Sunday, January 19, 2014

Tribute to Mom and Dad



Two weeks ago my parents celebrated their 40th anniversary.

40 years.

WOW.

The only thing scary about that number is that it means it is lurking as a birthday for me in the not-too-distant future.  

It is also lurking as a birthday for my husband in just a matter of days, but he doesn't want anyone to know.

....Oops.  Oh well.

I went in search of some pictures for this 'Happy Anniversary' blog post. I searched, and I searched...through years of photos.  We live three miles from these people.  We camp with them every summer.  We go out to eat with them at least once or twice a month.  We celebrate every major holiday together, and a few of the minor ones.  We watch our favorite teams on their TV when we can't get the games on our channels. We travel to Illinois together at least once a year.
And this is all I could come up with.




Sorry, mom and dad.  We really need to work on actually taking some pictures together.

My parents are amazing.

As their anniversary was approaching, I was trying to figure out what in the world to do to celebrate.  Most people would have some type of open house with a big gathering of friends.  My dad is not most people.  He's not so much into those party types of things.  Since the goal of an anniversary celebration is not to put the people you love through misery, I knew we wouldn't be planning a big event.

Which put me back to the drawing board with no ideas.

That is when my mom called.

She said, "Dad and I have been talking about our anniversary." {I immediately felt like a terrible daughter.  Shouldn't I be the one calling them about this?}

She said, "We are thinking of going to Great Wolf Lodge." {Excuse me? I knew I must have misunderstood her.}

She continued, "We were looking for a place where we could all spend the weekend together.  We are going to fly your brother in from Oregon." {I had to pick my jaw up off the floor.}

This is where I finally found my voice.

I said something like..."Let me get this straight.  It is YOUR 40th wedding anniversary, but you are going to take us to Great Wolf Lodge? You are going to fly my brother in? You are going to pay for us all to have a weekend together? At a water park?"

Her answer, "Yes. Do you have a better idea of a place to go?"

No!!!!

I wasn't sure whether to feel guilty or really excited.  I opted for both.

Which left us with only one thing left to do -- find the perfect anniversary gift.

An incredibly difficult task for a couple who has most of what they need, who do not have expensive hobbies, and who do not have a ton of common interests.  After searching all over the big city for the "perfect" gift, we opted for a classic fallback.  However, we engraved some catchy phrase about family, with full intentions of actually filling it with a family picture.  (That is not them, by the way.) This seems appropriate, in light of the current lack of pictures issue.  We will be taking a family photo at Great Wolf Lodge....before going out to dinner...not in our swimsuits.


We went all crazy on the day of the anniversary, and had them over for supper and to watch the KU game.  In an ironic turn of events, their cable provider dropped the channel the game was being played on, yet it is one of the eight channels we actually receive. Go figure.

We ate some food, watched the game, and played some cards.

We are party animals.

The next day we celebrated with my dad's side of the family.  It was technically the family "Christmas dinner", but it was a chance for me to honor mom and dad one more time.

You see, my dad has a little secret that only his family knows about.  He is a poet.  Seriously.

Every time his brothers or sisters had a milestone birthday or anniversary, he would write a funny poem about them and read it at the family get-together. The whole group always looked forward to what crazy memories might be mentioned.  His sisters have kept files of all the poems written over the years.

The day before the gathering, it hit me that there would be no poem this year, because, of course, he would never write one for himself. And not only was it my parent's 40th wedding anniversary, but my dad turned 70 three days after their anniversary. 

This was a BIG DEAL.

So...I grabbed a sheet of scratch paper and a pencil, and was determined to become a poet while mopping floors and cleaning bathrooms (it didn't work to just sit down and stare at a blank piece of paper).  I used tons of poetic license, and most likely broke every rhyming and meter rule known to mankind. 

However, by the time the house was clean, I had a poem...or something that moderately resembled one.

A Tribute to Mom and Dad

Over 40 some long years ago
Two people were destined to meet
A sweet lady named JoAnn Gehring
Had a hand in this little feat. 


She did a little match-making
And waited to see if there’d be more.
And sure enough, these two clicked
And married in January of ’74.


They were immediately a family of three,
With a cute little boy in the mix.
But the family wasn’t yet quite complete,
And a baby girl was to become the fix.

