Mom first, balloon twister second?

I have always proudly announced that I am a "Mom first, translator second". I am a freelance technical translator who deals with a lot of high-stress last-minute projects. In my line of work, I spend a lot of time dealing with catalogs, websites, and texts about light switches and screwdrivers. It's a dry way to spend the day, but it's worth it since it means I can pick our daughter up from school everyday and spend that extra time with her in the afternoon before returning to my desk when she is in bed.

It's a terribly stressful time at work at the moment, so I rely on planning ahead and then flying by the seat of my pants anyway. Today is Rebecca's school Karneval party, so I had her costume ironed and waiting on a perfect little hanger, complete with boots and cape. The perfect "pony tail" wrap the exact right color was on the table next to the brush. Everything was in order.

Or so I thought.

Last night, Rebecca let me know that all the kids in her class had to bring a little sandwich box full of treats along to share with the other kids. And then she proudly announced, "Don't worry, Mommy, I told Frau Durau we don't have sweets in the house so you would make balloon animals for everyone instead." Seriously?!?

So rather than throwing some gummy bears in a box, I was supposed to make animals for 27 kids? Yikes. Did I mention the ever-growing pile of work on my desk?

Negotiations with Rebecca began but didn't go as well as hoped. We agreed on my making the 9 "class mascots" of the school rather than 27 individual balloons.
That's better, right?

Wrong.

I didn't ask WHICH animals I would need to make. So instead of making 27 little 2-balloon bears, I had somehow agreed to make one bear, penguin, giraffe, frog, elephant, seal, turtle, raven, and hedgehog. HEDGEHOG??? Luckily, I knew how to make about half of them (bear, penguin, giraffe, frog, turtle). I was able to find a tutorial for an elephant, I figured a raven is just a black duck with less of a bill and a different tail, and I invented a seal which worked for me (more or less). But that hedgehog just wouldn't happen. I couldn't figure it out for the life of me. So they got a fun two-balloon dog instead. 

The seal I "invented" on the fly for Rebecca's class. Its 1 white 260, 1 white 5" round, and 1 red 5" round glued to the nose (which felt very much like cheating)

I pulled it off, but barely. My fingers were raw and my translations were undone, but my girl ran into her classroom with both arms full of balloons today and was as happy as can be.

So now I am suddenly a "Mom first, very amateur balloon twister second, and translator far back in third", and I think that is just fine with me.

It's Daffy Duck with a tail of balloon scraps tied to his behind, making him a raven.