Reflecting on the Moment

Big blank stare.

2012-01-31T17:00:00.002-06:00

I've got nothin'.

I haven't blogged for days, and I am just sitting here staring at a big blank screen.

Nothing is new.

Well, except for the fact that my classes start up again tomorrow. I've had nearly 2 months off and I am a bit panicked about the things I have not gotten accomplished.

I had high hopes of what life would be like by the time Feb. 1 rolled around and I had to jump back into the classroom. Hopes such as...

a perfectly clean house...
meals stocked up in the freezer...
books read just for the pure fun of it...
scrapbooks updated...

I really have no idea where December and January rushed off to, or what in the world I have been doing with my time.

Needless to say, that list did not occur. I now have tucked my high hopes away, lowered my expectations, and have just one goal....

survival.

Junk

2012-01-20T20:57:00.000-06:00

This mom is tired of junk.

T.I.R.E.D

My kids are packrats. They want to keep everything. It's valuable, or it's homemade, or it goes with a collection, or they just WANT it.

But right now they are downstairs with their dad, and I am de-junking.

If it resembles trash, it is trash.

If I can't identify it, it is trash.

If I step on it and it hurts, it is trash.

I hope they stay downstairs for awhile.

If they get in my line of vision, they might become trash too.

2012-01-15T21:50:00.000-06:00

On Saturday I took my 5 year old out on his very first date with one of his favorite girls.

She meets all his qualifications:

Loves bugs.

Loves spiders.

Loves snakes.

Love lizards.

Makes him laugh.

What else is there?

Nevermind the age difference.

When she's 58 and he's 53, no one will think anything of it.

They went to The Bug Lady's Science Academy. This place is great - lots of hands-on creepy crawlies to thrill every bug/spider/animal crazed child.

I was happy to stand back and take pictures...

....and let the kids get up close and personal with the rodents. GULP.

Hairless rats are creepy....in case you ever wondered.

The best part, however, is that parents drop their kids off. And LEAVE. For three solid hours. Broke my heart.

When we arrived at noon to pick the kids up, there was a boy sitting by the front door holding a snake. It was nearly enough to keep me from going inside. Two other kids had snakes, too. One of them was this girl. I stood far back and zoomed in.

I am not wired to be okay with ferrets, snakes, rats, cockroaches, and bearded dragons all being out of their cages AT THE SAME TIME.

But these kids thought it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E.

And I got to be hero mom for the day. Win-win.

Yet Another Story...

2012-01-13T17:46:00.001-06:00

....To Prove That I Should Not Spend Much Time In The Kitchen.

My husband grew up with a mom who is an amazing cook. Every single job she ever had was centered around cooking and/or baking. It is slightly intimidating.

However, my husband is incredible about the whole cooking thing. He is willing to try just about anything, will eat just about anything, and doesn't complain when there isn't anything to eat. Considering how spoiled he was with yummy food growing up, he really puts up with me rather well.

It's not that I can't cook. It's not that I don't cook. It's just that I don't really love to cook. Therefore, it is not always my top priority.

The one thing that drives me into the kitchen is the health factor of 'from scratch' foods vs. store bought, packaged, and processed food.

In a perfect world, I prefer my bread ingredients be this:

Whole Wheat Flour, water, yeast, honey, salt, coconut oil.

Instead of this:

Enriched Wheat Flour (Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Yeast, Contains 2% Or Less of The Following: Salt, Soybean Oil, Defatted Soy Flour, Mono- And Diglycerides, Calcium Propionate (A Preservative). Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Calcium Sulfate, Sugar, Ammonium Sulfate, Monocalcium Phosphate, Wheat Starch, Ascorbic Acid Added As A Dough Conditioner, Calcium Peroxide, Enzymes, Azodicarbonamide, Soy Lecithin.

My perfect world does not exist often.

Today, however, my husband made a rare request. He asked for homemade bread.

Since I have been making a concerted effort to "eat clean" this year (all 12 days of it) and avoid as much processing and preservatives as possible, I said OK.

Bad move.

I ~~dumped~~ properly added all the ingredients into the KitchenAid and was just about ready to start the 7 minutes of kneading when...my machine broke.

The "CLUNK, CLUNK, CLUNKING" meant only one thing. I would be kneading this bread by hand.

This did not thrill me, but did not panic me greatly, so I started the kneading process.

About a minute into it, I glanced over and saw my measuring cup of oil sitting there. Full.

At that point, I probably should have just thrown the dough in the trash and told my husband it just wasn't meant to be. But the small chance that I could still salvage homemade bread out of the deal was enough for me to attempt to knead in the oil.

By the way, 'knead in the oil' is not a well known cooking phrase for a reason.

While the bread was baking, I told my husband about the fiasco. His very sympathetic response went something like this, "You better hope this isn't the best bread you've ever made, or we'll want you to do it like that every time."

Then he walked over to the KithenAid and fixed it in about 15 seconds flat.

He's just lucky I love homemade bread too much to burn it to a crisp.

Sentence Summary

2012-01-12T23:18:00.000-06:00

It's been 10 days since I've posted.

I was going to do better this year.

Arg.

I guess there is still time.

Here's what is new....

Yep, that's about it.

Apparently I can keep crazy busy doing nothing new.

But, in funny news...

Yesterday in Kindergarten they were watching a video that had something to do with water and microscopes.

I have no idea why either.

Anyway...my son called out, "I think that's a paramecium!"

I was shocked.

I was proud.

I had no idea what it was.

It took me 4 tries to spell it close enough for Google to locate the word.

It is this.

I asked my son about it.

He told me the same story his teacher told me.

I was amazed.

So I asked him where in the world he learned that.

"Cat in the Hat."

Of course.

New Year's Resolutions

2012-01-02T14:05:00.000-06:00

Well, it's that time of year again.

Resolutions.

I have a love-hate relationship with New Year's Resolutions. I love the thought of something new, a chance to "start over", the hope of accomplishing a few goals. I hate it when I don't follow through.

After careful consideration, here is what I've discovered -- New Year's Resolutions could really be titled: Things I Didn't Do Very Well This Past Year. Honestly, if you started and maintained a killer exercise regiment in the past year, would you make a resolution to do that? If you lost the weight you wanted to, would that be on your list?

So instead of jumping right in to make a list of goals based on everything I have been terrible at, I am going to start with a look at the positive. What do I NOT need to make resolutions for?

I'm pretty confident I will not be making a resolution to spend more hours working. I will not resolve to be more committed to my graduate studies, and I will set no goals for additional projects to do in my spare time. Resolutions will not involve gardening, recycling, or staying up later to get everything done. I think I've also sufficiently mastered the ability to not focus too much on what foods I am consuming, to 'let the house go' for the sake of spending time with my children, and to be more relaxed about keeping up with laundry.

Yep, I've got all that covered.

So what do my New Year's Resolutions need to be?

I need to spend more time in the Word and in prayer. And, sadly, when I say "more time", that really isn't going to take much.

I need to exercise again - consistently. I did great in the fall, and then, not so much.

I need to eat right. Not just for weight loss, which is also needed, but for overall health. I have been diagnosed with or am one step away from nearly every 'polycystic __________ disease' known to man, so I have got to quit with all the refined sugar and processed foods.

I need to focus on people way before my to-do lists. If someone were to ask me, I, of course, would say people and relationships are much more important than getting things accomplished. Unfortunately, I know my actions don't always match my words.

I need a good system to keep my family working together to maintain household chores. I cannot do it alone, and I want my children to know how to handle responsibility.

And here is where I get into trouble every year.

An overwhelming number of resolutions I'd like to accomplish.

Not anymore.

This year I am narrowing it down to one resolution.

This year I resolve to do what it takes to make sure that next year's New Year's Resolution does not need to include weight loss, exercise, more devotion and prayer time, house cleaning, or relationship building.

Huh?

2011-12-31T20:40:00.000-06:00

Today we celebrated Christmas with my parents. They gave my little guy a metallic Color Wonder set. Both boys dove in and started creating metallic artwork.

My 9 year old was watching KU basketball and started making a KU sign.

My 5 year old made this UK sign.

This conversation followed:

Him: "Look, Mom! Kentucky!!"

Me: "You are right. UK is the University of Kentucky. Why did you make Kentucky?"

Him: "Because I didn't know how to spell KU."

Typoz

2011-12-30T13:36:00.000-06:00

Typos....they drive me crazy.

I've been rereading through some of my old posts and it seems as if every.single.post has something wrong with it.

I see 'you' when I meant 'your', 'prayer' when I meant 'pray', and I am missing commas and apostrophes galore. For some reason my brain can only read what I meant to write, not what I actually wrote.

UGH.

Have I mentioned this drives me crazy?

Why cant I jst allways git everythink write?!?!?!

Family Pics

2011-12-29T09:23:00.000-06:00

When you set up a very last minute family picture appointment, spend all day getting ready and stressing about the pictures, wait for a couple of weeks to get the CD back, and then THIS is the first picture you see....

.....you get a little nervous.

We are just not the most photogenic family.

Thankfully, when you have a super talented friend taking the pictures, there is still hope.

Nevermind that she made us trudge through the mud to this fun little place.

My cute shoes were not my own anyway. :)

The blue bands on his braces were a bit unfortunate.

OK, a lot unfortunate.

But at least they matched his shirt.

Which was completely unplanned. How is it that I am so used to these crazy braces that I did not even think about them?

Because I seriously would have pulled the bands off.

I had lots of silly pictures of this little guy. Most of which probably reflected his personality with greater accuracy.

But this one melted my heart.

I can't decide if I like this picture of us, or if I just look like I need a 3 hour nap.

So I thought I would post it and then critique it again.

I love that they look like this is a natural thing for them.

Which it is...right before he tackles his brother down to the floor.

I've spent hours sifting through our pictures and this is still my favorite! It is quite possible that it is due to some amazing editing skills, but a little touch up never hurt anyone...

Too Cute Not To Post

2011-12-23T10:17:00.003-06:00

Each year for Christmas, my son's kindergarten teacher makes every child in her class a pillow case. She picks out material that best fits what they love, and then she slaves over her sewing machine for hours. Pillowcases range from spiderman and robots to girly flowers and ballet dancers. Any guesses on what my little guy's pillowcase had on it?

Yep......BUGS!

There is no way she could have picked anything else.

Unless there is material which depicts the child who is always out of his seat.

His teacher also pins a cute little poem to the pillow case about remembering to pray for their teacher when they lay their heads down at night.

My little guy came home from school SO excited about his new "pillow sheet". He showed me the note and told me that in order for him to keep the pillow sheet he had to pray for his teacher. I told him that is a great reminder for his bedtime prayers.

Apparently he meant RIGHT NOW. I'm not sure why he thought the pillow case would go away if he didn't pray for her, but he dropped to the floor and launched into a very sincere prayer.

"Dear Lord,
Thank you for my teacher and everything she does for me.
Please help [teacher's name] to get done everything she hasn't gotten done. (Love this!)
Please help her to have a good Christmas.
Amen."

I probably shouldn't take pictures during prayer, but I just couldn't help myself.

Childlike faith....if only we could all remember that it doesn't have to be more complicated than this!

First Snow

2011-12-20T20:39:00.002-06:00

We just had the first snowstorm of the season.

It had been forecasted for days. The Winter Storm Watch was issued on Saturday. It turned into a Warning on Sunday. They were calling for 6 - 10 inches of snow and 35 mph winds from Monday evening through Tuesday evening.

We finished up our shopping a day early. We redid the schedule at school and made Plan B for final exams in case we had to close school.

It rained for most of the day Monday. Then it gradually turned into sleet, and eventually to snow.

When daddy came home from work today, he and the 5 yo went outside to play in the snow. They threw snow balls and worked on building a snowman until it was dark outside.

Unfortunately, instead of 6-10 inches, we got about 1 centimeter. And it literally took nearly every spot of snow in the entire yard to build the prized snowman.

So glad they warned us about this one.

MIA

2011-12-18T14:00:00.000-06:00

Dear Internet,

My life has been taken over by work, class, and Christmas.

None of these things are bad. In fact, I enjoy each one.

Together, however, they have blindfolded me, spun me in a dozen circles, and sent me off to dizzily find my way.

One day soon I may find my way back.

I miss you.

Love,
Me

Is It Christmas Break Yet???

2011-12-04T16:14:00.000-06:00

Someone just mentioned to me this week that they may start a blog.

I, of course, said what a great idea this was, and as we talked, I heard these words come out of my mouth: "One key to a great blog is to make sure that you post nearly every day."

And then I laughed at myself for a long time. Offering advice on great blogging techniques is just, well......funny.

I know that my statement is true. The best bloggers are consistent and they keep people coming back for more.

I know this. I have great intentions. And yet....life gets in the way.

Like sick kids. And papers to write. And more sick kids. And finals to take. On a random side note, writing finals is much more fun than taking finals.