Dad built lawnmowers and clerked some sales
And mom nursed those who were sick.
While Rodney and Rhonda fought day and night,
And never cleaned up, not a lick.

Their favorite weekend attraction
Was taking us all out to camp
The parents would fish and would have no idea
The kids were riding bikes down the boat ramp!

They’re nothing alike, my mom and my dad.
They are about as opposite as can be.
Dad hates to travel; mom would go every month,
And will the roads be bad? They’ll never agree.

Mom loves to shop; dad, well, he doesn’t.
And their outlooks are different, too.
Mom is an optimist; dad….prefers realist,
But they do agree about their love of KU!

They taught us many important lessons,
Managing money and how to be on time,
Treat others with respect & always do your best,
And how to zero-turn the lawnmower on a dime.

 As we got older we finally realized
Even when disciplining, their love did abound.
We wouldn’t trade them for anything as parents,
And they really are the best grandparents around.

So congrats mom and dad on 40 long years,
And thank you for all that you’ve done.
You are a blessing and we love you,
And wish you many more years of fun!

Happy Anniversary (and birthday to both in January!) to my mom and dad.  Now that I have publicly embarrassed them, my job here is done!


Thursday, January 16, 2014

I Have No Idea What To Call This One

You know your life is boring when you resort to posting about the junk drawers.

But, holy moly, this family needs therapy.

The great junk drawer clean-out began because of a little story...

Once upon a time, there was a family with three vehicles.  The newest vehicle was primarily driven by the wife, while the very old, smashed, ugly vehicle was driven by the husband.  The truck typically sat in the garage because the ugly vehicle got better gas mileage.

Dear husband had keys for all three vehicles.  Dear wife had keys for only the truck and the newest vehicle.  Why, you may ask? That answer is unknown.  The key ran away over two years ago.

This had not posed a problem for months and months because the wife rarely drove the old, ugly car. However, one day last month, the husband took the newest vehicle because the wife was home with a sick kid.  When it was time to go pick up the youngest child, the wife headed out to the garage.  She then remembered that "her car" had been taken by her husband.  "No problem," thought the wife, "I will just take the truck."  However, when she opened the garage door, she noticed a slight problem.  The old, ugly car was parked right in front of the garage door, blocking her way out.

Thinking her son might have to walk the six miles home from school, she called her father and sent grandpa to rescue her poor son from school. Grandpa was shaking his head at the drama, but happily brought his grandson home.

The family lived happily ever after.

UNTIL...

Not even four weeks later, the EXACT.SAME.THING happened again.

Completely humiliated, the wife this time called her mother-in-law to rescue her son.

That, my friends, served as the catalyst for the great key hunt.  It looked something like this.


Yes, that is my child in the corner of the picture carving a stick with a pocket knife. 

Don't ask. 

I cannot even believe the stuff crammed into these two drawers. I will not bore you with a complete list of contents, but here are the highlights.
63 pens
95 pencils....at least 89 need sharpened
4 fingernail clippers
23 batteries...1 totally corroded
9 erasers
4 calculators
A gazillion paper clips
A trazillion rubber bands
Nerf darts
A Kohl's discount card from May of 2012
A Best Buy receipt from 2008
12 Screwdrivers
Yes, 12. 
 
Proof. 


For those of you who counted, one didn't make the picture.

There has to be some kind of sickness related to this. It took me at least three hours to go through all the junk.

I blame it on the kids. 

I was 99.9% sure this organizational marathon would not produce the desired results.

I love it when I am wrong.


Life is good.




Saturday, January 11, 2014

Back When

There is a country song that makes me laugh a little bit any time I hear it. 

Yes, I listen to country music now and then.  "Now and then"...meaning when my regular station, the one where I don't cringe at my kids hearing every other song that comes on the radio, is full of static.

My parents were diehard country music fans when I was growing up.  We groaned and cried because we were forced to endure such torture when riding in the car.

Then my college roommates were country music fans...and I was converted.

But I digress.

The country song is called "Back When" by Tim McGraw.

It talks about the difference of "back when" to the day and age we live in now. 

"....Back when the wind was all that blew
And when you said, 'I'm down with that',
It meant you had the flu.
I miss back when....
I miss back when...."

Sometimes I do miss back when.

I'm not even THAT old, and at times I still miss a simpler way of life.

