TGIF my ass.

I would like all of you to think back to when you were little and in school... primary, secondary, high school. And we had those incredible days called "Professional Development Days". And as any child will tell you... These days are AWESOME!! Even I remember loving them. You had the day off from school and got to sleep in and then there was no homework and you could watch TV for as long as you wanted. Today however, I have lost all appreciation for these days. When you are older and not actually profiting from the day off they, simple put, SUCK.
The kids had the day off from school today and I am so glad that I am going on vacation tomorrow, because really one full day of them being home drove me to near insanity. I mean it was great being able to sleep in a little this morning, but still the baby had to get to daycare (yes I still brought him to daycare because the thought of having all three home while the cleaning lady was here just made me cringe). So after Cammi (9) woke up, and I searched for her sleeping brother, Adrien (7), (who was not in his bed which just started everything off badly), I had to drive Owen to daycare. Now the question remains: Do I drag the other two kids, one who is still asleep (I found him in his parent's closet of all places), neither of whom have had breakfast, and both intend on staying in their pyjamas all day, with me to daycare? Or do I leave them at home for the 10 minutes it will take me to get there and back (I have been reassured that this is okay to do so long as you have your cell phone in your hand ready to answer and have locked every door physically possible)? The latter won. But somehow it slipped my mind that it is Friday and that the cleaning lady comes on Friday, so I hauled serious ass getting Owen to daycare, being told they thought he wasn't coming, assuring them that I nor his mother would have said this, and then racing back home before the cleaning lady arrived and I looked like the worst nanny of the face of the earth.
I made it to the door just as the cleaning lady was getting out of her van and from there it was the carefully executed game of "where to play as to not get in the way". We did bake some really delicious cookies in the afternoon though thanks to lovely Canadian friends and their warmly welcomed care packages. This again could not have gone as smoothly as I was hoping as the kids seem terrified of getting their hands dirty by mixing dough (wasn't that always the best part??) and the pumpkin shape looked more like a lumpy circle than anything else. Oh and then there was the water fight that broke out in the bathroom (that had just been cleaned from top to bottom) when I got the kids to wash there hands. Of course this led to a time-out and that led to a nice chat about how we behave, and that led to me burning the lumpy circle cookies. Thank God there don't seem to be any fire alarms in this house, or country for that matter, because I would have set them all off. The few that I didn't absolute destroy were actually really tasty.
Then I got the kids to pinkie swear (for some reason I was really convinced this would work) they would behave and we would pick up Owen early from daycare and go to the park for a while before Owen's dinner. One day they will learn that pinkie swears a sacred, but until then I will run around and remind them to share the play structure, to take turns on the swings, and to not try to feed the poor ducks rocks.
Their mom got back from her week long business trip and I have never been so happy to be off from work.
Tomorrow I'm heading to Spain and couchsurfing for a few days. I'm sure that will be less of a vacation than I had wanted, but still, 4 days without having to think of children is completely welcomed :)