Man oh man. It's the BUSIEST week on paper.....in addition to the normal stuff (which is fairly busy) I also have 3 large events I'm in charge of this week. There's the Teachers Week Teacher Appreciation Luncheon today (I made two salads and was in charge of making sure all the other food arrived and was set up and cleaned up as the coordinator of the even). Then on Friday, there's the Preschool Fundraiser -- Spaghetti Feed/Family Fun Night/ Silent Auction. I've been one of the team members getting Silent Auction items, making calls around town, filling out forms, and driving to pick them all up. Then on Saturday I'm helping co-host a BBQ for Chugach Optional Elementary school families living in the neighborhood. Since it's a magnet school, it draws kids from all over town so this is a chance to get that neighborhood feel with the school. I think we'll have a good 50-60 people here. I'm not sure I've ever thrown such a big shindig. Feeling busy enough?

Ok...now let's add on top of that a few unexpected things that weren't on the schedule. First, last night at swimming, Christopher chipped both of his two front teeth on the side of the pool. An emergency dentist visit ensued this morning. Luckily there is no nerve or root damage and they can fix it with a bondo type of filling. That's scheduled for next Monday. I'm grateful to find out that it can be fixed and the teeth saved. We had been to the dentist yesterday morning for his regular 6 month check up and now we'll be having 2 additional emergency visits this week to get it fixed between today and Monday's appointments.

Second, one of Cate's teachers at preschool had her last day at school today. She's getting married in NY so she has the last week of school off. I wasn't expecting such an emotional reaction from Cate. She's been crying for the past 30 minutes straight and has finally stopped only with the help of Barney. Thank goodness for that giant purple dinosaur. Cate is generally my emotionally steady child so it was unexpected that she would have such an outpouring of emotion. It is a good sign showing how much she's bonded with her teachers and her school -- but man, oh man, what is a mom to do? I'm sure that her response was partly due to the teacher herself (she is WONDERFUL and Cate has really enjoyed her) and partly due to struggling with the big change coming her way with changing schools and heading to Kindergarten next fall. Most of the time she talks excitedly about Kindergarten and the teachers and the classrooms. She is comfortable at the school after spending so much time there watching her brother. I'm sure part of her feels excited at what she knows is coming her way. But the other part of her is beginning to feel extremely sad for the school, the teachers, the friends she'll leave behind. She's so ready for the new challenges at Kindergarten, but she's had such a wonderful preschool experience that she is also genuinely bereft at leaving. OK -- enough with my psychoanalysis (can you tell I've become a big fan of "In Treatment" on HBO? Great show about patients working through the psychological issues!! Rent the DVD's if you don't get HBO.)

Alrighty. Off to console Cate some more, then clean up the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon and pick up 4 more silent auction items. Sigh!