Give Me Strength..

It's been a little over 2 hours since "The Arrival" and my teeth are already on edge...

Their flight was delayed, so they got the house after the boys' bed time, Potatey was already sound asleep, Salamander was drifting off.. but as their arrival at the house was accompanied with a TREMENDOUS amount of noise, Salamander got startled and became agitated and anxious..so I stayed with him until he had settled down again.

When I made it downstairs (no, I didn't immediately run downstairs to do the meet and greet thing.. I was busy with Salamander) I was greeted with a 'Oh, you are actually here? The house was so quiet that we thought you had gone off and were busy doing all those things that you are involved in these days."

WTF?

First of all, I would NEVER EVER leave my boys alone in the house unattended.

Second, the TV was on as I was recording a show for Salamander (old TV, old VCR system. TV must be on when recording. No, I don't have DVR or TiVo).

Third, "gone off and were busy doing all those things that you are involved in these days."?? (oh, I know what THAT refers too..]

I have no words..

I have to hold on to the following mantra until Tuesday afternoon:
"I don't owe anybody an explanation or justification for how the boys and I life our lives."

But oh boy, the *fun* the next several days will bring.

Salamander ended up with an obscene amount of homework that needs to be done by Monday. He has a BIG project that is due on Monday that we really should have gotten started on last weekend, but alas, I wasn't here to help him get started. And this whole week has been messed up.
He has school work to make up for the days he missed this week.
He also had a project that was due today that we completely spatzed out on, so he, and other kids who forgot that same project, were assigned extra work to *teach them to remember deadlines* (we'll see about THAT on Monday..we completed this missed project this afternoon and emailed it to the teacher).

And then I discovered that Salamander's performance in his 5th grade musical is THIS UPCOMING Tuesday evening at 7 pm - and that his costume needs to be ready by Monday for Dress Rehearsal.

And then of course there is the usual weekend stuff...

Well, we'll do what we can...Me thinks a good opportunity to get the grandparents involved in helping out..