The longest weekend

Loudoun County schools do this odd thing where the teachers get two "teacher work days" at the end of the first marking period. Somehow, every year, they make these work days coincide with election day. That's right, the kids won't go back to school until Wednesday. For many families long weekends are perfect times for little getaways or just general family togetherness. Our family just tries hard not to go insane.

If you read the post above this one and followed the link, you may notice that Sebastian was with us at the Sarah Palin rally last Monday. Contrary to what many of my friends thought, he didn't earn that day off from school as a reward. He was actually suspended from school for destruction of school property. We figured that a morning spent somewhat cold and VERY bored would be a good way to make a day home from school not FEEL like a reward. I'm not sure if it worked... read on.

I pointed that incident out to give an example of how the kids have been in rare form lately. Just today, I spoke with Addison's teacher and she's INSISTING that I come along on their upcoming field trip. It seems that the boys aren't trusted to keep out of trouble and I'm sure that the school, especially the teachers, don't like the liability implications of something going wrong away from school grounds. Last year, Addison didn't do so well on the National Zoo trip and no one wants to see a repeat performance. In light of Sebastian's recent activities at school, they certainly don't trust him either.

So, that brings me back to this LONG weekend. Just the other day (Saturday?), Addison and Sebastian wandered off to a neighbor's back yard. Said neighbor has a lovely decorative koi pond in it. The boys thought it might be fun to make the fish move (they don't move much, since they're getting ready to hibernate) by throwing very large landscaping rocks at them. Thank goodness these are amazingly tolerant neighbors and, although Sebastian did manage to fall in, no one was hurt. Well, we're not sure about the fish yet, but at least the boys are okay.

This is ultimately why the weekend is seeming to last forever. I mean, no sooner did we drag them home from the pond fiasco, than Sebastian gave Addison a bloody nose, while Addison gave Sebastian a bloody nose AND a good knock on the head by pushing him into their dresser. It is exceedingly difficult to a) keep the boys from "forgetting" that they're supposed to be grounded, b) get anything done while still keeping them under constant surveillance, and c) keep them from getting into MORE mischief out of boredom.

In short, don't expect to hear much from me until Wednesday. Right now, keeping my boys from killing themselves and/or each other and keeping myself sane are top priorities. Wednesday, the school can take over for a few hours and I might finally get some rest!