I saw a facebook status this week that I love. My friend said, "I wish I would 'Stress Exercise'."

Amen to that. I've got Stress Eating down to a perfected science. I could use a shift in stress management methods.

At this very moment, 4:07 p.m. on Sunday afternoon, I would like to crawl in bed, pull the covers over my head, and forget about everything looming in front of me that needs to be accomplished.

However, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I am 2 1/2 questions away from being done with class until February. Never mind that 2 1/2 questions will equal at least 3-4 pages; if I look really hard, I can see the finish line. Couple that with 12 1/2 days until Christmas break, and there is a small chance that my sanity may remain in check.

The stress eating....that is yet to be determined.

But which is more important to worry about, my sanity or an extra 10 lbs?

At least I would get new clothes out of the deal.

Thanksgiving Break Rundown

2011-11-28T21:34:00.000-06:00

I had a few goals for Thanksgiving Break. They looked something like this:

1. Finish paper, group project, and speech for class.

2. Spend time with family and friends.

3. Clean the house top to bottom.

4. Catch up on laundry.

5. Go Christmas shopping.

Any guess on which one of these did not get accomplished?

Here's how I did:

Shopping - check. This should have been goal #1. Mom and I went for roughly 10 hours on Monday, and my hubby and I logged about 12 hours on Black Friday. Christmas shopping is nearly done. The biggest hold-up is whether or not we are getting something live for the 5 yo. I cannot believe I am even considering it.

Spend time with family - check. Two family Thanksgivings + Two afternoons of hanging out with friends = One very happy me!

Catch up on laundry - check. Although that will change in a matter of hours, and I will be starting all over again.

Finish paper, group project, and speech for class - semi-check. The paper is the only thing that was due this week, and it is done. The project and speech are due on Wednesday and I am making good progress.

Surprise, Surprise....the house is not clean from top to bottom. In my defense, I had Wednesday completely blocked off for this monumental task. No plans, nowhere to go. I was planning to fly into hyper-focus cleaning mode. At 9:00 in the morning I got a text that went something like this - "The weather is beautiful today. Do you want to get your family pics taken?"

I have been trying to figure out how to get this done for months. I had pretty much given up since the weather has turned cold and we have been so busy that my husband and I hardly remember what each other looks like.

I called my husband to make sure he could get off early, said "Yes!" to pictures, and began the flurry of trying to figure out how to pull together outfits, showers for everyone, getting myself ready, and not wanting to kill anyone in the process. Some people love the picture planning part. I HATE it. As in despise. Loathe. Abhor.

Not one inch of the house got cleaned. Instead, it looked like our closets threw up all over the living room.

However, the whole day was worth it once we arrived for pictures. We had a great time laughing together while one friend was busy taking pics and another friend was busy making my kids look cute and smile.

I'd trade this for a clean house any day.

NINE

2011-11-14T23:26:00.000-06:00

My oldest child turned nine a couple of weeks ago. I just now realized that I never wrote a birthday post for him. I had great intentions.....really.

NINE.

Last year of single digits.

Halfway to 18.

That's just OLD.

This birthday had a little less hoopla than the past couple of years. This was mostly because his birthday present arrived a little early this year. Remember the innocent conversation in Walmart that started this whole deal? It has taken on a life of its own.

Therefore, in honor of my son's 9th birthday, here are 9 reasons why this mama gets a little more nervous each day that goes by.

1. What started as a "Can we go look at a dirt bike, dad?" quickly became a motorcycle, helmet, and a dirt bike track. Complete with hills and jumps.

2. I'm feeling the need to start a cookie jar fund for ER visits.

3. I should have known trouble was coming when he said that it would be much more fun if he had someone to ride with.

4. Enter grandpa's four wheeler. {Sigh.} Why is this more fun? Because they can have deep, meaningful converations while driving??

5. Enter 5 year old on four wheeler. Yeah, that makes me feel lots better.

6. I'm gonna need to get a 2nd job to pay for ER visits.

7. Enter new toy for daddy.

8. Did anyone else notice that there is a helmet missing? And a license plate....and insurance, although that would be difficult to detect in a picture. Those will be coming shortly.

9. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that my devotion time was lacking and I needed to be more intentional about prayer.

However, it worked.

And my boys are loving.every.minute, so I'm good with it.

Until we are on our way to the ER. Then....possibly....not so much.

Fall Back

2011-11-06T15:57:00.002-06:00

Dear 5 Year Old Son,

The time change does it to you every time.

I know you were adamant that you did not need a nap. You were "not tired." You said it, you whined it, you cried it.

You created a five-star tantrum to try to convince us of it.

But I have proof.

You were tired.

I win.

Love,

Mom

What's In A Word

2011-11-01T23:05:00.001-05:00

I have 58 pages left to read for class tomorrow.

I need to find a couple of "motivational websites for teachers". That is a fairly broad category with way too much open-ended-ness. I'm guessing those websites are supposed to have at least a little to do with school.

I need to locate a picture of my son with his grandparents for Grandparent's Day.

I need to pack lunches.

I need to sign planners.

Instead I am blogging. Honestly, I have no idea why.

Let's just call it a brain break. Tomorrow's going to be a fairly busy day.

One person in our office had a baby tonight.

Another person is sick.

The third person is drowning in the planning of two huge school events on Friday and Saturday.

That just leaves me and the person who handles the money. I think we may just go shopping.

Otherwise we will be juggling calendars, substitutes and schedules. I may even have to teach P.E. This ought to be interesting. And possibly a little bit crazy.

The good thing about crazy is there is no chance of being bored. I intensely dislike doing the same thing over and over. Thankfully, I rarely have to worry about that.

Speaking of crazy, this pic is the whole reason I came to my little blogging world. The rest of my rambling nonsense is just a bonus. Or a cure for insomnia. Either way, it's a win-win.

I love this. I love words, reading, grammar, vocabulary, and did I mention reading? This little sign just made me laugh. It's been floating around on facebook, so I had to steal it.

Good night!

Holding It All Together?

2011-10-29T23:32:00.000-05:00

Just the other day someone at school asked me how I hold it all together. I'm still wondering what her definition of 'hold it all together' is.

I was secretly laughing to myself.

Or crying.

I'm not sure which.

Because the honest answer is....

I DON'T.

There just seem to be moments when things spin out of control. Trust me, when I say out of control, I mean out of control.

And if evidence is needed, here it is. This is what this room looked like this morning.

Apparently my camera date is running as far behind as I am.

This is my utility room....laundry room....whatever you want to call it. It is the first room we walk into when coming in from the garage. It is the first room where the kids throw down their coats and bags. There are typically no less than 6 pairs of shoes somewhere in this room at all times.

It is also the room where the laundry piles up. I am still trying to solve the mystery of how clothes can be 18 inches from the laundry basket, but never actually IN the basket. That must be a rule somewhere in the male manual.

This is the room that is the catch-all from the stuff we carry in from the car, the room where all the pagers are charged, and the room with the shredder and the paper to recycle.

This is also the room where everything gets thrown when the rest of the house is clean and we have people coming over and we just didn't get it all done in time.

This is the room that drives.me.crazy.

Until today.

This now might be my new favorite room.

It is currently bringing me great happiness.

Disturbing amounts of happiness, which I am OK with.

Right now I am practicing not going a little ballistic at the first kid who tries to throw his junk on my floor.

Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze

2011-10-23T15:57:00.000-05:00

It's that time of year.

I say that like this has been an annual tradition for us, which it has not. This is the first time we've taken our kids to anything that remotely resembles a pumpkin patch or corn maze.

It was worth the wait. However, their favorite things had nothing to do with a pumpkin patch or a corn maze. This was the little guy's favorite part - the jumping pillow. Destined to continually make you fall down, roll down the hill, land in rocks, and climb back up again. Sounds like loads of fun.

We could have dropped him off here, went shopping for the day, and picked him up at sundown.

Tackling your little brother definitely adds to the experience.

The giant tube slides were also a hit. Terrible for pictures; great for laughter.

The rope maze was pretty cool. I was shocked they wanted to do it, and even more shocked that this child stuck with it nearly the entire time.

This child did it once to practice, twice to race his dad, and a third time to switch colors to attempt to prove that his dad had the easier color. Attempt failed. He had to swallow his pride and just admit that dad was better at it.

I love this picture in the corn maze. It captures their personalities perfectly. I'm guessing the conversation went something like this:

8 yo: We've already been that way, and this path leads to a dead end, so after careful analysis, I think we should take a left. However, there is a sign over there that we have already seen, so maybe we should backtrack and go around the other way.....

5 yo: "Huh? Aren't we just here to have fun?!"

Pumpkin bowling. Fun for all. Except for the parents who have to set up the pins over and over and over and over and.....

Intense concentration.

Strike!!!!

The pictures do not lie. We never made it to the actual pumpkin patch. Because, as my boys said, why would you want to go stare at a field of pumpkins when there is so much other stuff to do?!

Summin' it all up

2011-10-21T22:19:00.000-05:00

I have four separate posts going about stuff I want to remember, weird things my kids did, or thought provoking moments from the past week. It is becoming evident that I will never finish any of those posts.

Hence, the cliff notes version.

My oldest son will be nine next week. Third grade does not seem old to me. Nine does. It is halfway to 18, halfway to adulthood, halfway to moving away to college. Gulp.

Last week he made it official that he is getting older. He asked me if I saw a particular second grade girl on that day and described to me how she looked. Part of his description included "she looked really cute." I picked my jaw up off the floor and continued the conversation like any cool mom would. I'm not sure if he has any idea that this was not a typical topic for him to discuss, and that this is an indication of what is yet to come in the next several years. Regardless, it made me realize that he is growing up.

Speaking of girls....I was just informed at school this afternoon that my 5 year old was holding hands with a little girl all the way from his classroom to the library. This would be the same girl who "has bright blue eyes just like you, mommy....". Oh my.

On a different note, people sometimes ask me why I chose to go into the field of education. The initial answer was, "It was the only way to get to be a Guidance Counselor." The initial answer has never occurred. The more important question is probably, "Why did you choose to stay in education?"

The list is lengthy. Although not the most important, one of the reasons I love it is because no two days are ever exactly the same. Each day brings new challenges and rewards. Yesterday I visited two different schools and met with four different administrators. We talked education for hours.

Today I was back in my building and at various points throughout the day tackled assessment research, newsletter writing, curriculum and grading questions, phone answering, copy machine repairing, and a dose of nursing and janitorial work. All different. All important.

There is more, but I have realized I am rambling.

I may love education, but I will obviously never be a writer of Cliff Notes.

Bug-o-mania

2011-10-16T12:12:00.000-05:00

My 5 year old loves bugs.

This is no secret.

It is also no secret that this ~~extreme~~ ~~intense~~ obsessive infatuation with bugs drives me a little bit crazy.

It seems that his sole purpose of existence revolves around what creepy-crawly he can find next. He goes to the lake to find bugs and spiders. He goes to school so he can find bugs and spiders at recess. He plays outside at home to...well, you get the idea. If a snake or lizard happens to be found in the process, dead or alive, it's all the more exciting.

For him.

Not me.

ICK.

Last week at school his kindergarten teacher caught him being very sneaky with his scissors. After a short investigation she found that he had cut a square out of the polo shirt he was wearing. When she asked him why he did it, this is what he said, "I need to feed my moth, and moths eat clothes!"

For.the.love. Really???

For awhile my greatest fear was that he was going to bring some big brown spider into my house and I would find it crawling in my bed.

Then my fear turned to the fact that if he keeps collecting moths, he may soon not have any clothes to wear.

Now, as the weather is turning colder, my fear is what is this poor child going to do when it freezes and there are no more bugs to catch?

Will there be tears and tantrums every day? Will he demand to know who killed all the bugs?

I am holding out one shred of hope. This bug-crazed child of mine is...ummmm....a tad attention-span deprived. It is technically possible that as soon as he sees the first snowfall, or something equally as exciting, that he may have a significant lapse of memory regarding his bug addiction.

One can only hope.

In the meantime, however, plans may be in motion for someone to get something for Christmas that lives in a cage...

Twenty Years Late

2011-10-14T16:26:00.000-05:00

I did not grow up a country girl. Granted, the 'city' I lived in had 1,500 people and about 30 square blocks, but I lived IN TOWN.

I always felt sorry for my friends who lived in the country. They couldn't just come over to a friend's house at any moment, they couldn't ride bikes around town with us, and most of all, they didn't have cable TV. {Gasp}. I really thought I couldn't live without it.

Now I do.

This really doesn't have anything to do with this post, except 'no cable TV' might be the reason I came upon this song. I cannot blame the fact that we don't have cable on living in the country, because we all know that pretty much anyone anywhere can get 500 channels if they really want to.

We are just cheap.

