Ah, Friday!

Ah, Friday how I've longed for you to arrive. This has been one crazy, hectic week. One where I think I may have sprouted a few more gray hairs and deepened the lines in my furrowed brow. "What went on?" you ask. Well, let me give you a quick recap......

Monday was fine. It was the start of Walk to School week at my kids' school. Which means leaving the house a few minutes early (by car) and driving half way and then walking the rest of the route. We just don't have it in us to get out the door 20 minutes early to walk the entire distance. Anyway, that went off without a hitch.

Tuesday is where the tide turned. 20 minutes into our morning, my son called out that our dog had squeezed through a hole in our fence and was in our neighbor's yard (the ones we do not know very well). So I grabbed my keys and shook them in the air to get her to come running back (she loves car rides--and this worked like a charm). Needless to say, the joke was on me because somehow I managed to misplace my keys in the time I came inside to the time I need to drive/walk to school. So what should have been a leisurely walk to school day turned into a run to school day. We had 10 minutes to get to school before the kids would need a late slip. And let me tell you, they fear having to get a late slip. So we sprinted to school. My daughter was a nervous wreck and one of my twin boys was crying all the way as I dragged him down the street. Needless to say, we got there just as the bell rang but the crier kept crying. And sadly, my daughter arrived at her classroom door just as it shut. Because she was too afraid to knock on the door to get in her classroom, she came running back to my son's portable with tears in her eyes. I left my son bawling in his doorway, while I hurried off to get my daughter the dreaded late slip. Anyway, when I got home (after hitching a ride) I felt horrible that they were late and that I left them distraught. So I emailed the teachers, just to make sure they had calmed down and of course they had. Evidently, I was the only one feeling badly about how our day started.

Wednesday, I spent the day fretting about the next day's photo shoot. I checked and rechecked all of my equipment and ran through our picture day process over and over in my head. I practiced setting the white balance on my camera a half dozen times, practiced firing the flash simultaneously with my partner's camera just to make sure the signals would not get crossed, and made a few last minute calls to Pocket Wizard to double check that we had our settings correct. Doing a big job can be nerve racking. I had a fitful nights sleep. I kept waking up throughout the night anticipating my 6 a.m. alarm.

Thursday was the big day. My bus. partner and I woke up predawn and schlepped over to a local elementary school where we took photos of 600 kids and staff. Let me tell you this is literally, back breaking work. Even though my mid to lower back is still aching, it was great. The kids were adorable, the parent volunteers super friendly and helpful and overall it was a terrific day. After spending 7 hours at the school, I rushed home to take my four kids to the dentist and then on to soccer practice. The day felt like it would never end.

And now it is Friday. I've got a mountain of paperwork to go through and I really should be doing that right now instead of writing. But I need a little break and I find blogging very therapeutic and relaxing (especially when I've got a glass of wine by my side). Plus once I hit "publish post," I've got to go kick some butt in a game of Apples to Apples--the paperwork can wait. Bring on Friday night!