After that, my mom calmed me down by cooking a good breakfast. She cooks par excellence, and I love every meal she makes. Because of that, I've gained about 10 lbs since she has been here. I look forward to missing her cooking, because it means I might eat less and a bit more healthily , which hopefully will translate into a slimmer body. Yes, yes, I know that I need to exercise too, but when do I find the time with four kids?! (Being busy with four kids is an awesome reason that has helped from feeling guilty many a time.)
During breakfast, mom asked if we could visit a few shops so she could finish her gift buying. In Albania, there is this tradition that we bring gifts to people that we are visiting, as well as when we are returning from a trip. My mother has already gotten presents for my brother's family when she arrived there around Christmas, but she is buying more now because of course she is returning from a trip. Add to those, gifts that she is buying for her Albanian friends, no wonder she has to visit all these stores so many times.
We took the boys with us and headed to the mall. James simply abhors going shopping, understandably since he is a boy. However, when my mother told him that she was going to get him a surprise, he was very willing. As soon as we entered the mall, James knew exactly what the surprise was going to be, a suit. You see, James was with us when mom bought Jefferson his birthday gift, a suit, and he had been upset that he hadn't gotten one, since as you know he likes to dress up at all occasions. He was very happy indeed when he got his own suit today, which he doesn't necessarily need, having two already hanging in his closet. My mother-in-law has also sent James a bunch of sweet looking shirts that coupled with a pair of dockers make him look very snazzy. Ah, what grandmas do for their grand kids.
While at the mall, we sat down at this very cool fast food restaurant, Johnny Rockets, set up as if it were the 50's, with jukebox stations, chrome accents and red vinyl seats. James really liked eating out with his mom. We had a good time together, me and my boys.
We had to stop this very relaxing time in order to take Charlton to the doctor. Earlier this morning, he had pointed to his ear and made us understand that it hurt. The doctor said that he definitely had an ear infection. I felt absolutely guilty of having gotten angry at Charlton for being fussy these past days. I thought he was becoming too spoiled and put him in 'time out' many times. The poor lad had just been feeling rotten, instead.
After the doctor appointment, I stopped by the pharmacy to drop the prescription, picked up the older kids, fed them some snacks, had them change into swim suits, and then led them to their swim lesson. Today was their last day of the first swim phase. All of my kids were qualified for the next stage, swim team, but since they are going to spend a large portion of July in Georgia, we didn't sign them up. They were okay with that since they would rather spend time with their grandparents. We will continue to attend the pool, so they can keep practicing and exercising.
Today after they finished swimming, the coaches had a little celebration going for all the kids who participated in the swim classes. They had printed some cool certificates for the kiddos and had their individual coaches say something special about them. Gillian's coach said that Gillian was a strong swimmer and that she worked hard to achieve hard things. Gillian is a blessing in my life. She truly works hard even when she isn't certain that she can achieve what she is aiming for. Jefferson's coach said that Jefferson wanted to always be first and he mostly was, and if he wasn't, he would work hard to be. That's my competitive boy! James' coach said that it was a joy to work with James since he never complained, always smiled and was consistently obedient. It's joy to have James as my boy too. Charlton's coach, me, told Charlton that he had been a trooper and very patient waiting on his siblings while they swam.
After swimming, we picked up the prescription, had the children shower, ate dinner, and helped Elijah and the boys pack for camp. Elijah had been organizing the father and son camping in our ward to commemorate the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood, and my boys were very excited to do something fun with their dad.
When they left, I asked mom and Gillian what they wanted to do. Mom wanted to take us shopping and have each of us choose something we liked. Who could say no to that! Gillian wanted to go eat ice-cream at Yogurtland, watch Ella Enchanted with me, and read books together in my bed. We did all of that and more. After Yogurtland, we were shivering, and so we turned the fire on in our fire place, nestled with a fancy glass of Italian soda, and had some yummy dinner that mom cooked for us, while talking and laughing like little girls. After the movie, we read some books in my bed, and then called it a night. Before going to bed, Gillian wrapped her arms around me and said that I was the best mother ever.
Spending time with my family is my favorite pastime ever!