And we don't love TV that much.

However, there is one moment in my day when TV is a must. My elliptical machine and I have a love/hate relationship. I hate getting on it. I love when it's over. Yes, I know those are both all about me. I'm OK with that.

Here is what I have discovered. No matter what time of day I choose to spend time on the elliptical machine, there is NOTHING on TV. All 6 channels. This throws me into great desperation, because one must have distraction while on the elliptical machine.

Enter CMT. I have no idea when CMT arrived on non-cable TV, but it helps to pass the time.

Yesterday this song, "Twenty Years Late", came on. I had never heard it before.

It stopped me in my tracks.

Well, not literally, I kept sweating in agony, but it definitely caught my attention.

It made me wonder...how will my kids remember me?

Am I their taxi cab driver, their nurse, and their maid?

A waitress, a cook, and a shoulder to lay their head on to cry on when nothing is going their way?

Am I their judge and their jury and their biggest fan?

....Or is it possible that they will remember a mom who was always busy and rushing and hurrying everyone along?

Who's head was stuck behind a computer and had no time to respond?

Who had so much work to do that there was never time for them?

This thought scares me. It throws a little perspective on our crazy, busy world. Here's the thing - sometimes perspective HURTS. And not just a little.

I chatted about this with a friend just a little while ago. She asked me if I was looking at things through a clear lens.

My question back: How do you know when your lens is clear?

Here is what I know -- I know that I do not have to be at home 24/7 to be a good mom. I do not have to meet them at the door with freshly baked cookies in hand for them to feel loved.

But I do want to be their counselor, their shoulder to cry on, and their biggest fan. And I want them to remember me as a mom who had time for them in the good times and the bad.

Is my lens clear? I'm not sure yet.

But I do know I am trying to bring it into focus.

Too Much Thinking is Bad for the Brain

2011-09-30T22:46:00.000-05:00

I have a new boss at work. He's a Type A, forward thinking kind of guy. I'm OK with that, I'm fairly Type A myself. However, this week he asked me what I want to do next year. NEXT YEAR? It's only September!

I took a moment to enlighten him about my "grass is always greener" complex, and told him that right now might not be the best time to ask me what I want to do next year. To say that working full-time and taking classes has been a bit overwhelming is a major understatement.

I didn't tell him that if I had to decide right now, there is a good chance that I would choose the couch, bon-bons, and a really good book.

This sounds terrible, but the thought of staying at home while my kids are at school........well, it sounds like a little piece of heaven right now.

The other day I walked into a friend's house in the middle of the week and it was perfectly clean. Granted, they just moved in a month ago, but I asked her if her house really looks like that all the time. I nearly fell over when she admitted that, yes, she really tries to keep it consistently looking that nice. Again.....another little piece of heaven.

The question for me, though, is how long would it really last? I'm not talking about the clean house; I already know that answer.

How long would I be content not being submersed in the field of education? My track record for staying away from it is really not so great.

How long before I would be wondering why I was sitting at home when both of my kids were in school? How long before I would be wishing that I was there with them?

Honestly, it just makes my head hurt.

Balance. What I really need is balance. It is the answer that I am looking for, I just haven't quite figured out how to make it reality.

I'm a little nervous that I am going to wake up one morning with an 18 year old ready to go off to college, and I am still going to be trying to figure it out. And that I'll look back and realize that all those years of trying to find balance just landed me with years of regret.

Friday Night - Kid Style

2011-09-23T23:31:00.002-05:00

Sand box creations built.

Caterpillars caught.

Mud races finished.

Soccer game played.

Brownies eaten.

Hide and seek mastered.

Nerf battle fought.

Wii games accomplished.

Four boys asleep in tent in basement.

Perfect boy Friday evening.

Adults exhausted.

What Are We Thinking????

2011-09-16T19:26:00.000-05:00

Like Father....

(It's been nice knowing you. He is going to kill me when he sees this.)

Like Son.

Minus the mullet.

Here is how it started...

Two weeks ago on Sunday we were walking through Walmart. My five year old said, "I want one of those!" while pointing to the battery powered toy motorcycles. My eight year old put in his two cents, "Yeah, Dad, we have a big yard, it would be so fun to drive around with that.

My husband told my eight year old that he was too big for one of those, and what he really needed was a dirt bike.

I thought he was kidding.

I also didn't give it too much thought because my husband is....ummmm....a saver of money. Careful. Cautious. Thrifty.

What I forgot to take into consideration is that my husband grew up with three wheelers and motorcycles. His dad built him a three wheeling track complete with hills and jumps.

Nevermind that he nearly died from a three-wheeling accident when he was in fifth grade. We won't focus on that little fact.

So, Sunday the conversation started. Wednesday they went to the motorcycle store. Saturday the purchase was made. And now we have this.

My parents aren't sharing much of an opinion, which speaks for itself. My MIL said, "I can't believe you allowed him to buy that." My son is elated. And there are 37 and 70 year old little boys outside freezing their rears off, having the time of their lives.....building a track complete with hills and jumps.

A Bug's Life

2011-09-11T14:23:00.000-05:00

I have absolutely no idea if my child is learning anything in Kindergarten. In the morning, he says he doesn't want to go to school. In the afternoon, he says his day was "good". When asked what they did during school, he doesn't remember.

Unless I ask about recess. Then I get some information....because that is when he goes bug hunting. OH MY. It is out of control.

Ever since this child was a tiny baby, we have called him "Bug". Not always, just sometimes. It was just a fun little nickname. Usually I use it with his name in front of it, because it just rolls off my tongue all cute-like.

Now I am thinking this maybe wasn't such a good idea. The level of infatuation with bugs is almost frightening. If I had known the power of a nickname, I would have opted for something like "Genius"....

Everyday he brings home a ziploc bag that looks something like this.

This week he has expanded his search to spiders.

This does not thrill me.

However, he is IN LOVE. Spiders are way more fun because they spin webs right from your hand. As demonstrated here....

And here....

Until you manhandle the spider so much that the spider keels over dead right on the spot. This act instigates hysterical, sobbing sadness.

As demonstrated here....

September....Finally

2011-09-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

Reminders from the last couple of weeks....

*I like school, but August might just be my new least favorite month of the year. Too busy, too much work, too many babysitters for the kids, too hot, too tired to do a good job of transitioning schedules.

*My 8 year old was filling out a "What's the Scoop?" page for his 3rd grade teacher on Thursday night. It was full of statements like, "I am good at __________", and "I wish I could meet _________". My son was doing pretty well until he hit, "Life is __________". His first words were "not good". I tried (fairly unsuccessfully) to hide my shock and tried to explore this statement a bit. What I got was plenty of tears and no explanation. My heart started breaking a little.

*The Sunday School class I am going to just started The 5 Love Languages of Children. The VERY FIRST PAGE held a story about a 3rd grade boy who was withdrawing, acting up at school, and struggling at home. When the parents were asked if anything had changed in the home, the mother shared that she had just gone back to work full time for the first time in years. Rip.My.Heart.Out.

*My son's primary love language is quality time. Time......time.....time. No decisions made yet, because I don't tend to be a rash decision maker, but the Master's classes may have to be put on hold.

*On a completely different note, here is a piece of advice. When your clothes are feeling a little tight, and your upper arms are waving goodbye long after your hand is finished, and you think about asking your weight-lifting husband to design a program to help you get back in shape...don't do it. OUCH. Go somewhere else. Get a trainer. Pay the money. It will be easier to fire the guy.

First Day of School

2011-08-26T21:41:00.001-05:00

This is how the first day of school started. He doesn't value school so much.

Next, he sobbed through breakfast. That was fun.

Thank goodness this child is an early riser and a happy eater.

Thirty minutes later.....progress was made. They even managed smiles. Sort of.

First day of Kindergarten. I love this lady. We started working at the school at the same time...14 years ago. I have taught her children; she has taught mine. She makes dropping him off so easy.

I was the lucky pick for morning duty, so we didn't even see my 8 yo's teacher before the whole room was flooded with people. I see a restaging event in our future!

The benefits of having morning duty....a couple of fun shots of my kids.

Happy first day of school - 2011-12!

The Last Hoorah

2011-08-21T21:49:00.004-05:00

Each summer we go to the lake with the cousins for one "end of summer" weekend before school starts. This year was no exception. After what felt like 129 days of 100+ degree weather, relief finally arrived last weekend, and the days were gorgeous. August in Kansas is rarely this beautiful.

But, as all weekends go, there was some good.....some bad.....and a little ugly. Here is what we saw.

THE GOOD

Splashing each other with the jet ski provided hours of giggling fun. This looks worse than it was....at least according to my husband. I was doing a small amount of freaking out from the shore. For those who don't know, this lake has had its fair share of accidents and drownings this year. I was not looking to add one more to the list.

They just never get tired of it. NEVER. I think my husband literally logs nearly 6-8 hours every day. And he has the hair to prove it.

THE BAD

This puts a major damper on the day, but luckily it was only down for a few hours.

THE UGLY

I do not even want to think about what might be lurking in that water. This is where my 5 year old spends a great deal of time. He loves snails, mussels, and his new favorite creepy-crawly....crawdads.

And, yes, I realize that he has only one foot in the water and he is wearing a lifejacket. That's the rule for the kids - if any part of your body is near the lake, the lifejacket must be on. (It is not a rule for the adults, although you couldn't tell it by looking at these pictures!) It allows me to cope. If only that lifejacket would protect him from all that nastyness he is sitting in.

Aforementioned crawdad. Caught. With a cool whip dish. The poor thing never saw it comin'. I spent much of the weekend dreading the reaction I would get when I my son was told the crawdad could not come home.

And this, my friends, is what a very serious crawdad conversation looks like. Uncle J is the crawdad expert. He knows all about what they eat, how they come out at night, and that when you shine a flashlight at them at night, their eyes glow red. I think Uncle J should keep information like that to himself, unless he wants to stay up all night sitting at the edge of the lake with a flashlight.

I am only so risky with my camera at the lake, which means no jet ski riding for the camera. Usually that works out just fine. This weekend I apparently missed some pretty great shots. Here is what I wish I had seen:

The look on my son's face when a skunk ran right in front of him on the way to the shower house.
My husband being thrown off the jet ski by his 12 year old niece. A video of him flying off the jet ski when she turned a tight corner would have been priceless.
My SIL and BIL noticing a stranded boat taking on water with a family of 6 inside. My husband arrived within a few seconds and they all decided he should be the one to tow the boat to shore. A few seconds after they hooked up the rope to the boat, my BIL and SIL took off on their jet ski, turned too sharp toward the cove, and dumped the jet ski over. I'm thinking the family of 6 was feeling pretty happy that they did not choose them as their taxi!
The look on my husband's face when a kayak passed him while he was swimming the jet ski to the cove after it ran out of gas. We have always wondered if the reserve gas tank works on the jet ski. Now we know. It doesn't.

The Weight of the World

2011-08-19T21:54:00.000-05:00

I've always wondered about that saying.

Because, really, does anyone actually know how much the world weighs? Has someone literally put it on a scale?

This week I am not wondering so much.

I guess that is the answer. When you feel the weight of the world on your shoulders, you just know it.

And it is........HEAVY.

Here's the thing. At the moment, the weight is not coming from a load of junk happening directly to me. I am not sifting through rubble or putting pieces back together.

The weight is coming from feeling HELPLESS. All of the sudden there is so much going on around me. People are hurting. People are sick. People need answers.

I don't have them.

Family members are in the hospital. Family members are hurting each other. It's a mixed up mess of emotions.

Still no answers.

I have two brothers-in-law. (Which, by the way, has always sounded like the most ridiculous plural form of a word.) Both of them are spinning in cycles of grief. One has been in ICU for five days. He is not doing well. The other suddenly lost his 30-something younger brother yesterday morning.

Helpless.

There are no words. Just love. Support. And carrying each other's burdens.

Wipeout

2011-08-08T22:33:00.000-05:00

In my mind, "Wipeout" is only a song we played in pep band at football games.

Sadly, this is not the same for my children.

They have become a bit fascinated with that obnoxious television show.

Turning the entire house into a wipeout zone.

And making me cringe as they fly through the air to hit the target.

It has provided hours of fun....and so far not one stitch or broken bone.

Just a huge mess, which of course is never picked up exactly right, and no $50,000 grand prize.

Random

2011-08-06T21:40:00.000-05:00

Last weekend we went to the lake. It looked like this. It NEVER looks like this.

Well, that's a lie. Obviously, it looked like this on this day.

No wind at all. The only waves were from other boats. Perfect skiing water at 11:00 a.m.

He jumped wake after wake. He flew through the air. I took picture after picture. I failed every single time.

This is as good as it got.

Amazing water.

I know I have said that already. It just so rarely happens in Kansas.

On a slightly random note, this child is in love with snails.

Gross, slimy, nasty snails.

