Awesome

Tonight was Back to School Night for Big Dog. It was also the family BBQ at Little Dog's preschool. Which did we attend? Both. Why? Partly because I wanted to make sure Little Dog felt that his school experience was as real and as important as Big Dog's. Partly because I want to make sure I am involved and active in Big Dog's school. And partly because I am insane. At any rate, it was a very busy night.

The pot luck started at 5:30 pm so I had just enough time to swing by Big Dog's after school program, pick him up and get to Little Dog's preschool before the event started. For this pot luck, they designated dishes by classroom, so Little Dog's Tree Frog room was responsible for salads. Since I usually do baked goods, I was slightly stumped. How do you make a decent salad in advance, because I wasn't going to have time to go home to cook. And how do you make an impressive salad for a pot luck, since I like to win. Turns out there is a simple answer, a salad so simple I prepared it in my office during my last meeting of the day. Over lunch I ran to Trader Joe's, picked up three containers of heirloom cherry tomatoes, two tubs of mini mozzarella balls and a pack of basil. I also grabbed a bottle of extra virgin olive oil, a pepper mill and a grinder of sea salt. See where I'm going with this? Caprese salad. It was easy, delicious and the first salad gone. Score!

After scarfing down our dinner and rounding up the boys, we rushed to the car for the drive to Big Dog's school. Back to School Night started with the Principal's presentation at 6:30 pm, we arrived too late for that, but just in time for the classroom meetings. After listening to his teacher, seeing his art and meeting his art teacher, we headed back to Little Dog's preschool to pick up Mr. Dog's car and then back home.

Feeling slightly exhausted and a little bit over-scheduled as a parent, I got the boys inside and set down our day's supply of lunch boxes, backpacks, computer bags, purses and pot luck supplies then headed back outside to lock up the chickens. Almost as an afterthought I peeked into the nest box to see if they'd decided to quit freeloading. And to my utter surprise, in the middle of the nest box nestled into the pine shavings, I found a very small but perfectly formed, pale green egg. Chicky Roboto (or at least that's who I think it was) decided to honor me with the first egg as a reward for my very busy day. I'm unreasonably excited by this little egg, but man, what a nice capper to our day. I can't wait for the next one!