This morning, I finally got to be the mystery reader for Taylor’s class! I was supposed to do it a few months ago, which ended up being one of the only snow days of the year. Then, we tried for last week, but Taylor was sick, the entire week. Her teachers were amazing to work with and allowed me to come today, on the last day of class. I read a book called The Book with No Pictures and the kids absolutely loved it. They had such a blast and laughed so much. Taylor was so proud that her mommy was the reader. Later in the day, she said to me “Mom, you were the best mystery reader out of all the ones who came to our class and my friends thought you were so silly!” Priceless.

I felt terrible that Taylor had to miss her last full week of school, but feel like we came full circle since she missed her first few days this year due to sickness as well. The poor girl had a high fever and tummy troubles. We spent a lot of time lounging around, watching movies and relaxing. Ranger knew she didn’t feel well, and he watched her like a hawk, which was adorable.

Since today was technically her last day, I broke out the sign we use to mark such occasions. It’s not as beautiful and colorful like it normally is because my dry-erase options were quite limited. The boys apparently used up most of the markers and ruined them by making “polka dots and circles”. They slam the markers against the white board repeatedly to make their beautiful masterpieces. Taylor couldn’t care less and was happy with the sign, so that’s what counts.

After a fun last day at school, we decided to have a water fight outside. It started with “Be careful. Don’t get Mommy. I have my watch on and my phone in my hand.” It ended up with the kids literally hosing me down (I had removed all electronics). Todd and I had a little water battle of our own, and the kids thought it was the funniest thing of all time. We were all soaked, but completely happy. We ended the evening with friends coming over for more water fun, popsicles outside, and warm baths. This was the first night in a long time that I didn’t have to ask the kids to get in bed more than once. They were exhausted.