But the expression is kinda worth it.

And on a completely random note, this is "SuperKid".

T-shirt, Snowsuit, House robe, Insulated Gloves.

Temperature outside: 112 degrees.

Here We Go....

2011-08-01T22:21:00.000-05:00

Today marks the first day in nine years of working full time.

Needless to say, I am nervous.

So far, the kids are excited about going to grandma's house most days until school starts. So far, the laundry is caught up and the meals are planned for the week. So far, everyone is happy and rested.

So far....

But it is only Monday.

I have a strange little feeling that by next week we might not all be feeling so cheery and organized.

I will be working while the kids are in school - at the same school. I get to take them there and take them home. I can walk down a hallway and eat lunch with them whenever I want. When June and July come around, my hours decrease significantly. So, for a "full-time" job, I really can't complain.

There are a few aspects, however, that make me sad.

There are the obvious things - not as much time at home, less time to read for fun, less time to stay on top of the daily stuff that just has to get done.

Another shift will be my time with friends. Not that I spend a ton of time just hanging out with friends, but being at home afforded the luxury of virtual time chatting online, which fills a void when you can't drop everything and meet at the coffee shop to catch up or the park for a kid play-date.

The more I work, the more I find myself less aware of the needs of others. This is hard to admit, but it is reality. I don't take the time to look outside of my life as much as I should and reach out like I should. This is one area I am going to try really hard to work on.

I never thought I would second-guess working. For that matter, I never thought I would NOT work. My mom was a career woman, and I followed suit. I was surprised several years ago when I discovered I wanted to pull way back and stay home much more.

The plan was always to go back when the kids were in school. And now here we are....

Only time will tell how it goes.

Get Motivated

2011-07-26T21:01:00.001-05:00

Today I, along with half of the population of Kansas, went to the Get Motivated seminar in Wichita. I have been to Wichita hundreds of times, and never have I sat on the interstate before 7:00 in the morning waiting at a dead standstill to get off at an exit.

We covered two miles in a record-breaking 40 minutes, finally found a place to park about six blocks away, and accurately judged walking to the arena to be faster than waiting for a shuttle. Once inside, we made our way up to the nosebleed section (featured as "Premier Seating") to find the place completely packed.

This kind of situation always lends itself to some entertaining people watching. I am intrigued to observe how individuals handle various types of adversity. Some people were disgusted with the fact that they had to go to overflow seating and watch via satellite. Many were annoyed that the event planners oversold the number of tickets for seating in the arena. For the most part, however, there was no major revolting...at least that I saw.

All in all, it was a pretty good day. I am not typically hung up on celebrities, but it really was a lot to take in from some fairly prominent people. Here are some of my favorite points gleaned from each of the speakers.

Rick Belluzo - INTEGRITY MATTERS! - Treat people well, do what you say you will do, set a high standard for behavior. (Amen to that!!)

Lou Holtz - Do what is right, do everything to the best of your ability, show people that you care. Never criticize the performer; you may criticize the performance.

General Colin Powell - Trust is the key factor. When trust is built, people will follow you through almost anything. When trust is destroyed, there is no foundation.

Rudy Giuliani - Keep Reading Books! (He said a lot more really great stuff, but that key point was enough for me!)

Bill Cosby - GET UP and just DO IT. Oh, and my favorite....if you want to motivate your employees to do better and work harder.....just start showing them videos of unemployed people looking for work. I loved, loved, loved Bill Cosby when I was a kid, and he did not disappoint today!

Terry Bradshaw - It's all about people and relationships; show people you care.

Bob Harrison - I was shocked to hear that when asked what people wanted more of in the seminar, the top answer was spirituality. This guy did a great job of presenting the Christ in a pretty straight forward way.

Steve Forbes and Bill Self were also on the list, but one spoke first thing while we were searching for seating, and the other spoke at the very end, which looked to be about 45 minutes after the day was actually supposed to end. As much as I love KU, heading home at 5:00 trumped Bill Self (not to mention, my Ohio, Alabama, and Florida-raised colleagues didn't have quite so much affection for my Jayhawks!).

Yes, there were some frustrating moments. Yes, there were some sales pitches that we had to endure. No, I didn't win the flat screen TV, the Disney vacation, or the $10,000, but I can safely say my motivation level was raised at least slightly. That's good enough for me!

But $10,000 sure wouldn't have hurt my feelings.

5 Year Old Obedience

2011-07-25T18:44:00.000-05:00

From daddy to the 5 yo while handing him a cupcake: "Try to be really careful and not make a mess and get chocolate everywhere."

5 yo: "OKAY!!"

Holding It Together.....Or Not

2011-07-23T18:55:00.001-05:00

I'm sure I have mentioned this multiple times in the past several weeks, but this has not been my favorite summer. Aside from the never-ending heat and dry weather that is wearing us all down, this summer has just been too FULL.

Most of it has been my own doing. We have had the typical baseball, VBS, swimming lesson, and harvest things going on. That is all normal. Add into that the summer dentist and orthodontic appointments, the "Oh, how I love to be a female" appointments, and the yearly CT and bloodwork appointments, and life fills up pretty quickly.

I also chose this summer to start my master's degree. Again, my fault. We knew we would be jumping into some craziness by making this decision; however, after analyzing time frames and getting some great friend advice, we decided that right now when both boys are in elementary school is better than attempting it when they are in junior high and high school.

What I did not expect was to be working quite so much this summer. I knew my job would entail some summer hours, and I also knew that once August hit, I could pretty much kiss summer good-bye. However, what I thought was going to potentially be a jam-packed two weeks of summer turned into a VERY crazy six weeks, and has at points become a tad overwhelming.

In the mix of this, I have been trying to document my teaching experience and upgrade my teaching license. Several years ago, our state made it more difficult for a stay-at-home mom or a private school teacher to keep a professional license. I had a five year period of time where I did some of both, and my license suffered for it. I have been on a quest for a few years to move from a Conditional license back up to Professional. This is important not only because it is a personal goal, but because it affects my master's program, and my ability to take an enormous state test at the end of my program.

Mix all of the above situations together. Stir for several weeks. Add a severe lack of sleep and fighting children. Bring to a boil. Then call the state education department to check on the status of said license.

This, my friends, is a recipe for disaster. As soon as the lady at the state office told me my upgrade had been denied, I lost it. Not uncontrollable, can't-catch-a-breath sobbing, but tears streaming down my face, can't-speak-a-full-sentence crying. I was SO EMBARRASSED.

I suddenly thought of a time six years ago when I was at my OB-GYN's office right after our 6th miscarriage. I asked him what the Rose symbol on the front of my file was for. He said it was to alert the doctors and nurses that the patient was there due to problems with a pregnancy, so they wouldn't come in with the "we're so happy you are expecting" smile.

This left me wondering....what is the file symbol at the state education department for "EMOTIONAL FREAK"??!!

The Happiness Project

2011-07-16T18:09:00.000-05:00

For the last year-and-a-half I have been a part of an amazing book club. The idea started when my friend picked up this book off the shelf at Barnes and Noble. She said, "I've always wanted to do a book club. Would you be in it? Let's do this book."

I secretly thought she was a little bit crazy.

I LOVE books. I am a reader, so the book club part was not my issue. But the The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society? Seriously? That did not sound good to me AT ALL.

Turns out she knew what she was talking about. The book was great, and getting together with old and new friends was even better.

Nineteen books later, we are reading The Happiness Project. I am on page 38, and I am already all worked up about this book.

"Worked up" is the best description I can come up with, because I cannot tell if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing, but at the moment it is definitely creating some angst.

I am currently pondering this quote from the book:

"I wanted to change myself but accept myself. I wanted to take myself less seriously - and also more seriously. I wanted to use my time well, but I also wanted to wander, to play, to read at whim. I wanted to think about myself so I could forget myself. I was always on the edge of agitation; I wanted to let go of envy and anxiety about the future, yet keep my energy and ambition."

My first thought: This woman is crazy.

My second thought: This woman could be me.

I forged ahead to read about her journey of identifying twelve resolutions to tackle, one for each month, excited about what I might discover that I would want to transfer into my own life. I read through month #1 - Boost Energy.

How? Go to sleep earlier....Exercise better....Toss, Restore, Organize...Tackle a nagging task....Act more energetic.

There were some good things in there, really. But by the end of chapter one, I was not feeling motivated, I was feeling TIRED.

This has not been the greatest summer ever. I have been working too much, seeing my kids too little, studying enough to get through class, and trying to keep family life running somewhat smoothly.

It's possible that I need a Happiness Project. I am going to forge ahead in the book and hope that my perspective changes. Because if a book called The Happiness Project leaves me feeling depressed and deflated, I am not going to be impressed.

I have already earned the label "Emotional Freak" this summer, and once in a summer is plenty for me. That may have to be tomorrow's post....

I Love It....I Love It Not.....

2011-07-04T14:59:00.000-05:00

I have a love/hate relationship with summer.

I love the freedom, the relaxed schedules, and not having to wake up at 6:00 a.m. every morning.

I love time at the pool, longer evenings to enjoy the outdoors, and spending time at the lake.

I love fresh produce from the garden, fresh fruit from the store, and eating popsicles on the front porch.

I love bike rides, combine rides, tractor rides, and jet ski rides.

There are a few things, however, that I do not love. Summer, in fact, would be perfect without the following...

Sand -- It is everywhere. I just told my husband in May that our boys have outgrown the sandbox and we could get rid of it this year. I KNOW they did not hear me say these words, but three days later they rediscovered the sandbox. The countless hours they spend out there with their neighbor friends are delightful moments of quiet me-time. The countless hours after they come in are spent sweeping and mopping the floors, and doing laundry. It is not worth it.
Dirty bathtubs. For the love. How can one child actually have that much dirt on his body?
Storms -- I don't hate them, but my oldest child is T.E.R.R.I.F.I.E.D. of storms. It is beyond normal. However.....I was nearly as bad as a child. I know my parents are secretly laughing at me and dancing a little jig every time he gives me a dose of my own medicine.
The fighting. Oh, the fighting. The stupid, trivial, "I am only doing this to provoke and irritate my brother" fighting.
107 degree weather. Way.too.hot.
Burning fields -- Yep, still hate it. Whether it is the field we live in, or the endless...."please respond to control burn out of control...." screaming through my husband's pager, I am not a fan.

Ultimately, though, my biggest frustration with summer is that it goes by too fast!

I guess that means I should quit complaining and just enjoy the moments that make the memories....except for the sand. Will.never.like.sand.

The Events of Summer

2011-06-25T19:38:00.000-05:00

Typical summer so far.....

HARVEST

PLAYING IN THE WHEAT TRUCK FOR THE LITTLE GUY. THIS WOULD SEND THE OLDER ONE TO THE EMERGENCY ROOM.

T-BALL FOR THE LITTLE GUY, BASEBALL FOR HIS OLDER BROTHER.

JET SKIING. HE WILL NOT RIDE UNLESS HE DRIVES. NO CONTROL ISSUES THERE...

AND S'MORES, OF COURSE.

FUNNY HOW I DON'T HAVE ANY PICTURES OF THE FIGHTING, THE DAILY CHORES, OR THE "MOM, I'M BORED...." MOMENTS.

THERE'S BEEN PLENTY OF THAT GOING ON THIS SUMMER AS WELL.

40 Before 40 Update

2011-06-20T23:57:00.000-05:00

Today's my birthday. 36. Let's not dwell on that number for too long.

Last year I wrote a 40 Before 40 post. It only seems natural that this list should be revisited each year for a little self-evaluation.

If I've done the math correctly, I need to accomplish at least 8 each year.

Here goes nothing....

1. Catch up on my kids' scrapbooks. {Progress made....but definitely not 'caught up'.}

2. Exercise faithfully. No more four weeks on, three weeks off. There is a reason no one markets that routine. {Ummmm.....Does 2 weeks on, two weeks off count?}

3. Go on vacation for an entire week with just my immediate family, and not because work sent us.

4. Read 5 classics recommended by my classic literature fanatic friend. {Shoot, now I have to read more than one per year.}

5. Go snow skiing for the 2nd time. The first time was okay, but everyone says you have to go a second time to really enjoy it.

6. Take my children to a professional football or baseball game. {DONE!! Colorado Rockies vs. Chicago Cubs - last summer.}

7. Visit at least half of the States. So far I think I've only been to 15.

8. Develop and keep up a habit of drinking 6-8 glasses of water each day.

9. Landscape - or better yet, hire someone - to landscape our front yard.

10. Begin and maintain a well-tended garden. {DONE!! Does 'maintain' mean more than one year? I'm gonna say no.}

11. Go through the entire house, basement included, room by room, throw out junk, and organize everything.

12. Go to the Mall of America.

13. Complete a family scrapbook - One that my husband and I actually appear in.

14. Read the Bible through in a year. I started this year, but at the rate I am going, I may hit the New Testament in 5 years.