But not always.

This morning I opened an email about a conference I am attending on Wednesday.  As I was reading through it, I was chuckling a little bit about how times have changed. The "Back When" song instantly popped into my mind.

I have been working in the field of education for about 17 years.  While that may seem like an eternity to my students, it really isn't all that long.  I'll try to ignore the fact that when I started teaching, I was only old enough to be my students' not-much-older sister, and now I am technically old enough to be their mother.  Even the seniors.

Anyway...in those 17 years, I have attended a lot of professional development - conferences, conventions, in-service sessions, and the list goes on.  Today's email gave me all the information I need for my upcoming day of learning.  Oh, how times have changed the world of professional development.

Here is a little comparison....

Back When: The conference notes (which would have been sent in the mail) would have included a map of the campus.
Today: The conference email contains a link to the campus map.

Back When: If preparation was to be done in advance for a conference, books would have been purchased or articles would have been  mailed ahead of time.
Today: "Please download Apps in advance -- Check your session pages for Apps to download prior to arriving."

Back When: It would have been common to see the phrase "handouts will be provided for notes".
Today: "Please make sure your iPad/laptop is fully charged when you arrive."

Back When: The conference notes may have said, "Additional copies of handouts or notebooks will be available if needed."
Today: "There are limited electrical outlets. If you think you may need to charge during the day, bring your power cord with its extension cord attached. We will have a few power strips, but you may want to bring your own." 

Back When: Coffee and tea will be provided.
Today: "The internet password will be provided."

Back When: Please turn off your cell phones or pagers.
Today: "Please turn off your cell phone's WIFI to help our bandwidth for the day."

Back When: Please fill out the conference survey in your notebook.
Today: "Twitter hashtag for the day is #ksuiCamp. Please tweet resources, comments, and new learning!"

     While notebooks and handouts may be less hassle than chargers, extension cords, and power strips, I am not missing this "back when"!  

     Sometimes technology stresses me out and I feel waayyy behind the times, but for the most part, I am ready to #shareposttweetlikedownloadupdateinstall all the day long!

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

Packing It Up

Years ago during one of  my hair cut appointments, my stylist shared with me that she and her husband bought a Christmas ornament each year for each of their children to represent something significant about the year, or just to help them remember what it was that they loved most during that age and stage of life.

I had never heard of this before and immediately knew that I wanted to do this for my children.

Since that point, I realized that this is actually a fairly common tradition for families.

Who knew? 

I was in the dark.

This has been one of the most fun parts of Christmas every year. We love coming up with the ideas, shopping, and wrapping up a new ornament for each of the boys.  They are getting old enough now that they can typically guess within a few tries what it is that they will open. 

Now that Christmas has come and gone, we are getting ready to take it all down and pack it up for another year.  

We are taking one more trip down memory lane before we wrap it up.

The old son...
2002
Baby's First Christmas

A two month old doesn't get all that excited about Christmas.

2003 
He loved, loved, loved trains.

2004 
First tractor rides with daddy and grandpa during harvest, working the fields, and planting wheat.
 

2005
All things Bob the Builder (and Scoop, Muck, and Dizzy...and Lofty, too...)
 

2006
First plane ride - Baby brother's adoption
(The ornament looks much cooler without the names blacked out.) :)

2007
"I Am Speed"- I am pretty sure we watched the movie at least 150 times.
 

2008
Kindergarten! 
 
 2009
The year he started piano.

 2010
Mario fascination
 

2011
His favorite ornament - the year he got his dirt bike.


2012
You might be a redneck if...
you hang this tacky ornament on the tree.
Love the actual camper....the ornament, not so much.


The young son...
2006
Baby's First Christmas
The first Christmas is a whole lot more fun at 10 months!

2007
"Ride the tractor, Daddy!"

2008
Thomas fascination



2009
This child could never have too many dinosaurs.

2010
And bugs, bugs, bugs...we could get him this ornament every year.

 2011
First year of school (and a love for Curious George)!
 

2012
You are not cool until you have two of these hanging on your Christmas tree.

And 2013...

No picture.

I know I took one.

I can't find the SD card.

Ugh.

A trap set for the old one (first year of drums), and a piano for the young one (first year of piano).

Maybe I'll find the card by next year...if not, we'll just restage it.  No one will be the wiser!