This morning, I asked which kid wanted to volunteer for piano first. Brandon immediately did, knowing he just wanted to get it over with first. He finished up within a half-hour, more than usual for this part of the weekend, because of the skipped practice on Friday. He got to eat breakfast after that, while Dave had already taken Peyton for his morning coffee run. (She kinda won for NOT volunteering; fortunately, Brandon didn’t notice!) After a big oatmeal breakfast, Brandon agreed to work on his commercial. He made a cereal box for his book report for school this month, and the follow up is to write a 1-2 minute commercial. Since there would be lots of editing, I had him type it out. It would also help him with his typing, as they have their test coming up this trimester. He worked through this process for over an hour before it was time to print it up and practice. He got it to just one minute, when he spoke slowly. I reminded him of his teacher’s assessment of his public speaking skills, so he had to continue to improve upon that. For above grade level work, he has to memorize his commercial, so he’s working on that part now. They will film it in class, so we’ll see how he performs. He finished in time for lunch, and Peyton and Dave hadn’t returned home yet. I told him I needed to go out and get salad stuff, but he said he was already out there getting it at that time. Good thing, since we didn’t have much time for the “exchange”. I had Brandon change for baseball practice, which was at 2 pm. And Peyton needed to nap. She also informed me that she hadn’t practiced piano, in an attempt to delay naptime. We went for it, but it wasn’t as a great an idea, since she was tired. Dave said she did a great job at baseball, really getting things together. She has a stride in her swing, that Dave says even Brandon hasn’t gotten down. He was practicing more pop flies with tennis balls so she isn’t afraid to get under the ball. Dave said she’s way ahead of where Brandon was at her age. I’m excited to see how she progresses, but they were out there for almost 2 hours. He was so impressed with her, he got her some ice cream since she misses out on all the snack shack things Brandon gets. Peyton told me she wasn’t tired, but I didn’t believe her for a second. We both took a nap, and when she woke up, she had one more song to go for piano. I got her ready to go, fixing her hair, which Dave hadn’t done earlier in the day. It was a tangly mess. I had planned to go early to the Kao’s, but since we were lagging, I decided to just wait for the boys. They came home right around 4 pm, and Brandon just changed and we took off. Everyone was in the backyard already, and the kids didn’t need warming up at all. They were too comfy with each other, with an injury right off the bat! I turned around, and Peyton had hit a pedestrian in the car she was driving! Ai-ya. Marcus was her victim, and I got her out of the car to check on him. They ended up playing together with a sticker book while the other kids played in the secret hiding place. Eventually, the car was driven again, but this time in the confines of the tennis court. Luckily, Marcus was driving it there, as Peyton’s driving skills are clearly in need of help. Dinner was soon ready, and Brandon ate with the adults, as I was worried he’d tip the little table over with his weight. Peyton and Mckayla were somehow antagonizing Marcus, but eventually, they did finish eating. Dave put on Big Hero 6 as the kid whisperer, so the adults didn’t have to referee too much. Stuart said that Connor asked Peyton if he could sit next to her, and Peyton happily agreed, fixing him a place next to her. Brandon said that Marcus told him to sit next to him. They did all watch, though Brandon was playing with nerf stuff when I saw him. They took a break for ice cream and yummy chocolate pecan pie that Bonnie brought. It was delicious as always! Peyton didn’t get ice cream, since she’d gotten it earlier in the day. She made up for it by eating the almonds that were on the table, along with Connor and Mckayla, an “eater” represented for each family. The movie was continued until it was time to leave. We said our thank you and goodbyes for a nice turkey dinner, since we’re a bit off from our next T-day. Thanks again to the Kao’s for their hospitality. We got home and the kids showered up and went to bed.