15. See the Grand Canyon.

16. Get my Master's Degree. {Started....but many years left.}

17. Repaint all the walls in my house.

18. Remember my friends' and family members' birthdays by sending cards, calling, or at least sending emails. {Not bad this year. If I'm desperate, I could say DONE!}

19. Get new living room furniture.

20. Teach, by example, my kids to volunteer and think of others more.

21. Eat less sugar. {On again, off again.}

22. Begin recycling and keep it up faithfully. {DONE!!}

23. Relearn to play the piano well. {I have decided the easiest way to do this is to keep playing the songs my son plays as he progresses through each level. I have successfully mastered Level 2.} :-)

24. See Niagara Falls.

25. Make a family recipe book. I come from a family, and married into a family, with slews of amazing cooks. It would be sad not to pretend that I like to cook and document all of their fabulous recipes.

26. Still be taking girls' weekends. {So far, so good.}

27. Lay on a beach. Since we love going to the lake, let me qualify this by saying a beach at the local reservoir does not count. I should not be able to see land on the other side of the water.

28. Write an adoption book for my son.

29. Have my entire wardrobe be in a single digit size for the first time since I was twelve years old.

30. Go on a mission trip, preferably a family mission trip.

31. Tell my kids everyday that I love them. {Unless I don't see or talk to them....}

32. Spend more time putting others before myself. {I should have made these a bit more measurable!}

33. Consistently do family devotions.

34. Visit my brother in Oregon.

35. Lead a workshop at a Teacher Convention.

36. Be able to run a 5K.

37. Try more food that ends with -ese....Chinese....Japanese.....

38. Spend an entire weekend at home without kids.

39. Water ski for more than a minute without screaming. {What was I thinking??}

40. Practice saying "forty" so I don't pass out when the day arrives. {No way....}

Shoot.

Not even close to 8.

And was I thinking I was going to win the lottery to do all that traveling?

There's always next year....

The Short Version

2011-06-18T14:33:00.001-05:00

I could possibly write about this year's harvest for hours. The chaos started nearly two weeks ago when people started talking about the wheat being ready very early this year. When we saw the first combine out on June 7, we couldn't believe it. That is EARLY.

We started a few days later, and things went relatively well until Wednesday. My husband was driving the combine, heard a bad noise (I'm sure a male would have described it in better terms), and saw smoke. Apparently smoke and steam look quite similar upon first glance. The good news was, it wasn't smoke. The bad news was, it was a very expensive blown radiator, which I learned takes many hours to replace.

Enter the hero of the week - Neighbor Neal - who was done with harvest and graciously loaned my FIL his combine. Fast forward through using his combine, fixing ours, cutting 20 minutes with ours and realizing the new radiator leaks badly, and borrowing Neal's again. The results of all that? Very grumpy men.

Move on to last night. Last field. Last day of harvest. Still using someone else's very nice combine. We began to hear thunder and see lightening to the north, so I hauled the kids home. The clouds got darker, I turned on the TV, and saw a newly issued tornado warning. We were in the direct path of the storm.

At that moment my MIL called to tell me that she called my FIL to tell him about the weather. I said, "Are they getting out of the field?" She responded with, "They better be!"

Knowing these two guys, I did not trust that answer, so I called my husband. When I asked him what he was doing, he said, "Cutting wheat!"

A myriad of possible answers ran through my mind. My panicked 8 year old was listening to my every word, so I chose the very emphatic, "LISTEN TO ME. YOU CANNOT STAY THERE. YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF THE FIELD RIGHT NOW." Shockingly enough, I still heard him ask his dad if he should stay or go.

Later, my husband told me he could feel me strangling him through the phone.

He was right.

They played the amazing race to get all the trucks to the shed and the combine to the neighbors and everyone to a house with a basement.

In the end, it was a nasty storm, but there were no official tornadoes and everything turned out ok.

The best part, however....the men still admitted that the women were RIGHT.

It's That Time of Year Again

2011-06-14T07:45:00.000-05:00

Repeat After Me

2011-06-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

On the way home tonight, my boys were playing the "Repeat" game. It was my five year old's idea. He would make a sound, and then his brother would echo that sound. It went on for awhile, and surprisingly, it entertained the two of them for awhile.

When we were almost home, I jumped in with my version of the game. I made them repeat after me.

I will
Not have to take a bath
Tonight.
But I will
Take a bath first thing in the morning
With no complaining.

They actually willingly said each line.

Then my five year old said, "Repeat after me." And he led us through the following.

I will
Bless my heart.
Unto God
And my soul
Forever and ever.

I was a little shocked. I asked him if someone taught him those phrases. He said no, that he just made it up. I praised him quite a bit for coming up with a cool "Repeat."

A few seconds later, my 8 year old said it was his turn. I was pretty sure that he was going to one-up his little brother and start quoting Psalm 100 or something similar. He said, "Repeat after me."

I will
Not take a bath
EVER.

Very deep and spiritual.

So in the spirit of the game, I took my turn.

Then I
Will not
Let you live
In my house
EVER.

We are very mature around here.

Summer Days

2011-06-09T22:51:00.000-05:00

When the weather doesn't cooperate and there is no rain to keep the sand in the sandbox perfect for building, one must take matters into his own hands. One must also coerce his brother to help him gather water containers, fill them up, and lug them to the sandbox in 102 degree weather.

A picture a day....

2011-06-08T22:45:00.000-05:00

.....until my class goes away.

This little girl stole my heart (and my son's) this weekend. What great memories!

Movin' On Up

2011-05-27T14:44:00.000-05:00

Wednesday was the little guy's last day of preschool. He is very excited to be done with preschool and to move on up to Kindergarten.

Little does he know, with the end of preschool also comes the end of....

not having to get up for school every.single.day.
never having homework.
only having school for a couple of hours at a time.

Ssshhh.... it will be our little secret.

When asked if he had any thoughts about being a preschool graduate, he said....

"I SURE LOOK CUTE IN MY GRADUATION HAT, DON'T I?!"

It's Official

2011-05-20T15:53:00.000-05:00

I bought my books.

I paid lots of tuition money.

I loaded up my backpack.

I am once again a student.

Oh, how I long for the ease of Crayola markers and Elmer's glue. Unfortunately, those items did not appear on my syllabus.

Which, by the way, looks like this:

Just in case the picture is unclear, it is very, VERY thick.

It makes me very, VERY nervous.

I am praying that I am very, VERY wrong!

"When I Grow Up I Want To Be....."

2011-05-14T22:34:00.002-05:00

My second grade son had an assignment at school.

Write one sentence telling what you would like to be when you grow up.

He wrote - "When I grow up I want to be a teacher."

My heart swelled. I was so proud. My son was already realizing the great importance of education and wanted to follow in my footsteps. Not only that, but he even wrote his answer in a complete sentence by restating the important information, and he used proper capitalization and punctuation! {content sigh}

The second part of the assignment was as follows:

Write three reasons why you want to be that when you grow up.

He wrote - "I want to be a teacher when I grow up because I'm good at school. Another reason why I want to be a teacher is because it's not a hard job. There is another reason and that is I don't have to work as long."

WHAT!?!? Proud mama to 'you-have-got-to-be-kidding-me' mama in .3 seconds flat.

Not a hard job?

Don't have to work as long??

My sincere apologies to all my teacher friends. I have failed as an educator-mother.

However, his teachers have apparently been amazing and have made the job look EASY.

And....it appears that he has not felt neglected, abused, or emotionally scarred from all of the HOURS of work I have done at home preparing for teaching. It seems he has not even noticed.

And....you can bet that if he actually does become a teacher, I will be checking in on him in roughly 15 years with this post in hand.

Gardening....Novice?

2011-05-11T15:04:00.000-05:00

Is there a word for being worse than a novice? Rookie? Newbie? Infant?

'Cause if there is, that's me.

Remember my black thumb? It has not gotten any better over the last three years.

However, if you drive by my house, you would think I am a MAJOR gardener.

This is garden #1 -- Potatoes, peas, onions, lettuce, carrots, spinach, and strawberries

Here's #2 -- Poppyseed, watermelon, cantaloupe

And here's #3 -- Corn and unsuccessful poppyseed

Insane, I know.

Here's the thing. They are not all mine.

They are not even half mine. My in-laws live in town and want way more garden space than they have. Since they practically gave us the land we live on, we graciously said it would be fine for them to have a garden at our place. One garden turned into two....which turned into three. In a couple years we may not even have to mow.

I am experimenting with this thing called gardening in garden #1. I read and researched, and then we planted.

And when I say "we", I mean that my father-in-law put the seeds in his little planter and drove it up and down the rows. My five year old "helped" by demanding to push the planter with grandpa, causing grandpa to do this crazy walk -- side-step -- run thing down the rows with my son. I stood there and watched. It was a beautiful bonding moment.

This has been a terrible year to try to figure out how in the world to grow stuff. We have had virtually no rain, lots of hot days, and crazy amounts of wind.

I would have license to complain, except that every time I go out to check on things, my father-in-law has already watered the garden and tilled the rows.

So in all my studying up on this subject, my best advice is to offer garden space to the in-laws. Odds are there will be a built-in gardener in the package deal.

I Still Say It Is A Fact....

2011-05-01T22:37:00.000-05:00

....males just are not very good at finding stuff.

Supporting Evidence #3,452.

Last Sunday's Easter Egg Hunt.

It that egg were alive, it could have bitten him.

He looked all around this little bush. For a LONG TIME. The expression says it all.

And for those who are thinking about the fact that I just posted the other day about all of the things I have lost, I am happy to update that I have located everything on the list.

I'm also happy to report that the Easter eggs were also found.

Eventually.

Oh Be Careful Little Mouth What You Say

2011-04-30T11:50:00.000-05:00

Before you say...."It's a good thing we are not sleeping at home tonight. The wind is so loud today I think we would have to camp out downstairs.".......

Make sure you really AREN'T SLEEPING AT HOME.

Also choose your words carefully and think of a new phrase for "CAMP OUT".

Otherwise, things will end up looking something like this.

We were supposed to leave for Nebraska yesterday at 4:00 p.m. At 12:55 p.m., my husband's fire pager went off. They were being called to a large grass fire. The winds were blowing at a solid 30-35 mph, gusting to 50-60 mph.

He hesitated, knowing there was a chance this could be a LONG call, and unsure if he would be back by 4:00, but knowing it could be a very bad situation. The 2nd page made up his mind. When you are part of a volunteer fire dept., you go as much as you can, but you don't typically go when you have plans to leave town. However, a 2nd page means if you are located anywhere remotely close to being able to respond and you are not sick to the point of dying, you really need to get there.

So he went.

Four came and went. As did 5:00 and 6:00.

At 7:00, the grandparents and I took the boys to McDonalds to lessen the blow of not going on the weekend trip.

Around 8:00, daddy came home, hoping they wouldn't be called back to the scene.

Around 8:30, as we started the teeth-brushing, bedtime routine, my son reminded me, WORD FOR WORD, about what I had said about the wind and "camping out".

And the fact that their trip to Nebraska got canceled.

I hate that he remembers everything.

S'mores, anyone?

Move On, Murphy

2011-04-29T17:34:00.001-05:00

Sometimes my blog sits unattended for days and weeks because I have nothing to say.

But sometimes it simply has to do with time.

I started a post about my amazingly quick trip to Illinois, and how much I love my family out there.

I took pictures for a post about Easter.

I have wanted to document my new attempt at gardening.

But, as my colleague just said to me yesterday, "Life has snuck up and jumped me from behind."

That could not be more true. These past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. At moments it has felt more like a tornado, but in light of the weather the south just experienced, I can safely say that I am probably closer to whirlwind status.

However, Murphy's Law has landed right smack in the middle of my world.

In the past few weeks I have wasted countless hours searching for important flash drives, my cell phone, a school contract, a much-needed notebook, and two lost books.

Fortunately, I have found everything except the books.

Unfortunately, I need to have one of the books read by Thursday. I am on Chapter 1.

It is time for Murphy to pack up and move on.

Test

2011-04-17T15:56:00.004-05:00

This is a test.

This is only a test...

This is an annoyed blogger who wrote a lengthy post with strategically placed paragraphs and line spacings, only to have all spacings and paragraphs disappear upon publishing. No amount of editing made it better.

If this works, more later....

Here's What I Know....

2011-04-13T13:42:00.002-05:00

It has been a LONG time since I have been to my blog.

Hence, the bullet points.

I was in two different states for two different trips in 10 days time. Well, three if you count the one I live in.

I still love serving on accreditation teams. I am not sure how it is possible to come back completely exhausted and re-energized all at the same time, but that is pretty much how it always feels.

Our Illinois trip was great.

It is possible to make a 10 hour trip with 2 kids and 4 adults with no technology and only one stop.

