This morning at 7:10am, I received a phone call from the police officer at Katja's middle school. I had left a message for her yesterday afternoon, after Katja came home with a strange story about a schoolbus desecration.

Apparently, some eighth graders had written an inflammatory word or sentence on one of the schoolbus benches. The officer had come on the bus to find out who the perpetrator(s) were. Ok, so far so good, sounds like a good thing to me, as the schoolbus gets used not only by the older kids, but by little ones as well. But then Katja proceeded to tell me, that they had to write on a piece of paper what they knew and when no one wrote anything the officer could use, she proceeded to yell at the kids using words like "hell" and "damn".

Now, Katja is definitely used to her share of yelling from previous teachers and the likes and is not a sensitive child in that area. So for her to tell me this so specifically meant, that it must have been pretty scary for her.

I told the officer what Katja had told me and she claimed she couldn't remember using those words and that she had to yell in order to be heard by the whole bus, as according to her the bus is so huge (later on she told me she was standing in the middle of the bus and to my knowledge yelling is not necessary in a bus, if you're standing in the middle, but ok, she may have felt she needed to to exert her dominance). I told her that obviously, this would be Katja's word against hers and that I wasn't trying to tell her how to do her job, just to make her aware, that her behavior wasn't exactly exemplary to the kids.

She was quite defensive, saying the eighth graders that did it needed a good scolding, because the words they wrote were much worse than whatever words she may have used to the kids. I told her that may very well be the case, but the point is, that there were just a couple of kids involved and there was no need to yell at the entire bus like that (she admitted she'd known who did it before she even entered the bus). She prided herself on not telling the kids what was actually written as "it was quite bad". Ok, that's great. Still no excuse in my mind.

Anyway, she ended the conversation by asking me if there was anything else. Obviously not. And now I'm of course second guessing myself. Did I do right by calling the school? Will Katja forever have a "name" with this officer now? Am I too protective of a parent and should I just accept that police officers have to be rough to the kids? (I really don't think they have to be, honestly). And I didn't like her defensive stance, I would have much preferred if she had said "Yes, I realize I didn't use the right language, but I was frustrated as it had taken me all day to figure out who these kids were and now they were not owning up" or some such.

Ok, off to go for a long walk and then Saskia's dental work!

Mondays are always strange days, yesterday was no exception. It's because the kids' school day is short (only till 12:45) and so we have the whole afternoon "off", which usually means there are thousands of chores to push into those few hours.

After a great workout, a step class, which I love, as it teaches you a dance and it feels great to be in sync with everyone, I ran off to the Container Store. Rick is in the process of emptying out the garage, so he can fit his car and he needed some containers. Then off to Whole Foods for stuff.

Quickly home, took a shower and got the little ones (though Kai would balk at this description of him ;)). We did homework and when Katja came home, I rushed off to the dentist with her for her cleaning. The assistant asked me if I had a running appointment there ;), every week. Thankfully, this was it and only Rick, who takes care of his own appointments, still needs to be seen. Katja's teeth, as well as Kai's, are still perfect. Poor little Saskia is not so lucky and I'm nervous about tomorrow, when she's having a root canal (something I've never even experienced myself :() and a crown put on. I'm more nervous, than she is , I think, as she's singing happily.

After the dentist I barely had time to pick up Saskia to go to her first skating lesson. I took some pictures of her skating, very cute! And between the "scenes", I took some wonderful Monarch butterfly pictures too.

Today, I first went to my biblestudy, very interesting, on how to be an excellent wife. I'll be one from now on ;). Then to the doctor for a checkup and a flu shot, yuck! But I do really like my doctor. She asked about my mom and took down the books that I read about Borderline Personality Disorder.

Then off to the gym (way late, around 12noon!) for a workout and Christine and I had a nice salad for lunch. At 4, the kids and I pushed 4 cats into their pet carriers, leashed Brynna up and went to the vet. My, oh my, what an undertaking! I don't think the vet was used to a family of 5 pets showing up :-O!

Brynna and Miep (15 yo cat, for those not in the now) are having tests done. Brynna on a bump on her side and Miep to see if she has diabetes, hyperthyroidism or renal failure (hopefully the middle one, as that's treatable with tablets). The other three, Sushi (2), Snickers and Meike (siblings, 1) were all healthy and just got shots.

And now it's Tuesday night and Rick is helping Katja with her homework and the others are drawing. No tv! Great!!!

Yesterday was a great day! The storms had drifted over, the pain subsided somewhat and Rick was back home! Yippee!!!

The weather was absolutely gorgeous, so after a weight workout upstairs, I took Brynna for a short run outside. The dog is loving those walks! Her whole behavior has changed, she used to whine a lot, but now is much quieter. And it's so gorgeous outside, the walks/runs really lift my spirits too.

After lunch, I went over to Christine's with Katja, who babysat Christine's daughter, while we went to Middleburg. We visited 3 wineries: Chrysalis, Swedenburg and Piedmont. The views! Is it ever pretty out there at the foot of the Shenandoah mountains! And Middleburg is a beautiful little town!

I just came back from a run of about 5 miles with Brynna, who's pooped! But the weather is so gorgeous, working out indoors is just not an option!

In a little bit we're going to the Renaissance Festival again. I love that festival so much, I could go every week!