But I Thought

Last month I had to take all of my kids to the doctor to get physicals in order for them to be deemed fit and disease free enough to interact with the other children of the school. They had to get a few boosters and I went ahead and gave the okay for the flu shot since they are only allowed 8.1 sick days during the school year and those are already set aside for taking off earlier for holidays so any actual illness they may incur will have to go with them to school. I would feel really bad that day that I had to send them to school with a 102 degree fever but vacation is more important and if I just cross my fingers the flu shot will work. They were mostly brave one freaked out with the injections but there were all kinds of promises being made about having ages and ages before they would have to have them again.
I was lying through non-disclosure of information. True, one would not have injections for awhile, the others would have some the following month, but what I did not tell the child freaking out is that they were all required to have full blood work done. Soooooo.....
Not wanting them to freak out I calmly told them last night that they couldn't eat anything in the morning until I woke up because I had to take them somewhere. I did not say it was anywhere fun, I just mentioned the word "fieldtrip". I knew if I told them there would be tears and worry all night. This morning they woke up and diligently got dressed and in the car full of questions of where they were going (at this point I was feeling a little guilty and not unlike the father of hansel and gretal).I still refused to tell them because I did not want to drag them in crying and have to wait for who knows how long with them all frantic.
We pull up to Lab Corp and they still have no idea but it was filled to the brim of people that were pasty and had expressions likened unto those facing a death sentence. I guess that is what you get when you fill a room with fasting people. As it grew nearer to time, I came clean and told them what we were there for. "But you promised..." "No, I only said no more injections for 'awhile'. Blood work is different they are taking stuff out." Needless to say the 1.5 hour wait with kids that have been fasting for like 14 hours by this point was not appreciated and really not all that fun. As a special treat we got to finish it up with some urine tests-yeah me! As I marched the girls out with their arms bent at angles suggesting extreme pain and drawn faces, I did hear someone say, "What I brave Mom!" Why yes, thank you. Don't forget patient.
In the end, the girls said to me "but I though we were going to do something fun." I have a feeling that their expectations for future "fieldtrips" are very low now. Perfect.