Six months of free satellite radio in new vehicles is a great marketing plan. I can see how one could get addicted to that small luxury.

If you think the price of fuel is bad in Kansas, visit Illinois. You will feel better when you return.

I enrolled on Monday for my first master's classes.

My bank account is saying OUCH.

School ends on May 17, my classes start on May 18. So much for summer break.

I am contemplating working full time next year.

I might be certifiably crazy.

Drowning

2011-04-01T14:42:00.003-05:00

Drowning in work.

Drowning in the mess in my house.

Drowning in thoughts.

If you haven't seen me by May, please send help.

HAPPY ADOPTION DAY!

2011-03-22T22:23:00.001-05:00

When I said those words this morning, my son stared at me with a funny, questioning little look in his eye.

He knows he's adopted. He could tell you that I was not the one who gave birth to him. He knows we flew to another state right before he was born, and that he flew on an airplane back with us when he was 9 days old.

But he still doesn't quite get it. He does not ask questions. He does not wonder how it all works. He does not ask whose tummy he grew in.

And that's OK.

I know the questions will come eventually. Some of them will be hard. Very hard.

But here is what's cool.

Adoption is so NORMAL in our world.

While we were having this little adoption discussion this morning, I immediately thought of 9 kids who are either close friends, in preschool, or in Sunday School with him. I LOVE this.

It doesn't mean there won't be issues, or that it will be easy.

But it does make me feel very blessed.

Monday Musings

2011-03-21T18:22:00.002-05:00

Spring Break is here! It is the week that we long for throughout the long months of January and February. It is the week we count down the days to. It is the week that makes us think we can hardly survive until it arrives.

It is the week that flies by so quickly it leaves us all a little depressed when it is over.

It's only Monday evening, but here is what I know about Spring Break so far...

1. If a bracket is going to fall off your son's braces, it will do so on the first weekend of Spring Break. When you call the orthodontist's office at 8:00 a.m. on Monday morning, you will discover that your orthodontist also believes in Spring Break. Gone for the entire week.

2. When your orthodontist is out for the entire week, your family is now on a soft foods diet. This now forces the main meal planner in the household to get a little creative. Unfortunately, I am the main meal planner, and unless it has to do with education, creative is not really in my vocabulary.

3. When your family is forced to go on a soft foods diet, expect much whining and complaining from the other young family member who does not wear braces and has no current food eating issues.

4. When dealing with the constant whining and complaining, take deep breaths, remember that you got to sleep in longer than usual this morning, and immediately load the children up in the car when your friend suggests you come over and go on a Dairy Queen run.

5. When you are at Dairy Queen, be prepared to be frustrated at your child when you order him a $3.00 blizzard and he only eats three bites.

6. When you are busy feeling frustrated, take a moment to remember the victims in Japan, the cizitens of Libya, and the hungry and homeless all over the world. Immediate attitude change will most likely occur.

It's amazing how quickly I can refocus if I really stop and think. Here's hoping for a Spring Break with proper focus!

March Madness

2011-03-18T19:18:00.003-05:00

My family loves March Madness.

The other morning we heard the DJ on the radio talking about how his kids and wife fill out their tournament brackets based on things like uniform colors, location of teams, and if they like the mascot. My son thought these people were C.R.A.Z.Y.

This year my husband, kids, and I made a friendly little bet on the tournament bracket. We are frantically keeping score throughout the tournament, and the winner gets a day off. For either of my boys, that would mean no chores for a day and unlimited TV, computer, and wii. For me, it would mean no cooking, cleaning, or kid care. I'm thinking hours of reading, scrapbooking, or shopping sounds REALLY good. For my husband....well, let's just hope he's a bad bracket-filler-outer.

I am happy to report I am currently in FIRST PLACE. Tied with my 5 year old, which just makes us all laugh. He has no clue. To fill out his bracket, his older brother read down the list, two at a time, and had him choose the team he thought would win. The little guy chose the first name given to him every single time. Lucky for him, when you read down a bracket, the FIRST team listed has the higher ranking.

So, for now, we are reveling in the glory of being the leaders. I see a beautiful day of rest in my future!

What's Missing?

2011-03-17T21:19:00.003-05:00

TRAINING WHEELS!!

Miracles Happen

2011-03-13T15:14:00.003-05:00

Several people have asked me if my last adoption post was about US.

NO!

I have had the privilege of being part of an amazing, wonderful, miraculous adoption story.

AGAIN.

I will never grow tired of these stories!

If you would like to read a "feel-good, this is how it is supposed to work out" story, click here. I have read it over and over and still love it. It is a-MAZ-ing.

And if you would like to be a part of this miracle and bless the family in a very special way, go here. You will not only help this great family, you will have a beautiful necklace!

Miracles happen. Everyday.

Spread the word!

Weekend Top 10

2011-03-08T12:15:00.003-06:00

A year or so ago several of my blogger friends used to do a weekly Top 10. Then we got lazy, or bored, or ran out of ideas, so we eventually stopped.

But sometimes things happen in life that simply deserve a top ten.

Last weekend was one of those times.

So here goes....10 Things From the Weekend that We Should Never Forget....

NEVER say NEVER. You really are just asking for something to happen.
God still has a sense of humor.
Time changes things....perspective, expectations, judgments, emotions...and it's usually for the better.
There are a few decisions in this world that just cannot be driven by money (or the lack thereof).
Things like filthy houses and stacks of laundry suddenly become of little importance when God decides to throw down a miracle.
Outback Steakhouse is one of my new favorite restaurants (somewhat of a side note, but not completely).
I love new babies and new baby names. Especially when they belong to someone else. :)
Did I mention God has a sense of humor?
Waiting is hard. Whether it is for minutes, hours, or days, patience is not an easy thing.
Adoption is BEAUTIFUL. And amazing, wonderful, scary, and joyous. But most of all beautiful.

You Just Never Know

2011-03-06T21:12:00.002-06:00

There are a lot of things I don't know.

One of them is what will come out of my 5 year old's mouth at any given moment.

Yesterday my 8 year old was singing the song "This is the Stuff" over and over and over. After he sang the line..."It's not the end of the world....", my little guy started in with the following:

Him: I hope it is the end of the world.

Me: Really? Why?

Him: Then we would get to see Jesus.

Me: Well, that is true.

Him: I might die soon.

Me: I hope not. Why would you die soon?

Him: Because I think I have a bad cold. Can Jesus see everything we do?

Me: Oh, yes, buddy. EVERYTHING.

When There Is No Time For Words

2011-02-28T21:56:00.012-06:00

Pictures just have to be good enough.

This has to be the saddest birthday post ever. A few random shots in the midst of a catch-up blog.

Birthday Breakfast

I let my kids pick what they want to eat on their birthdays. I was trying to steer him away from coffee cake or cinnamon rolls by offering eggs and bacon. He chose donuts. Score one for me....making donuts is daddy's job!

Big 5 Year Old

Basketball with the neighbors....and their cousins.....and the dog.

More neighbors....and the neighbor's cousins....and the dog?

New Birthday Present

My son wanted to try out his new remote control jet ski in the bathtub. We opted for the pond out back. It was a good choice. Until......

This.

It was frightening.

I have no idea what was so funny (and, of course, he can't remember), but I still love the smile.

Playing "The Blues" at the school fundraiser. Apparently his teacher doesn't believe in piano recitals. She prefers her students to play in front of hundreds. I am never sure who is more nervous, me or him.

Ouch

Haircuts Anyone??

2011-02-19T06:34:00.003-06:00

Days and days of snow and ice, plus a crazy busy schedule on days that we aren't snowed in, result in this...

In my defense, I did make them appointments and drive them 15 minutes to the Barber Shop where they get their hair cut.

We walked in and waited for Luke to appear from the back room. When he emerged, he looked so pale I thought he might vomit or pass out right there in front of us.

Since he is former student of mine, I went into major teacher mode. "Are you ok? You look like you aren't feeling well." I'm a little surprised that I stopped before telling him he should go to the office to get checked for a fever.

He admitted he wasn't doing so great, but thought he could make it through a couple more haircuts.

I graciously said I wouldn't mind if we had to come back another day, and suggested that he maybe think about going home (interpret to read -- "There is no way I am having you stand inches away from my kids for 30 minutes, touch their heads, and breathe all over them!").

He took me up on the offer and was practically out the door faster than we were. I am still wondering if he ever even canceled the six people on his list after us.

Seventeen inches of snow later, we still haven't been back.

Which brings me to a new dilemma.....My boys now think their hair is cool and do not want it cut "ever again".

I knew the day would come when they would start forming their own opinions about these things. I was just hoping it wouldn't be for at least another 10 years.

More SNOW

2011-02-12T20:21:00.008-06:00

Not one flake of snow before Christmas. Well, maybe one flake....or two....but nothing that even came close to sticking on the ground. Everyone was talking about how dry of a winter it was going to be, and how we may have a record year for the least amount of snowfall.

It is again another reminder of what predictions really are. Just GUESSES.

And boy were they WRONG.

I'm okay with wrong every now and then. This would be one of those times!

Day #1 - So beautiful

Day #2 - We've heard that our area got 17 inches. The boys took a ruler out to measure in the spot that had the least amount of snow in the entire backyard. It is just under 12 inches there (you can see the top of the yellow ruler if you look closely), so I am thinking 17 is about right when you factor in the drifts.

I love the first footprints and tracks in the snow!

This would have provided hours of endless fun had it not been 5 degrees outside.

He got so cold he wanted his entire face covered. I very calmly reminded him that if he would STOP EATING THE SNOW, his chin would not be so stinkin' cold!

I am happy to report that I did not lose any children in the snow drifts this time around. One out of two isn't bad, don't ya think?

Snow Day #.....I Have Totally Lost Count.....

2011-02-09T11:15:00.004-06:00

Laundry is caught up.
Dishwasher has run.
Floors are vacuumed.
A good amount of dusting has been done.
Floors are mopped.
Papers are graded.
Grades are entered into the system.

I told my family I would make bread at some point today. I am a little sad about that decision.

However....

I LOVE SNOW DAYS!!

Or snow weeks....

Or snow months.....which is about what we have had since Christmas.

Someone may have to remind me of this love when we are making up all these days at the end of the school year.

I'm Trying to Figure Out...

2011-02-03T15:26:00.010-06:00

....how this beautiful snow......

.....became this nasty snow. Overnight!

And here, my friends, is why it is important to keep at least one eye on your child at all times (or at least every few minutes). I glanced outside and saw this. His little hand was waving in the air. I opened the door and heard, "Help!"

"Hang on!" I hollered to him. (Like he's going anywhere.) "I'm coming to help you!" (Just let me grab my camera.)"

The experience was obviously not too tramatic. One more picture, however, and it may have gotten ugly.

Midnight Conversation

2011-02-02T08:54:00.002-06:00

The snow was blowing.

The wind was howling.

My 4 year old was crying.

I went to investigate what was wrong.

Him: "Owwww......(cries)......owwww......(cries louder)......"

Me: "What hurts?"

Him: "I don't know!"

Me: "Does your tummy hurt?"

Him: "Yes......(cries).....no.....(coughs)......maybe.....(coughs some more)...."

Me: "Do you feel like you are going to throw up?"

Him: "No. Well, I don't think so."

Me: Grabs trash can.

Him: "I just wanna build my own guy!"

Me: "What?"

Him: "I Just Wanna Build My Own Guy!"

Me: "You just want to build your own guy??"

Him: "YES! I JUST WANNA BUILD MY OWN GUY!!"

Me: "With what?"

Him: "I don't know!"

Fast forward one hour....one hour filled with intermittent crying, sleeping, whimpering, and me trying to figure out what in the world building his own guy had to do with anything......

Him: "Mom? My throat hurts. I think I need some medicine and some sprite."

OK!! Drugs and pop coming up! Anything for sleep. Would you like some fries with that?

Worked like magic.

And I'm happy to report that he is not sick.

However, I am TIRED.

I'm Thinking Grandpa is Going to Regret This...

2011-01-27T15:09:00.008-06:00

On Thursday mornings my 4 year old goes to grandma and grandpa's house.

Today when I went to go pick him up, he came running in from the garage with this.

Minus the color, of course.

I oohed and aahed the appropriate motherly amount and asked him where it came from.

"Grandpa made it for me! I asked for a canoe, but he said, 'How about an airplane?'"

I was trying to swallow my laughter and was thinking grandpa was pretty smart for making that suggestion.

He continued, "Look, the propeller spins! I told grandpa that planes don't have propellers, but he said that older planes do, so this is a great plane." And in the next breath, "Can I paint it when I get home?"

Nearly two hours later, he was still doing this.

Two hours of sitting still in a chair, and he did not once ask to watch TV.

Grandpa better be practicing his canoes.

