Back to Normal

Well, folks, today is it. Quentin goes back to work tomorrow, we start right back to school, and life returns to normal, whatever that is.

We've had a wonderful almost two weeks with Quentin home. We've been out of the house every day, if only for a brief run to get frozen yogurt, or even if I just count barbecuing in the backyard "getting out of the house."  We've swam, ridden bikes, walked, gone to the park with friends, eaten out, eaten in, watched movies at the theater and at home on DVD -- it's been a wonderful vacation.

It was different for us this year, staying in Brazil for Christmas/New Year's.  We had Christmas Eve/Christmas Day to ourselves, with video calls to the grandparents.  We had a Day After lunch with neighbors and new friends.  We spent New Year's Eve with the C family who also stayed here -- we didn't do Christmas with them since they're Jewish and all -- and had a blast. Watched fireworks from their balcony, ate spaghetti at the house after an hour and a half failed attempt to find a restaurant.  An open restaurant. Turns out that restaurants here close for NYE, or else they open at 9 and hold a "by reservation only" cea (which I'm sure I've spelled wrong, but is the Portuguese word that means late night holiday meal for Christmas/NYE). So we had spaghetti at the house, and "make your own ice cream sundae" for the kids afterwards. We had a good time.

Quentin has seen our schedule in action, and just how easy it is for the kids to accumulate lots of time on the Nintendo and yet still have lots and lots of time for other stuff during the day.  He's seen that I really do get chores done during the day, and not just in the last 30 minutes before he comes home. He's seen that cleaning the living room is a constant, all day affair, what with the kids continuously making messes and all. I hope he's seen that I handle it with grace and patience and ease, but that might be stretching things a bit.  I'll settle for him seeing it at all, and knowing he understands how our days flow now.

I've seen Quentin's willingness to jump in and help out, his ever-constant vigilance against the ants, the way he plays with the boys -- or uses them as an excuse to play Nintendo, one of the two. I've seen that he gets antsy to sit at home all day and do nothing, and that even though he says he wishes he could stay home longer, I can see that he'll be a teensy bit glad to get back to the hustle and bustle and busyness of work.  Even while he's missing us all at the same time.  And I'm glad to have seen that about him.

So we'll enjoy today, our last day with him home -- I think our plans today involve frozen yogurt, so that should be good. Maybe even a late-afternoon jaunt to a water park, but not sure on that one; depends if the weather men are right or not.

Then I have a little bit of planning to do.  We normally take our long break over Dec/Jan and start our new year in February.  Because that usually coincides with our trip home when I purchase our new materials. This year, we are going home for Easter so we'll have a 9-week Mini Session of math, language arts, Bible, and a few tidbits to fill out the day.  Then we'll have our big break during our US trip, purchase the new materials, and start our new year in May after we return from the US.

Thus it's early to bed tonight, because tomorrow it's back to work for Quentin, back to school for the boys and me.  Like I said, life returns to normal for us tomorrow.

What does normal look like at your house? Will tomorrow be a normal day, or are you still in vacation/holiday mode?