The Man of the House

This evening I found myself once again racing to pick up the kids from daycare on time. However tonight, as I sprinted in heels dodging leftover snow on the fraternity row of Vanderbilt, I must have looked a little more crazy than usual. Granted, I didn't feel older than the students I was passing but I got a few raised eyebrows darting across the street between bumper to bumper traffic. I forgot that in college time = leisure. Finally reaching the parking garage and paying for my exit one thing crossed my mind, "This is definitely not how my Friday nights used to be."

For nostalgia's sake, and because this is about all I can recall, Friday's were a wonderfully peaceful time in college. I usually had a studio till 4, would enjoy a hour or two at the gym and then take hours eating dinner, cleaning up, and getting ready to go out (if I wasn't working). Granted, I rarely made it past 1AM, and going out meant walking distance from my house to where ever there was a great place to hear music and dance, it was still a couple hours of good fun with friends.

For future nostalgia's sake, and because I will really want to remember these nights, present Friday's, and most nights, are all about the kids. Tonight after scooping up Aria and Roland on time (it's a miracle) we listened to the entire new Girl Talk  album (not too loud, there's some racy language in there) as we decompressed from the week in rush hour traffic.

Grabbing some dinner to go, we visited with Grandmama and Papa to celebrate their birthdays. (I have no idea what age they actually turned...we'll go with around 70th?) We gave them fun new socks and candy that the kids picked out. Roland practiced letters with Papa while watching Wheel of Fortune (funny) and Aria showed off her new sprinting and climbing abilities (not so funny).

Roland left to go to the bathroom at one point and after a while Kris went to check on him...she came racing back to get her phone and snapped the following photo. Seriously, this isn't staged. He was just sitting in there reading the Lowes advertisements. Brian tells Roland to be the man of the house while he's away, I guess that extends to all houses. Roland told Kris, "I'll be in here if you need me."

There was still dancing tonight - for the old folks when we sang them happy birthday - and there was still some exercise - I've got some blisters from running in those heels - and I will likely be up at 1AM - and maybe 3AM, probably 5AM and most definitely 6:30AM - these really are some great Friday nights. The kids took a great bath without much incident, everyone got dressed without much fuss, and for once I got to read an entire book to Roland without Aria squirming out of my lap.

And these are the amazing bookends of my day:  snuggling with both kids to start the day and snuggling with both kids at bedtime.

Still, I wouldn't mind two leisure hours at the gym!