Here's To Hoping This Is Not a Pattern

2011-01-26T17:45:00.002-06:00

So far January has not turned out to be a banner month.

Don't get me wrong, it has not been TERRIBLE by any means, but I am seriously hoping we are not forming a pattern for 2011.

So far January has looked like this:

*A devastating funeral.

*Stomach flu for my dad.

*Two snow days (I love snow days as much as the next person, but any more and we are talking make-up days during Easter or Spring Break!)

*A major cough/cold for my 4 year old.

*Two teeth lost for my 8 year old. One would think this is no big deal, but obviously one has not yet met my son. Since this event typically involves blood, the process includes much screaming, crying, and fit throwing. It has not yet included tackling, holding down, and forced tooth extraction, but it may come to that on the next one.

*A weekend of sickness for my husband.

*News that a couple of my amazing colleagues may be moving on to other ventures.

*A day last week of sickness for me.

*Stomach flu for me today.

Move on out January! I am DONE with you!

Let's Celebrate?

2011-01-19T13:10:00.001-06:00

All around me people are celebrating their achievements....starting bachelor's or master's programs, fitness and weight goals, and job successes to name a few.

So I've been thinking....

...what am I celebrating?

Here is what I have come up with:

*My children have had clean clothes to wear to school every day this month.

*The egg shells I just found on the counter are from earlier today and not 2 or 3 days ago.

*When I dropped the entire tray of veggies and dip in my car yesterday, only the veggies flew everywhere. The dip amazingly stayed in the container.

*I am nearing my 1.5 year anniversary of gaining 10 lbs. I can't pretend it didn't happen, so why not celebrate it? Chocolate anyone?

*I only had two meetings Monday night and two meetings last night. At least it's not three or four.....

* The spider webs in the corners of my bedroom are only visible if you lay on my bed and look at just the right angle, in just the right light. I feel fairly safe that no one else will be doing that. And, yes, I realize that I could have gotten rid of said spider web in the amount of time it took me to type these three sentences.

*I am home sick today. Why am I celebrating this? Because of all the days to feel cruddy, this one required no sub plans, no meeting cancelations, and only one dentist appt. to reschedule.

Go Me!!

There Must Be Something About Men and Time....

2011-01-06T15:01:00.003-06:00

....they are too stinkin' early!!

My father leaves 40 minutes ahead of time to get to an appointment in a town 18 miles away.

My father-in-law says he'll be here at 9:00. He comes at 8:50.

My husband says, "Let's leave at 7:00". What he really means is, "If we don't leave by 7:00 we are LATE!".

Don't get me wrong, I am a bit of a time freak myself. Habitually late people raise my blood pressure slightly (I still love them anyway). But the men in my life are over the top!

Let me introduce you to our bug guy. I'm sure he prefers the title of exterminator. We live in the country, where one will find more creepy crawlers than should be allowed, and I don't particularly love living with spiders. Enter bug guy.

Literally. We let the bug guy come and go whether we are home or not. He used to work with my dad, and knows my mom from when he was an EMT delivering patients to the ER where she worked. So we have a top-secret 'how to get into the house when we are not home' system for his quarterly appointments.

Here's the thing. The bug guy always calls the night before to let us know when he is going to be in the area. It is always at that point that I remember (I should know this by now) that he is going to walk through every.square.inch of every.single.room in the house. That does not fit with my project-planning, paper-grading, kid-bathing evenings.

He told me he'd be here at 2:00 today. Perfect. My plan was to get home at 1:15 and do a quick overhaul of the house.

I ran in the door at 1:15, sent my 4 year old to clean the playroom, and flew around the house making my bed, closing my underwear drawer, picking up the boys' pajamas, putting dishes in the dishwasher, wiping down the bathroom counters....

And at 1:45 I noticed a piece of paper on the table. He had already been here. Here. Done. Gone. By 1:15.

Soooo embarrassing.

I may need to get a new bug guy.

One who understands female time.

New Year Thoughts

2011-01-02T14:31:00.003-06:00

After 13 years of marriage and three years of dating, I have finally come around to my husband's point of view on New Year's Resolutions. At least for this year.

His theory is that if there is something a person needs to change, he/she should not wait until a new year to get started.

I see his point, but there has always been something that I like about a "new start", "new goals", and "new possibilities".

Until this year. I'm just not feeling it.

It may have something to do with the blog reading I have done lately, especially my own. Of all the 'New Year's Resolutions' and 'Self-Improvement Goals', that I have made, I am not sure that I have fully accomplished even ONE of them.

That is just depressing. Especially when you consider that 2009 was the "Year of Lowered Expectations".

I've been thinking about any accomplishments I've made in the past several years. I'm pretty sure not one of them had to do with a New Year's Resolution.

So, that's it, no resolutions for me.

Sure, I have a few thoughts of things I would like to do. We'll see where they go.

In the mean time, I am looking forward to taking 2011 as it comes....moment by moment.

Happy New Year!

What I Learned In 2010

2010-12-31T14:37:00.003-06:00

I took a little time to skim through my posts this year and discovered I learned a thing or two about myself. Here goes...

I made two resolutions last year - TWO! - and did not even come close to meeting either one of them.
My grandpa was a pretty great man. I already knew this, but I was reminded of that this year even more.
My four year old thinks he's allergic to light. He also thinks he doesn't have to obey when he's sick, and that all people in nursing homes look like they are "about to go to heaven". I think I will avoid visiting nursing homes with him for a few years yet.
It is a MISERABLE feeling to lose your wedding ring, but, oh, the JOY that follows when you find it!
Writing curriculum for a computer class is about the least favorite things I've ever done, and I've done a lot of not-very-fun things. Mind you, I did not say that my computer CLASS is my least favorite, just writing the curriculum. Let's not get those two things confused. (Next quarter I may just teach them how to create a blog, so one can never be too careful!)
I am nearly the last person left on earth under 50 (possible slight exaggeration) who does not have internet access on their phone.
I must have been D.R.E.A.M.I.N.G when I wrote my 40 before 40 list. Maybe 40 before 80. More like "40-I-wish-I-could-maybe-possibly-accomplish-sort-of-before 80.
Summer was BUSY. No wonder it flew by so quickly.
At first I thought this was a fairly "typical" year, but I was wrong -- school accreditation, new neighbors moved in across the road, serving on another accreditation team, my grandfather passed away, my brother moved to Oregon, I started teaching two classes at the very last minute, 7 week maternity leave sub...no wonder I'm tired.
Bye Bye 2010!!

997

2010-12-28T21:59:00.006-06:00

....And when the "last" piece was put in place, we had this.

Just in case you didn't catch that, here is a closer view of two of our little issues.

I cannot describe in words my feelings at that moment.

We started scouring the floor with an intensity unseen since....well, since I lost my wedding ring last month.

Thankfully the search did not last terribly long, or you may have personally heard my screams at whatever location you live on planet Earth.

Tada. Complete. Finished.

We are currently walking around in a post-puzzle daze trying to figure out what we are supposed to do now.

The Christmas Puzzle

2010-12-22T21:56:00.009-06:00

I love puzzles. I have been waiting for my boys to get old enough to start the "family puzzle" tradition at Christmas.

My plan was 500 pieces or less, so of course, the only one we liked was the 1,000 piece puzzle.

The boys unwrapped the puzzle tonight.

And in less than 5 minutes.....

Bah humbug. So much for family time.

On the other hand, this may have been the most time my husband and I have had all week to hold a decent conversation. Maybe this plan will work out better than I originally thought.

Unless we never find that missing edge piece. Then we may lose our minds.

HELP

2010-12-16T15:07:00.003-06:00

Things I should be doing:
*Writing Finals
*Finishing our Christmas letter
*Mopping the floor
*Creating Spelling Units
*Finishing a scrapbook (it's a gift I need to mail.....yesterday would have been ideal)
*Writing rubrics for projects
*Dusting
*Figuring out what to make for dinner.

What I am doing instead:
*Sitting on the couch
*Blogging
*Reading
*Talking on the phone

Someone please send me some motivation - NOW!!

First Christmas Program

2010-12-13T19:21:00.006-06:00

My four year old had his preschool Christmas program yesterday. I had no idea what to expect. I would not have been shocked if he would have cried through the entire thing. I would also not have been shocked if he would have run circles around everyone on stage while making obnoxious pig noises.

I did not expect this.

Pure boredom.

Is he really yawning? At first I thought he was actually singing, but I am pretty sure he did not have a solo. The other kids have the actions going on, but it doesn't seem to be a singing moment.

But hold on to your hats (or in this case, stars), because nothing ends boredom like glittery stars! I wish I had the time and talent to post a video of this, because his star had to moving at roughly 100 mph in a 30 mph zone.

And just for the cuteness factor, check out these reindeer hats. Guaranteed to make your nose itch so you will swat at the ball 54 times during "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer".

On a side note, I believe every kid's Christmas program should have have a staff member completely in charge of clothing. Her title could be "Director of Making Sure the Children Arrive On Stage Looking the Same as when their Parents Dropped them Off." I spent ten painful, grueling minutes getting that shirt tucked in just right. The poor child will be devastated when he realizes no one saw that amazing belt he was so proud of.

But, all in all, it was a fantastic program!

All 16 minutes of it!

In complete seriousness, kudos to those who made it all happen. It takes a special person with a special talent to teach preschool....and still smile!

Signs

2010-12-10T11:46:00.006-06:00

See that little sign? I love that little sign. It has changed my life.

Well, that may be overstating it a little bit, but I like to celebrate the small things.

On one side is the name of one child. On the other side is the name of the other. Whoever's name is up will be unloading the dishwasher the next time it is ready.

We've been at this for 5 weeks and it is STILL WORKING. Stop laughing, five weeks is a long time.

It's not that they love it. It's not that they never complain. However, it is not a fight, or a whine-fest. They know it's the system and it's just the way it is.

I may just hang signs all over my house. I'm thinking the washer/dryer, the toilets, the windows, the vacuum sweeper.......this could get interesting.

The Christmas Chain

2010-12-09T14:20:00.000-06:00

In 2008, I started what I thought would be a fun, memorable Christmas tradition. My son and I made an old fashioned Christmas chain, one link for each of the 24 days of December leading up to Christmas. On each link I wrote an activity for the boys to do as we counted down to Christmas. The kids were excited, and all in all, it turned out to be pretty successful.

Last year I tried this again. We did some of the activities....Christmas lights, gingerbread house, the 18 hour reindeer cupcakes....but I'm pretty sure that there were still 10-12 links left hanging in the boys' room on Dec. 25. Not so successful.

This year I was debating whether or not to create the Christmas chain. It does not really thrill me to do things halfway.

Then my 4 yo started having meltdowns everywhere he went - preschool, Sunday school, kid's church, etc. When his preschool teacher talked to him about what was upsetting him, he mentioned Christmas and not being able to wait. She told him she was SURE his mom would be doing some things with him to get ready for Christmas and make waiting easier.

Break out the construction paper.

The chains are made.

Chains (plural) - because, of course, each child had to have their own. They give a beautiful finishing touch to the "Blessing Tree" - a.k.a. the tree in the corner filled with pictures of my children glued to tin can lids and puzzle pieces (the pictures are glued, not the children).

Here's the current status on the chain:

*Dec. 1 - "Make Snowflakes To Decorate Bedroom Window" - Snowflakes are made, still sitting on the kitchen counter.

*Dec. 2 - "Make Christmas Placemats" - My 4 year old got very into this. His is super cute. My 8 yo chose to play the wii and wanted to 'do it later'. Later has not yet occurred.

*Dec. 3 - "Frost Christmas Cookies" - Much more fun to eat than frost!

*Dec. 4 - "Watch a Christmas Movie" - I was shopping all weekend with friends, so I thought this would be easy for my husband. My oldest child insisted we needed to watch one as a family for it to 'count'. Sounds like passive-aggressive let's-punish-mom-for-going-shopping.

*Dec. 5 - "Christmas Maze" - Again....gone shopping....easy.

*Dec. 6 - "Dip Chocolate Pretzels" - Yum!

*Dec. 7 - "Make Something for Music Teacher" - I keep trying to figure out how to get my children to think of others instead of themselves. The Christmas Program was that night, so it seemed appropriate to make a card or something simple for my son's music/piano teacher. Unfortunately, we opened that chain link AFTER the program.

*Dec. 8 - "World Vision" - I honestly think this was my 8 year old's favorite day so far. It was mine too. We sat down with the magazine last night and looked at all of the things you can give for Christmas....farm animals, fruit trees, clean water, school supplies, clothes......he was amazed by the "gifts" listed. After much discussion, he chose fruit trees. It made me smile, because soccer balls were a choice too.

I'm pretty sure it will be the best gift we give this year.

Underground....Sort Of

2010-12-02T14:52:00.000-06:00

Do you see those children playing at the end of the driveway?

