dear john-

tomorrow is my last day of work! (for a few days anyway) I am super excited to have a break! your daughter woke up at 5:05 today, but didn't seem sick at all. I guess the puke at the grocery store was just a fluke. she was crying and grouchy and i was worried we were in for another long morning but she curled up on me and fell back asleep in our bed and let me sleep til 720! It was much needed! the job has been really fun but it makes for long days. today with the younger class we worked on our fathers day cards. the kids had a great time making them and sully was really excited to make this for you but we need an address of where to send it. i took pictures of each of the kids in the class to put in the cards and developed them after the swim meet tonight (which was a disater btw. taking 5 kids to the drug store after a swim meet while they are all dripping wet and without dinner at 8 pm is a baaaaaad idea) jo had a playdate this morning w. the twins and the kid you dont like;-) so he came to work with me and the twins mom picked him up and took him to the park. i was really glad she was willing to do that and he didn't miss out. I am worried about how much he will miss his friends next year when school starts and he isn't going. Jo came back to art camp this afternoon and had a really great time. We are doing a unit on Egypt so we have been working on several related projects and there is a kid in the class from Egypt (actually several) and they speak the language and know the culture, so that was a pretty cool coincedence for us. we've made cartouches, made scrolls by making paper, today we made a heiroglyphic mosaic. They've made salt maps of Egypt and the Nile and today we started a mixed media painting on muslin using metallic paints. Aside from Egypt projects, the older kids made a painting out of black posterboard, neon paints and aluminum foil and had to research phospecent bays. they really enjoyed that one as well. It has been such a fun perk to be ableto have van go to class with me in the am and jo in the pm. M will be in my next session and we will be doing very similar projects with a slight twist due to a couple kids repeating the course (spyix out of clay instead of a cartouche, etc.) both of our kids have had a great time in the class, but jo is taking things away and is dissapointed it ends tomorrow. He has made a few good friends that he hangs out with, 2 of them are kids from tkd that he really likes which is nice for him. he has also made friends with a little boy who was the only kid in the class of 22 that didnt have another kid from the same school there. Everyone else knew at least 1 other kid but this boy and he and Jo are very similar in build and interests. It has been a good week for both of them! (van has 3 kids from his preschool in camp with him and is having a blast.) After work today i rushed home, took the sitter home and rushed to kids to a 5 pm swim team warm up. (i got home from work at 430...) i didnt feed them ahead of time but did pack some snacks. We only swam against 1 other team tonight so the meet went super fast, and they only had free and back and our kids weren't even on a relay so we were able to leave early and get to the drug store to develop pictures. when we finally mad it home i made them spaghetti and opened 3 cans of oranges (which is the only thing diva ate) and threw all 5 of them in the shower and staight to bed. they all fell asleep pretty quickly but i also threatened to take away weekend wii time and tv privelages so maybe they were just quieter about it tonight then in the past few days. I am def. not travelling this weekend. I am just to tired and the kids are bummed but they haven't had any free time at the pool since the sitter isn't comftorable taking them so i think we can have a great time here relaxing and swimming. i also have to cut the grass since frank has cut his twice now. i suppose i will borrow the across the streets mower 3 more times before our lease ends... speaking of lease endings.... when we made paper with the pm class, i took the screen door off of our back porch to give the kids a screen with a frame to work their paper out onto. it worked perfectly and the kids were very carfeul with it but the all thought it was really funny that i had taken it off our door (not that it stays on...) ok, diva is awake and crying, i am going to start an episode of arrested development and hold ehr til she goes bakc to sleep (she is getting all 4 canines and is about to finally lose that toenail... she just keeps picking at it...) ok. goodnight!