Test Run

Birthdays are a big deal around here - mostly because of the cake. My sister-in-law is an incredible cake decorator and has donated hours of her precious time for every one of my boys' birthdays. We've had trains, Bob the Builder, Thomas the Tank Engine, sports, tractors, blocks...you name it, she's done it.

This year, however, I have a cake decorator living in my house. So for the first time in six years, I'm giving my sister-in-law a break.

This is the cake my almost-three-year old wanted:

Tomorrow I have to take a cake to class. Any cake, it didn't matter what kind, so tonight we did a test run on the birthday cake to see if we could do it.

Here's what he's getting. Or at least something similar to this one...

It's not perfect, but he'll never know the difference. Odds are, though, that the one for his birthday in two weeks will be a complete flop.

Bring on the Lysol...

In the past week and-a-half, we have had:
*croup
*mono
*colds
*ear infection
*fever
*and last night someone who doesn't even live here puked in my house.

Wanna come over?

Scrapbooking

So today I spent the day working on my scrapbook for my oldest son. Thirteen hours of uninterrupted time to be in a room with other scrapbooking people. Stopping only to grab a quick bite to eat or run to the restroom - only if you REALLY have to go - it's a day all about getting a little farther on that lofty goal of being caught up. My son asked me to promise that I would work only on his and not on his little brother's book. We raise our boys to be sensitive and caring like that.

You should see what these scrapbooking people can do. Perfectly crafted masterpieces cover every page of their books. Most people who scrapbook are amazingly creative and artisitic. Neither of those words even come close to describing me. Here's how I function when it comes to scrapbooking:

S - Steal as many ideas from other people as possible.
C - Consume much chocolate.
R - Rely on others to pick out colors that look good together.
A - Attempt to leave people's heads on when cutting pictures.
P - Please don't laugh when you walk by my book.
B - Buy losts of permanent tape.
O - Once a page is done, move on even if it isn't perfect.
O - One color of paper is fine, two is a bonus.
K - Keep on moving - speed over beauty.
I - If the page takes more than an hour, it's too fancy for my book.
N - No flowers, no pink.
G - Gonna get more chocolate.

Ahhhh...

My computer is back. I am once again reconnected to the outside world. {Sigh.}

One would think that I would have pages and pages of endearing, cute, and funny events to share; but, alas, all I have is boring, boring, boring.

Except yesterday was the big 35 for my better half! Unfortunately, or fortunately...depends how you look at it...he doesn't think much of birthdays. He's a member of the incredibly misled 'it's just another day' group of crazy people. The day before his birthday he told me he wanted to eat late the next evening. Thinking he might actually want to plan something FUN on his birthday, I asked why. Why? Because he needed to fix the tire on the car and change the oil in the van. On his BIRTHDAY!

I love you anyway, honey.

Please, someone teach me how to say no....

Someday I will figure this out. I have to, right? For the sake of the people that live in this house and for my sanity, I have to. I'm just not sure when.

You have no choice, I'm sharing the crazy with you:

• I am in charge of the chili feed for the local fire department auxiliary. In fact, for the moment, I'm in charge of the whole auxiliary. The chili feed is on Valentine's Day, so I have just over 4 weeks to figure out how this is all going to happen.
• I am leading teacher-inservice on Monday for a small Christian school about 45 minutes from here. I've met the principal, but none of the teachers. They're mine for the whole day.
• I host bunco at my house on Thursday. This involves lots and lots of house cleaning, snack making, and gift-card buying.
• I am supposed to teach 10 algebra-hating students how to add abstract fractions tomorrow. I'm going to attempt to demonstrate the concept with m&m's. We'll see...
• I spent an hour tonight trying to figure out how to change the water in the fish tank. That little fish better be alive in the morning.
• I spent three hours making beirocks today, because someone in my family asked for them. This is great, because I'm always asking for ideas. However, next time the idea better involve take-out.
• I'm taking 22 fifteen and sixteen year old girls to our local coffee place on Friday morning. Why? Because the boys' Bible teacher took his class to McDonalds before Christmas. Heaven forbid I wouldn't be as cool as him!
• This is making me tired. I'm going to bed. While I sleep, I'll practice saying no...

Final Call

This morning I attended my cousin's funeral. Last year he was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, and although he started treatments and fought as hard as he could, he lost the battle with this terrible disease last Sunday night. He left behind a wife, a 15 year old daughter, a 13 year old son, a 1 year old son, his parents, his brothers and sister, and a slew of family members and friends.


I don't usually describe funerals as beautiful, but I think this one came close. Among the many personal touches added to the service, his brother, his nephew, and even his wife all got up and spoke. Although it was sad, they made it real; it was a true celebration of his life.


I shed a few tears, there weren't many there who didn't, but I made it through relatively okay. That is, until we were standing at the cemetery in the freezing cold at the very end of the burial service. The final song was just over, and I assumed the service was complete, when the pagers started going off all around me. It was his final call.


