It’s been a strange week, I think. One that started with a fund raising golf tournament, had a trip to the orthopedic surgeon, a birthday celebration and a whole lotta kids stuff thrown all around.

The kids stuff is a given. I am used to putting on my chauffeur hat and shuttling kids from place to place. I actually kinda like taking them places. When they are with their carpool groups they forget I am in the car and they talk. I listen. I hear everything. I hear about their likes, their dislikes, who is making them angry, how they feel about their place in their family and all manner of completely random comments. I actually like the chauffeur hat.

The other activities that have thrown me this week. 

I am not used to starting my week with 18 holes of golf.  I am very much a schedule person.  I like my schedule and routine and when it gets thrown off my whole week gets out of whack.  18 holes of golf to start the week meant the laundry didn’t get done on laundry day, which meant the rest of the week was one day off.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining because I had a blast playing golf with my friend and then enjoying a fabulous dinner after it just threw my week off.

After golf we added a trip to the orthopedic guy for Zach’s shoulder.  For those of you who missed my blog on Saturday, Zach got hurt in his last hockey game.  He stepped out onto the ice for his second shift (not his first like I originally said).  He took a check hit in a weird way which caused a separated shoulder.  The ER doc in Philly gave us a two week estimate on how long Zach would be out of hockey.  The orthopedic doc gave us the real deal…six weeks.  Zach will be out of the game he loves for six weeks.  He can start practicing with his team after three weeks but absolutely no contact or hitting and then another three weeks before he can get back in the game.  Not exactly the news we wanted from the orthopedic doc but we gotta do what we gotta do to get Zach’s shoulder healthy and whole again.

Then yesterday was my mom’s birthday so we celebrated and celebrated big.  It’s the first time ever that we have lived in the same state as my parents since we had kids.  This is their first time inviting my mom over for her birthday dinner with just a short drive to and from their own house.  The kids were happy and excited to celebrate a birthday with my mom the way we celebrate birthdays at our house….a dinner of the birthday person’s choosing ~ although, my mom didn’t play along and choose her own dinner.  We had Filet Mignon, langastino lobster scampi, salad, bread with roasted garlic and Lucas’ giant toll house cookie with vanilla ice cream.  My mom and dad were beyond happy to celebrate with us and three of their grand kids.

Now, we move back into normalcy…

This afternoon I had Claire’s dance carpool and Lucas in the car. Lucas has to come along on Thursdays so I can drop him at his hockey carpool. I’m not sure he’s ever been in the car with four fifth grade girls. It was an interesting exercise for him. He listened, and chimed in, as the girls talked back and forth.  Lucas is incredibly easy going so it wasn’t too much of burden on him to listen to and chat with four girls.  I think he actually had fun, but if he heard me say it, he would deny it.  He had fun teasing the girls when they said something completely out of the blue.  I think he found a kindred spirit in the group of girls this afternoon.  Lucas is the king of pulling random comments out of the air but one of the girls in our carpool had him floored with the comments she could whisk out of the deep, dark recesses of her brain.  It was an interesting ride and I am looking forward to watching it unfold as we continue on for the remainder of hockey season and dance.

I am looking forward to a quiet week next week…I want to keep the kids out of the ER this weekend and just focus on some semblance of a normal week in our house.

Oh, for the love of my children….