Friday afternoon Mr. 7 went home with friends and Mr. 5 and I played on the school playground for quite a while after school. Mr. 11 called to tell me he was almost home so we walked and met him. After a brief stop for a snack he was off to a friend's house, piano books in hand, to spend a bit of time before his lesson which is 2 blocks away. Mr. 5 and I went and watched Mr. 13 run in his first cross country meet. It was fun to see him run and Mr. 5 shared in the after race snacks while I chatted with a few parents I knew.
We left Mr. 13 with his Shakespeare-themed snack so he could go to the drama department social and headed back to pick up Mr. 7 from his playdate. I had thought that Mr. 11 would be home at this point but he never reappeared. Turns out he'd gone straight back to his friend R's house and was happily hanging out (and didn't hear his phone) which I had thought was likely the case. We chatted with R's mom and offered to get pizza for everyone before fireworks. The pizza place was crowded and the pizza took way too long but we finally walked home with our pizza in time to meet Mr. 13 who was dropped off by a friend and have pizza with Mr. 11 and his friends and walk to the fireworks together.
The fireworks were amazing and everyone ran around in the dark with glow sticks after. Despite an unfortunately altercation between Mr. 7 and a friend of Mr. 11 and R (Mr. 7 got angry and hit him with a glow stick and the young man was pretty sure that constituted assault - happily he was talked out of discussing it with any law enforcement and it was actually more comical than serious), it was a fantastic night.
Town day started with muffins for everyone with my baking assistant.
Mr. 5 had soccer and he actually did all the drills and even played in the scrimmage without too much coaxing which is a huge improvement!
Next up, Mr. 7 had cello lessons so David took the other 3 by bike to Town Day festivities while I managed lessons. The library book sale is one of our favorite events and I had asked David to limit his purchases this year because we honestly just don't have enough space for our bibliophibians. Mr. 5 headed immediately for the cookbook table and picked out an Alton Brown cookbook and was very please with his selection
After cello, Mr. 7 and I went to meet up with everyone for lunch at Town Day. We had to park a bit far and as we were walking we passed the Episcopalian church who were hosting a "Sisters in Stitches" quilt showing in tea. We told them that we were meeting our family but maybe on the way back.
Lunch was a crowded affair and sadly Mr. 13 set his phone down and then walked away and it was missing by the time we returned. Everyone was feeling a bit tired and grumpy so I walked back to the car with Mr. 7 and Mr. 5 while David took the other boys home by bike. As we were again passing the Episcopalian church Mr. 7 stopped and told me that I had said we were going to go and he really wanted to see the quilts. Mr. 5 was starting to lose it and I tried to talk him out of it but he was really insistent. So in we went. We found our way to the church hall in the basement and they had all the quilts displayed with the quilters on hand to answer questions. There was also a lovely tea set up with fingers sandwiches and desserts. It wasn't crowded but there were people admiring the quilts. The boys looked at every quilt and talked about what they liked and how beautiful they were and then we had some treats with Mr. 7 offering Mr. 5 more snacks and even a sugar cube because he thought he would really like it. It was such a sweet time (although I did have to stop Mr. 7 after one sugar cube each).
While we were there we got a call that someone had turned Mr. 13's phone into the police so we walked back to the center and picked up his phone. We really live in a great place - we love our neighborhood school and walking to our favorite bakery. We have a bike path at the end of our street and the librarians recognize us. Having lived in the same place for 9 years has made us a part of the community and it's a great to feel that connection. So when we grumble about being on top of each other in our little space, it's nice to remember that there's a whole town right outside our door to enjoy!
And hopefully the park will be back open soon.
