Hijacked!

Well, I (Chrissy Vance) have hijacked the apartment 1004 blog post for the day.  My writing is far less ....GOOD?.... and my pictures are much more....PLAIN??..... but Dave simply hasn't any time tonight to blog.  I am excited to break his blogging  rules of 3 pictures only,  and his witty well constructed sentences... Ha ha ha. HAHAHAHA!!!  All these exclamation points and poor grammar is going to drive him Craaaaaazy!

Anyways, Dave is out at Tim Hortons pushing through the last of the exam marking, and then needs to put his report cards and comments together for all his students. He suspects he should be done by midnight.   This is actually a huge improvement from his first few years teaching, where he pulled all nighters ALL THE TIME! We have figured out a routine where he manages to stay on top of marking if he puts in about 4 evenings per week and 4 hours on Saturday during the day.   This probably sounds like a ton, but it is SO much less than those first few years.   After 5 years he has his base prep work mostly done, but he likes to improve on things, and introduce new books, etc.  Mostly, though, he teaches HEAVY English courses, and so long papers and annoying grammar quizzes are constantly piling up. Somehow this system has kept his head above water, and TONIGHT should be the last work night he puts in for the school year.  Seriously, these teachers deserve their holidays and summers off.

Dave is not only such a wonderful teacher, but he is a fantastic husband and dad.  He somehow balances these three demanding things.  He took me out for a great date last night, and spent half the day with the family despite the late night it meant for him.   Here we are getting started this morning.

Usually, the kids watch a show before lunch time.  However, Dave and I were so wiped we slept in until 7! On school days Dave is up at 5:30 to get things moving, and I typically fall back asleep until 6 before getting up an hour before the kids come down from their rooms.  I really am NOT a morning person.  Well, I am, actually. I love the morning, but it takes me about 20 minutes of blank staring while sipping on coffee before I am ready to talk to anyone in a kind way.  So, when we slept in this morning, and then the kids were up and bouncing, we popped on some cable so we (I) could have my several minutes of blank staring and coffee sipping.  They actually look just as tired as I do, but everyone had a great sleep the previous night.

After eating breakfast, and cleaning up, and getting showered and everyone dressed, Dave plunked down with Jesse to build some lego, and the girls and I tackled some packing in the basement.  We made it to soccer JUST in time for parent participation day.  I should have just kept the girls home and let the boys do their thing, but knowing our plans to be inside for a lot of the day packing up, I figured us girls would go watch and get some fresh air for a while.  Here they are starting up.

Well, a few minutes into parent day, RObyn decided she wanted to play soccer.  She kept bolting out from the sidelines onto the field right to Dave or Jesse (whoever had the soccer ball.) After a few repeated attempts to bring her back, she just stood on the sidelines with her back to me, SCREAMING with tears pouring down her face.  " RObyn," I said, " Do you need a snuggle from mommy?"  She would glare at me and shout, "No! Dada!" and then she would whip around and continue her impressive fit.  Dave, sensing my annoyance and extreme discomfort from the heat, baby bump, and stiff back, ran over and scooped her up.  He actually played soccer with Jesse for about an hour in scorching heat, while toting around a 20 pound toddler!  She loved it. She was smiling and beaming and giggling.  Janna and I chilled, as we like to do, and the day was saved.   Can you find them here?

We came home for lunch, and to honor Dave's awesome soccer and toddler skills, I will post a picture of what we ate. Yes, it's watermelon, pancakes, and there was some bacon too, it got eaten first, perhaps? I feel happy that there isn't any pictures of greasy meat!  he he he

Well, after the kids got down for naps, Dave took off to mark until dinner.  I spent the afternoon packing,  cleaning, playing with the kids outside, and getting the kids bathed,  etc before tackling supper.  Dave was able to eat dinner with us, and join Jesse and I for a game of "trouble" before tucking the kids in and taking off again.  Jesse received that board game for his birthday, and I forgot how much fun it was.

Anyways, that is all for now.  The day is done.  Tomorrow we will rest. Ish.  As much as you can with 3 little kids.  I had a video I wanted to post of the kids running wildly before bed, and Jesse smoking Robyn by accident, but I don't really know how to put that on here.  Maybe Dave will save it for one of his "randoms" post.

peace out!
Dave (Chrissy for real)