Leo trotted home from school with a little flyer saying “open house tonight” 6:30 to 8:00. I swear I hadn’t heard about this before but Leo was very excited and insisted we go so who are we to argue? We got there about 15 minutes after it started and I swear I always get confused by these events. Where are we supposed to go? How are you supposed to know? Eventually we found our way to the cafeteria, which was packed, and indeed it seemed—as I suspected–like a giant scam to pack the monthly PTA meeting. Of course since we were late we missed most of it and it was too crowded to get my little crowd haters in there. So we went to Leo’s classroom with Leo leading the way. He was a little shy when we got there but got over it in a very unLeo like way. The teacher had a little scavenger hunt where the kids had to show parents different things around the room. Leo normally refuses to do things like that so I was so happy my heart was breaking when he proudly explained how they did things and showed us his favorite program on the computer, etc. My sweet pea.

Then we went and got ice cream back in the cafeteria. Of course Leo refused it so Owen got two bowls. Did a little playing on the playground. And then the boys handed us their shoes and we walked home carrying their shoes, my shoes (I had a blister), ice cream and the bike lock. On the way home Leo asked if we had ice cream at home and I said no and asked him why he didn’t have any at the school. He said they didn’t have any he liked. They had VANILLA…..which he likes. Little doorknob.

Then we got home, hung out a bit, let the boys watch a couple of cartoons and tossed them into bed. THEN we got to eat a fantastic meal Ernie had made. He braised a pork shoulder for hours in tons of carmelized onions and apple juice. Cooked down the juices until it was saucelike and served it over mashed potatoes and green beans. Definitely a fall meal and utterly fantastic. I’ve got me lots of sweetpeas.