The Week.

It's been a week.

Happy Easter! Happy Leftovers Day, as Oscar calls Passover!

This week started last Saturday, as Evan took The Goose to Father's Day at our beloved preschool, Grandview Children's Center. They dug for treasure, they crafted, they snacked. And the dads, who are mostly not there for drop off and pick ups and birthdays, got a great taste of how wonderful our little school is. 

 The Goose and Evan made a sturdy book bag, which will serve as our new library bag.

Sunday was April Fool's Day. I fooled my kids into thinking that I was a good mom and made personalized pancakes.

 Arlo is just about to grow out of this knight shirt, handed down from Oscar, worn on a weekly basis in our family for the past four years. Sob! How will I give this up? Normally I would just give it to Om so that I could see it on a delicious slightly-smaller-that-my-sons body, but he's all the way in Nigeria.

The week was full of same old, same old. Monday was Oscar's last day of Chess after school. He brought home a second place trophy. I'm not entirely convinced that everyone else brought home this trophy as well, but he was pleased and we were proud.

Tuesday is dance class for The Goose.

Wednesday Arlo takes a general sports sampler class. He also brought home an awesome bunny windsock from school that now graces our tree outside.

Thursday, Oscar takes a Star Wars Drawing class from 5:30-7. I drop him off and Even picks him up on the way home. His teacher is a bad ass guy with white hair and a handlebar mustache that drills them on drawing the bodies before the details and breaking down the figures into shapes. Evan and I have been trying to show Oscar this concept for a while, but like most life lessons, it took someone else to make it sink in. 

Egg-dying. It's not Easter without a couple dozen colored hard-boiled eggs in the fridge.

Friday! I break my longstanding vow to not take the kids out of school for personal reasons. I pick up Oscar at 11:38 with Arlo since our friends Dileri and Patrick and, most importantly, Oscar's old pal Nicky are visiting us. Nicky and Oscar grew up in the same playgroup, grew apart when they went to separate elementary schools, and rediscovered each other at summer camp. Oscar loved hanging out at the calm, collected household of one child, and Nicky enjoyed the barely controlled chaos of the Brockway-Metcalfs. Nicky's family spent a week in nearby Palm Springs, but fit in a day in Burbank so the old friends could hang.

We took them to El Torito for lunch and dropped the little guys off at a local park with a babysitter. Evan took us all on a quick two-hour-tour of the Lot. Nicky and Oscar were just thrilled to spend time with each other being silly and loud. Dileri and I loved pouring over the details of the costumes in the museum on the lot. (I've been there before, but not without three small children threatening to knock over Sam's piano and the Weasly Twins' suits.)

We said a fond fare-the-well to our friends (we'll see them briefly in a couple weeks) and went to the Cohen-Carlins for a Seder.

My kids have been to more Seders in the past three years than Easter Services. This one was especially fun. I got to swap Portchester and SUNY Purchase gossip with some current students. The guests and hosts were charming, the food was delicious, and The 10 Commandments were playing in the background.

Arlo busied himself by drawing Godzilla and his pals battling all over the front of the Haggadah, much to the delight of our host.

My children did not mortify me with their behavior and we all left with bellies full of soup and brisket. I sure hope someone found the afikoman.


Saturday was lots of puttering. It was Lego Club day at the library, but we didn't have any plans after that. That's always a mistake.

The rest of the day dissolved into a mush of TV, Wii, and fighting. We redeemed ourselves with a Family Movie Night of Who Framed Roger Rabbit. The kids loved the slapstick and picking out the cameos. Evan and I enjoyed pointing out the scenes filmed at the WB Lot and how this movie would NEVER happen now. It's just too edgy and too self-aware. You can seriously see the animations guys bursting at the seams. Man, I love that movie. We corralled the kiddos to bed and set about Easter prep.

(We watched The Immortals during Easter prep. I remember one thing about this movie -- Mickey Rourke mumbling something threatening through a large beard.)

Easter on the next post, if I don't fall asleep first.