You see, my cousin was the fire chief of his local volunteer fire department for the past 15 years. There were fire and EMS workers there from all around the area, and all at once the quietness of the moment was filled with the shrillness of the page, followed by..."It is now time for the final call for...".


I had never experienced a final call before. Firefighters are called out all the time. It's a natural part of their lives, and has become a natural part of my life as well. But to hear that final call, to hear that tribute to a man who has spent his life serving, and to know that he will never be called out again was an incredibly heart-wrenching experience.


I'm not sure why this final call affected me so intensely. Maybe it is because I have a fairly clear understanding of what is involved when those pagers go off. The adrenaline rush, dropping everything in an instant to get to people who are in need, the potential danger. Maybe it was simply seeing the tears running down the faces of all those firefighters. Maybe it is because it's possible for my husband to receive that same final call someday.


But in reality, we will all receive a final call someday. We don't know where, when, or under what circumstances, but there's no denying it will happen. The question is, am I ready? Are you ready? Do our loved ones know how much we love them? Do they know how much God loves them?


So, to you, my friends and family who are reading this, please know how much you mean to me and how much better my life is because you are in it. Today was a good reminder that I don't say it or show it enough in the day to day busyness of life. Thank you for always being there for me.

It's My ___________, and I'll Cry If I Want To

Fill in the blank. Really. Go ahead. Fill it in with just about anything you want to, and I'm sure it will fit into my 6 yo's life. Well, as long as it is something that happens at school.

It seems my son has been doing quite a bit of crying in school lately. I don't think he cried one time until the month of December, but right before Christmas break, the floodgates opened. First he cried because he didn't understand the directions on a paper. Then he cried because he thought they were going to force him to play musical chairs. That was before Christmas.

This week he has cried when he got confused on a paper, when he didn't know what 'Lamentations' was during memory verse time, after he volunteered to help the teacher demonstrate something and got finished with it, and on the way to music class because he didn't want to go. He ended up hanging out with his teacher instead.

But the conversations with him go something like this:
How was your day?
Good.
What was your favorite part?
I liked Center time best.
Did you have any sad times?
No.
Looks like you have a music paper. What does it mean?
It's piano and forte - for soft and loud.
Were you supposed to do something on this paper?
I don't know.
Did you do it in music class?
No.
Did you go to music class?
Noooooo. And the tears began to fall.

So we talked about it, about why he is sad and why he is crying in school and what he is feeling. And we got one answer for everything, "I don't know. I just get that feeling and I don't know why."

I know this will shock you, but that answer is not very helpful! I even googled 'crying in school' to see if I could get any advice. Nothing fits. He doesn't fight going to school, he doesn't cry when he leaves me, he says he has fun, and he understands new concepts easily.

But obviously we have some level of anxiety going on here. Something inside has to be bothering him for the tears to flow so easily and so often. His teacher and I are both a bit baffled. I feel bad for her because it is taking up her time in class. I feel bad for him because it can't feel good to be the kid who always cries. I feel bad for his classmates because he is causing a scene and interrupting class.

Any advice would be welcome. Until then - I'm going to go have a good cry.

Grrr...

Has anyone seen my lesson plan book? Cause I'm thinkin' that might be somewhat important for, I don't know, maybe the next 18 weeks.

It's A New Year

My friend Casey stole my New Year's Post! I guess she's entitled since she actually wrote hers on Jan. 1 instead of the 6th. She mentioned the frustrating cycle of starting anew with resolutions, sticking with them for awhile, and then falling back into the same old pattern of regular life with very little accomplished toward those new ideas and goals.


That's exactly what I was thinking about this year on January 1. I'm not sure how to combat that problem without seriously lowering my expectations, but maybe that's what I need: a good dose of reality. Let's face it, I'm teaching some this year, I have a huge list of things to accomplish before Spring 2010 for my job, and I'm still trying to be a good mother to my children, a good wife to my husband, a good daughter/sister/any other title to my family, and a good friend to my friends.


So I'm toning it down a bit this year. Here are the things I REALLY want to make happen this year:

*Make it through January without forgetting my parent's anniversary (check), dad's birthday, nephew's birthday, niece's birthday, husband's birthday, mom's birthday, and sister-in-laws birthday.

*Return from the all-family vacation to Branson in June with everyone still speaking to each other.

*Potty train the little guy. Surely by Jan. 1 of 2010.........

*End the year weighing no more than I did this last summer.

*Have relatively happy, relatively healthy, relatively normal children the majority of the year. (It's all relative...)

*Make a concerted effort to unload everything from the vehicle that had been put in the vehicle during the course of the day.

That's about all I can handle at this point. Anything else that is accomplished is just a bonus.

Did I lower my expectations? Maybe. But at least the van will be clean.