I was able to take a writing class at the Hugo House this weekend, which was really helpful and fun. It was nice, although difficult, to carve out some time to talk about writing and strategies. Unity had Friday off for stupid reasons, (budget cuts, in a nutshell. The teachers were supposed to work unpaid and the kids stayed home. Lose, lose.) She went over to a friend's house and hung out. Later we played a bunch of games and when Brixton came home from preschool, they decided to scrub the kitchen floor together. I swear, this was all them. They did quit after about 15 minutes, but some of the tiles are definitely cleaner than they were. 

Unity also decided to sew a little pocket slash bed for her paper doll. I love the ways they find to entertain themselves. Well, except for the ways that involve wrestling with each other on my bed. That I could do without. 

Sick Days...

One of the most challenging times as a parent comes when you are sick and your kids are fine. It's hard to keep them entertained and taken care of when you are still in your pajamas and not up for much of anything.

This week is deemed "mid-winter break" which is a new concept that assumes families would rather have a week off in February than get out of school earlier in June. I disagree. 

So, our break has been pretty low key so far since Chris and I are both dealing with a nasty cold. The kids watched this classic movie that I loved as a child and then made popcicle stick puppets of their favorite characters. We read magazines and books, and explored the backyard multiple times. 

Today is day 3 of this and I'm hopeful that we are starting to move past it and on to other things. 

a sunny free-day Friday

Apparently our local school board doesn't think highly of February either. Or at least they don't think the kids will learn much in such a short month. Why not give them an early dismissal? Or two. And hey why not throw in a "mid-winter break" while your at it. Um, excuse me, a what? Oh and this is my favorite, we got a day off called "the day between semesters." Because how else can you honor that deep and pernicious transition than by taking a day off to recover from all of the many decisions and travails of the previous semester before steeling your mind to begin again. 

But I'm not complaining really because we had sun, we had friends and we had a long and lovely afternoon at the zoo. (Brixton was not so lucky. The preschool does not hold mid-winter break in such high regard.)

So we had this gaggle of girls, two sets of sisters and my Unity, and set them loose to gawk at animals both exotic and mundane. It went well. They have the kind of overlapping relationships that so often happen here: Unity is friends with B from preschool and R from her current school. R and B live near each other and their parents are tight from way back working on neighborhood council stuff. R and B both have big sisters that Unity likes and admires. 

It all works.

Maybe I do need a mid-winter break after all.