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2/28/1999 Rainy Sunday11:35 a.m. Stephanie stopped over unexpectedly last night after Mass. The twins were excited to see her. "Babci's here! Babci's here!" they called when she appeared at the door. I was glad they were affectionate toward her, especially Matthew. It always hurts her feelings when he ignores her or refuses to hug or kiss her. Tab and I think Matthew is her favorite, though she denies it vehemently. Bad moods are as contagious as colds. Tab is feeling stressed because of how much work we have to do to get the house ready to sell, and he was consequently irritable and snappish this morning. We both have too much work to do and too little time in which to do it. I woke up in a relatively good mood despite my still sore neck; by the time we left the house this morning, I was irritable, too. In the first place, I didn't want to have to leave. I was hoping the kids and I could stay home. For a little while at least, they were playing well together in Daniel's room. Then the inevitable squabbles began, and Tab became annoyed with the chaos erupting all around him. He was painting the trim in the kitchen today, which meant that we needed to stay out of his way, a difficult thing to do in a small house such as ours. The boys needed a chance to run around and burn off their excess energy. Unfortunately, it was pouring rain this morning, with rain predicted all day, so going to a playground was not an option. So here I am at Discovery Zone. Daniel attended a birthday party here last month, but it is the twins' first visit. I thought we needed a break from the playland at McDonald's, and we had a half-price coupon for DZ. Unless we decided to buy an annual pass, I don't think we'll come here often at full-price, though. The cost per visit would be $18 for three kids, pretty steep, even if you don't buy their overpriced food (and we don't). Before we left for DZ this morning, we took a walk in the rain so Daniel could try out his new umbrella. He "earned" the umbrella by getting ten stickers on a chart we made up for behaving well at school and at home. It is a yellow Loony Toons umbrella that cost less than $3.00 at Toys R Us, a cheap price to pay for all that good behavior. He loves the umbrella and was thrilled with the chance to use it in the rain the day after he received it. 4:25 p.m. The trip to DZ did tire the boys out. Even Daniel is asleep right now. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time there turning my head from side to side to catch sight of the boys, which seems to have exacerbated my neck strain. By the time we left DZ, I could barely turn my head to see behind me to back out of the parking space. Tab keeps reminding me this afternoon to take periodic twenty minute breaks to lie on the heating pad. The heat does seem to help. Warm showers do, too.
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