly about dinner groups
hope the email gets back up (it's only been 5 days so I should be patient)
exchange J's pants
read 20 pages (day 3 and going strong :) )
go to the airport

Lu has finished her waffles and is now watching Elmo. She wishes it was ballet day, or her friends were coming over, but has resigned herself to picking up toys, running errands and the light at the end of the tunnel? seeing Grandma tonight!

Yesterday?
That was a different story. Monday is my day to have our friends over. I have two good friends who have decided to work very part time, like me, if I ever get my transcript in the mail. Side note: I took my diploma (for my BA) and my teaching credential to the district office with my application to substitute teach and they "couldn't accept it" as evidence that I had at least 60 hours of college credit. Which I thought was a bit ridiculous. I have 5+ years of credit, but whatever. Hopefully this week.
Anyway. On Monday the kids come here, Wed to Debi's and Friday's to Ang. If I sub on a T-Th I have to make other arrangements but I have that covered and hope it will go smoothly. This lets each of us work two days a week and watch each others kids one. A perfect baby-sitting co op!
So I had the kids yesterday and it was a bit crazy, as in fun and active and noisy crazy. While they are here I try and do a little lesson time, just because I like to and we have a lot of time to pass so why not? :) Yesterday we read "The Little Red Hen" and then went to the kitchen to make bread. We pulled chairs up to the counter and I gave them each a little scoop of wheat with the instruction to put it in the grinder and watch it go down the funnel and turn into flour. I warned them that the grinder was noisy. So they had their scoops in one hand, one hand over an ear, faces bright with anticipation and I turned it on. They collectively screamed, wheat went up in the air, little feet jumped off the chairs and ran out of the room. It was SO funny! Eventually they came back, although no one was willing to get any where near the grinder :) We made bread in a bag and then ate it. Made puppets to act out the story with and learned a song about grinding wheat and making bread. All that took about 5 minutes (an exaggeration) and the rest of the day they ran amok, built towers, played babies, had battles, sang songs, rode the roller coaster, ate Popsicles, played in the backyard, listened to stories, played candy land (a very labor intensive process for the mommy helper), and memory. Whew! After school K and P came to play so we had friends all day, which the kids love, and so do I. But it's not a formula for a neat and tidy house. It is a sure fire formula for a fun filled home though.