Kisses for four days :)

Paul and Claire are away for four days for their 17th anniversary, and Angelina and I are "minding the children" while they are away.  I'm not certain that is an accurate description however.  Carrie [14] and Joanna [12] can basically take care of everything on their own. Daniel [9] is the only one who really needs any guidance.  

My duties started with collecting Daniel from school at 3:05 yesterday.  I was very prompt, after Paul's comment: "The school doesn't like it when parents are late to get the kids.  To be honest, the kid isn't too happy about it either!"  Once everyone was home, we watched their daily treat of Scooby Doo.  Everyone was appropriately horrified that this was my first ever viewing of Scooby Doo.  

The evening was filled with homework, a trip to the pet store for birdseed and sand for the bird cage (the girls have 2 birds), dinner, dishes, an episode of 7th Heaven online, and endless Legos, with sporadic bouts of sword-fighting [Daniel...toy swords, don't worry].  Ironically, Angelina enjoyed the Legos the most.  Joanna did make a cute Lego cow. 

Angelina graciously took on the task of getting Daniel ready for bed.  The girls wandered off on their own, and Angelina and I sat down for a chat.  One thing led to another, and in the end, I turned out my light to go sleep at midnight.

I woke up at 5 a.m.  

The birds.  

Oh, the birds.  

I'm never having pet birds.  The idea of waking to the melodic chirping of birds isn't quite as nice in practice.  Those little bits of yellow fluff are noisy!  [And my family can verify, it takes a lot to wake me up.]  Angelina and I are sleeping in the girls' beds, which are in the loft of the house, complete with skylights.  Skylights without curtains.  The sunrise was at 4:43 this morning.  Remember, London is quite north, and we are approaching the solstice.  Between the birds and the morning light, I gave up on sleep at 5:30 and made my way downstairs for breakfast.  Carrie and Jo were already at the table eating cereal.  Morning people .  They smiled but were raised well enough not to laugh at their elders, especially before said elder has found the coffee.  

At 7, I woke Daniel up to start getting ready.  He's not a morning person either, but apparently Legos are his caffeine.  Joanne packed lunches, I did the dishes, and by 8:30, everyone has been walked to their respective schools, hopefully with the necessary books.  I'm now on to my first cup of tea of the day, ready to settle in to my own studies of the book of Revelation.  Angelina is still sleeping soundly.  I guess I finally discovered someone who sleeps more deeply than myself.

[And the postman just pushed the mail through the slot in the door.  Oh my days.  It sounded like someone was trying to break in.  I think I get jumpy when I'm tired.  Hence, the need to switch from coffee to tea.] 

Funny story from last week with these same kids.  Joanna and Daniel were playing a game on the Wii where they could each be pilots of an aircraft.

Daniel: Joanna, do you want to dogfight?

Joanna: Ok.  [Daniel clicks the buttons and starts their game]...Wait...Why are we in planes? I thought we going to dogfight?

Bless.  Paul explained the expression to her.  Her genuinely confused expression was so cute!