a pleasant morning, a playground, and a presentation (159/365a)

Felix surprised me this morning by getting himself dressed for kindergarten and packing his lunch, organizing his backpack and being prepared to leave on time in an exceptionally conciliatory mood. I left him with Andi, and all was well. It stayed that way. He was apparently happy at kindergarten, and had fun. Phew!
Brian and I beat the clock to pick up a table that Irmtraud had given us.

The original conversation went like this:
Irmtraud: How was your summer?
Irma: Great, I found out that I don't need anything.
Irmtraud: Do you need a dining room table?
Irma: Exactly, you don't need a dining room table. We just sat around and ate out of one pot and it was great.
Irmtraud: Because I just got a new table, and you can have our old one.
Irma: Oh. Yes. We do need a dining room table.

The problem is, our walls aren't straight: So our massive room has only a small portion of usable floor space. Our gigantic table has been good for gigantic parties, but terrible for dinners. There's nowhere to put it. Plus, it is the dining room AND  a bedroom AND a play room.

Then it was the ever-crazy homecoming of kids in various orders and homeworks and eating and fighting, and finally I got them down to our favorite playground, where I can just let them go and talk with the adults. I had missed a surprise coffee with Nina while I was kids-picking-uping, but I got to see her on a surprise stop by on her way home from work. And everyone got to paint a mural.

fun table for snacks

michi and the fusballtable

en garde with the paintbrushes

Brian is preparing for his trip to Romania, where he is presenting at a conference on FI. I convinced Nina and Andi to brave the terrible nighttime rains/storms to watch the first run through of his presentation that we started at 10pm. The Q&A session went right on till midnight though :P Tomorrow he leaves before 6am, and then i'm officially in charge of everything for several days.