He. Did. It. AGAIN.

So, I went to school for the sixth-grade party (which was tons of fun, more on that later). I ended up staying until the end of the school day (it was a half-day today). So I asked Mark if he wanted to come home with me or go home on the bus. He said me. So I sent him down to the first grade to collect Kira, and they both came back to the sixth-grade room. After a couple of minutes I looked around, and no more Mark. And again with the school-wide hunt.

He went home on the bus.

I think his principal must think I am AWFUL. I keep losing my kid. That's twice this week that she knows of, and that's just at the school.

His teacher had offered to drop off his stuff that he had left behind so that I could get home before the bus got there. When she came along, I had told Mark he was to apologize to her for putting her out of her way. He kinda tossed it out when he answered the door, I think it possibly got lost. *I* heard it, but I was specifically listening for it. I'm not even sure he had the door all the way open when he said it. [Did you hear it, Ro? It wasn't particularly sincere, though.]

Well, she came bearing "presents." She checked his locker to make sure there wasn't anything he would need over the vacation, and she found a ziploc baggie of....well....Mark *said* they were oranges. From a basketball game. A few weeks ago. All I saw was a lot of furry green and black. It was NASTY. She said she brought it along because she didn't think I would believe her if she just told me about it. *I* think she just wanted to share that wonderful experience, and I don't blame her one little iota. I mean, it was seriously gross. That must have been absolutely disgusting to discover unexpectedly.

Speaking of unexpected, I got a MUCH more pleasant surprise just a little bit ago. FedEx came roaring into my driveway, delivered a pretty big box. I didn't have anything ordered, so I was very curious. Turned out, it was a box from X's dad & stepmom, containing presents for the kids AND a present for me! I was really surprised they sent the kids' presents to my house and not to X's. Who knows, maybe there are more that are going there. Probably not, though.

Anyway, we totally opened them. I was going to be all proper and restrained and wait until Christmas, but nope. (admit: a not-so-tiny part of me really really wants the kids to tell X about the presents. I wish there was some way to subtly let him know that they still sign cards & stuff to me personally as from "Dad & Joanie.")

So, the kids' Uncle Chris sent Mark a Lego kit of some kind (he disappeared upstairs with it so fast, I didn't really get to see it) and gave Kira a Polly Pocket Getaway Jet set, which she is playing with behind me. Dad and Joanie gave Mark some cash (he was wowed by that) and gave Kira a Talbot Kids hoodie sweater with polka dots sewn all over it. Totally cute. She's got it on.

*I* got a gorgeous silver circles Talbots bracelet. (<== it's shown here with a necklace.) I love it. Got it on right now. It's extremely comfortable.

So we'll be writing thank-you notes in a little while.

It's been a pretty good day. I had such fun at the school. The party ended up happening in halves, with the first half (opening of Secret Santa presents) happening before gym, and the second half (food & just general fun) after. For gym, the sixth grade combined with the fifth grade and we played jailball (which is a form of dodgeball, using veryverysoft foam balls). Yes, WE played. The fifth grade outnumbers the sixth by quite a lot, so they needed all the help they could get. It was really fun. I hadn't played it before, but had heard about it. The fifth graders were ruthless. I had about six or seven of them gunning for me all the time. :D

OK, well, I've got about two hours before I need to take Mark to Luka's dad's for the overnight. I guess the "party" is ending up being Luka, Mark & Eddie. The original buddies. I hope they have a good time.

Speaking of good time, Mark is hooting and hollering up in his room about the Lego thing from Chris. He wants me to go up and look at it. Kira's "flying" her Polly Pocket plane up the stairs to look, so I guess I'm off, too. mk

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Update: So D. called me later and asked me if I had gotten a box with the kids' presents in it, because they'd been waiting for it. I said yes, it had the kids' and my present. She kinda skimmed over that and said she wondered why they had it delivered to my house, they've never done that before. So I agreed, and said that usually I just get my present. (again with the no response.) So I got to say it after all! Bwahahahahahaaa. I think they were thinking the box got delivered to me by mistake. Guess again. mk