No?

Me either!

But they are there, along with the blissful silence of them playing.....in the culvert.

It is the new secret hideout for my children and the neighbor boys.

There is one....although not mine.

Two.....

And four.....and a dog. I'm relatively sure that the dog was not in there with them. But not positive.

Apparently culverts are very warm when you sit (lay?) (roll up like a roly poly?) on one blanket and use two more blankets to cover each end.

Can that be safe?

They don't really care, because it's FUN!

They also think putting a plastic bag over their heads is fun.

I really hope the boys' mother does not think this was my idea.

Lost and Found

2010-11-30T16:48:00.002-06:00

Nearly two weeks ago I lost my wedding ring.

We had looked in every room, in the washer and dryer, in the vehicles, under the bed, in all the dresser drawers in our room, in the jewelry box, in my purse, at school, in the cedar chest, in the laundry basket, in the closet....

Last night my 8 year old found my ring.

It was in his pajama drawer.

Isn't that exactly where you keep your jewelry?

I think this obviously means that putting away laundry should never be my responsibility.

My husband thinks I should just get my ring resized.

I'm pretty sure I am not going to win this one.

Getting Into Character

2010-11-24T19:51:00.004-06:00

When I walked out of my bedroom first thing this morning, my 4 year old was sitting on the couch looking like this.

So I said, "Well, good morning, pilgrim."

I expected laughter. Instead, in deadpan seriousness, I got, "I am NOT a pilgrim."

Of course not. My mistake.

Ten minutes later:

"So, are you not an Indian either?"

"NO. I am a PRETEND Indian."

That was my first guess.

Cleaning Day

2010-11-23T16:30:00.000-06:00

Today is cleaning day. There is no way I will get everything done that I need to (especially when I take time out to do things like write a blog post), but I have no plans, no agenda, and no reason to leave the house today. That, combined with the fact that I still have not found my wedding ring, made today THE DAY.

I have discovered, or possibly more accurately stated, I have been reminded of a few small issues that I have.

1. I have come to hate stickers. When I began my teaching career, I loved stickers. Little kids love stickers, even high schoolers love stickers, so I aimed to please by happily stickering their papers at school. Here's the deal: that is where the stickers should stay. AT SCHOOL. Today I have found stickers on their beds, on the dressers, in the carpet, on their clothes (after being washed and dried - ARG!!), and on their toys.

2. On that same note, I despise sticky-tack. The "thing" that wouldn't vacuum up off the boys' bedroom floor? Yep, sticky-tack. Ground in, stuck, not going anywhere. Here in a few minutes, my children are going to learn a hard and painful lesson about using sticky-tack. After that, the use of it by children will be forbidden and will be punished on the same level as if they were to purposefully set fire to the house.

3. Cheap toilet bowl cleaner stinks. Not as in smells bad....well, that too....but spend the money, people! It is just one more lesson in 'you get what you pay for'.

4. The vacuum cleaner does not work very well when the attachable hose is still connected to the 'attachment tools' device. Too bad I had vacuumed an entire room before I figured that out.

5. Eight hours gone and still no ring. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Someday

2010-11-22T08:52:00.002-06:00

Someday I will get to pray during church without having to keep one eye open.....

Someday I will be able to walk across my house without being disgusted at all the toys laying around....

Someday I will not worry all morning whether or not my son is crying for his teacher at preschool.....

Someday I will get to sit through an entire sermon and actually know what the pastor is saying the entire time....

Someday I will get caught up on the laundry.....

Someday the backseat of the car will be clean......

Someday I will not have grimy fingerprints all over the walls....

.......Someday I will have to wait up late wondering if my son will make curfew.

.......Someday I will long for the days when the continual fighting over toys was the biggest issue of the day.

.......Someday I will miss the noise and constant chatter of little people.

.......Someday I will wonder what I thought was so hard about parenting young children.

.......Someday I will wish I could give anything to have my 4 year bounce up in my arms, kiss me on the cheek, and say, "I love you, mommy."

.......Someday I will want to turn back time and start all over again.

Not My Greatest Moments

2010-11-19T17:25:00.004-06:00

Although Thanksgiving is right around the corner, and we are supposed to be focusing on things we are thankful for, I cannot help but recognize that I have had several not-so-glorious moments lately. In fact, a few have dropped me right smack-dab in the "bad mom/bad wife" category.

**My 4 yo has been having a hard time lately. I noticed a change in his behavior the last 2 weeks of my sub job, but I thought things would get better as soon as I was home more. Instead, things are worse.

Here are some quotes from the email his preschool teacher sent me today...."I pulled him aside and had little talk with him about what was upsetting him. He said he did not like change and not knowing what is going on."

Great. That makes me feel good.

"Then he told me he was upset that he did not know what we were having for snack, so I told him what it was."

Great. Now his preschool teacher probably thinks I don't feed him.

"I did ask if he was worried about Thanksgiving coming and he said no. But he was worried about Christmas. It was too long of a wait and he did not know what he was his gifts will be."

OK, that just makes me laugh.

**I have discovered that my son can sing the entire theme song word-for-word of Dinosaur Train, Sid the Science Kid, and Martha Speaks; however, he does not know a complete verse of "Jesus Loves Me".

**Last night I loaded all my pictures in so I could order them and begin working on my scrapbooks over the holidays. I quickly realized that the only two events I have documented since August are my son's birthday and Halloween. No first day of school pictures, no soccer pictures, no fall outdoor pictures. I'm considering restaging the first day of school. I'm sure no one would notice.....

**My 8 yo has a major attitude. His new favorite phrase is, "Oh, come on!", which by now makes me want to pull out my fingernails one by one. Better mine than his, I guess.

*And the worst one...I have lost my wedding ring. We were planning to get it resized next week when we went shopping, and I haven't seen it since Wednesday. I have now looked everywhere it could logically be (other than the only two places I keep it - in the jewelry box and on my finger), and so far, no ring. I am beginning to panic.

But....In the spirit of Thanksgiving....I am thankful that I have not yet received one of these:

Uh...........

2010-11-13T21:05:00.004-06:00

From the 4 year old: "Moooommmmm......why do I have to clean in here? It looks clean to me!!"

WHERE, OH WHERE, DID I GO WRONG????

Balance

2010-10-28T17:38:00.003-05:00

I've been pondering this word lately.

I've decided that I am a messed up mix of incredibly balanced and not even close all at the same time.

I love balance in my life. I like not too loud, but not too quiet. I don't like to be stuck at home all the time, but I don't always want to be on the run either. A little craziness, a little silliness.

I like balance when it comes to finances. All spending recorded, always aware of what is coming in and going out, checkbook balanced to the penny.

I want balance for my kids. I desire for them to be "sheltered" (although I hate that word) enough to protect them, but not so much that they don't learn how to function in the "real world" (another phrase I'm not so fond of).

However, there seem to be some areas of continuous struggle when it comes to this thing called balance.

Bottom line -- I want to do too much.

I want to be everything to everyone, and we all know how that turns out. I end up being not great for anyone.

I love my husband, kids, friends, job, and church.....which leads me to taking on a bit too much on occasion.

Or possibly a lot too much most of the time.

I may not be so great at balance, but I am the queen of justification. I can always figure out why it would be okay to say yes to whatever situation I am pondering at the moment. I usually have a very valid point, and can put together a great argument. I'm not sure my husband is ever quite as convinced as I am, but he is gracious in his rebuttals.

So here's where I am stuck. I have identified the problem, which means I am no longer in denial, but I have absolutely no idea what to do about it.

I guess until I figure out how to balance, I am going to have to stick with "NO".

Need a babysitter? No thanks.
A substitute? Not today.
Help with something? Sorry.
Oh, you want dinner? Nah.

I'm liking this new plan already.

I'll let you know how it goes.

BOY VS. CHAIR

2010-10-04T21:04:00.004-05:00

CHAIR WINS.

The Daily Schedule*

2010-10-01T19:15:00.003-05:00

Get up.
Shower.
Rush, rush, rush.
Out the door.
Teach.
Plan.
Grade.
Teach.
Teach.
Teach.
Teach.
Grade.
Grade.
Plan.
Say "Hi" to my family.
Grade.
Plan.
Fall into bed.
Repeat.

*Some content may be slightly exaggerated for effect. We do still eat.

What Plan?

2010-09-14T14:51:00.002-05:00

I have never really liked change.

I like a plan. With details. Preferably several days or months ahead of time.

I had a plan. It included a leisurely work schedule, time to get my house in order, 2 entire days and 2 other entire afternoons each week to get things done.

This plan has changed.

Things happen.

We readjust.

I will form a new plan. It will include things like working at least part of every day, making lesson plans, grading, covering a maternity leave, working full time for at least six weeks, and a bit less free time.

OK, a lot less free time.

Don't get me wrong. I was not held at gunpoint and forced to make this new plan.

I got to choose. And I chose it.

So I'm honestly not complaining, I'm readjusting.

There are many things I like about the new plan.

And a couple of things I don't.

Apparently it's time for me to grow again, and I'm OK with that.

I just hope it doesn't hurt too much.

This Week

2010-09-10T13:25:00.011-05:00

Sometimes I have weeks like this....

And this.

Now and then things work out well......

And if I'm really lucky the week looks like this.

But sometimes, like this week, life gets rocky and I feel like this....

And definitely like this.....

And, at moments, like this...

And this.

It's moments like these I need a lot more of this....

And am ever so thankful to have a lifetime of THIS.

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

2010-09-04T14:24:00.003-05:00

We have never been very good neighbors. In our first house, we made a half-hearted attempt to say hi when coming and going. In our second house, the rest of the neighbors were already very good friends with each other, and we were both working like crazy and were rarely home. Our third (and current) home is in the country. The perfect place for people like us, the neighborly-inept.

A few days after we moved in, our "neighbors" down the road a mile brought us some amazing chocolate and peanut butter bars. These are our kind of neighbors! Great cooks, welcoming, and down the road a ways.

Let me pause here to reiterate that it is not that we don't WANT to be good neighbors. We are not cold-hearted, and we really do like to be invested in other people's lives. In fact, when we had new neighbors move in next door at our old house, I even baked them a pie - from scratch! We took it over, introduced ourselves, and welcomed them to town. They looked at us like we had twelve heads.

So, back to the story....a few days after the chocolate and peanut butter neighbors came by, the neighbor across the road came over. This would be the neighbor whose dogs clawed my front windows the very first time I browned hamburger on the stove. Instead of bearing gifts of delicious food, she drove into our driveway and laid on the horn until one of us emerged from the house. I, of course, sent my husband. Turns out, she did not want to welcome us, she needed help with her propane tank.

Last year that neighbor moved away. The house sat empty for quite some time, and then a new family moved in a few weeks ago. This new family is Mennonite - the black cap, girls in dresses, boys in jeans kind of Mennonite. This is not a problem for us at all. In fact, it's great. They are incredibly nice. That, and no loud parties, no wondering what kind of influence the kids will be on my kids, no laying on the horn in the driveway.

However, this has caused a few moments of questioning for me. Issue #1 - what do you take to welcome this family to the neighborhood? A pie was out of the question. These people practically invented pie-making. Fresh produce from the garden? Rats, it was too late in the summer. Wine and cheese? Eh, probably not.

We settled on good old fashioned cookies. We made a batch, called them up, and traipsed across the road to say hi. They invited us in, we chatted for awhile, and both of us said how each other's boys (their youngest two are 10 and 7) were welcome to come over and play.

It has been great for my kids to have friends to do stuff with. But here-in lies issues #2, 3, 4....and so on. I have to wonder, what on earth do these neighbor boys think about their friends who (gasp) wear shorts? And worse then that, what about their friends' mom who does too?

I'm also wondering when my 4 year old is going to shout, "Hey, look at me! I'm shakin' my bootie!" Or when my boys are going to ask them to play guns or sword fighting, or ask them to come in and watch Scooby Doo (can they do that?). All this play time is leaving me with a heap of worry of how my kids might offend them.

Thankfully, so far, so good. The boys have kept things on common ground - baseball, swinging, bike riding, and the neighbor boys even introduced my kids to a ripstik, which, and I quote, "Is all the rage at our school right now. Everybody has one."

My kids are having a great time. Me? I'll be in my closet over-analyzing every piece of clothing I own to see if it's appropriate for walking out on my front porch.

Time Marches On

2010-08-31T15:30:00.000-05:00

I have discovered that defining a brother/sister relationship is a very difficult task. My brother's recent move has prompted several questions lately from my friends. Were you two close growing up? Are you close now? Do you talk a lot? Are you sad he's moving? These questions have caused me to reminisce and walk down memory lane.

Were we close growing up? Ummm....I'm gonna go with "no" on this one. Unless you count lots of fighting, drawing lines down the middle of the backseat of the car to distinguish "my side" and "your side", and an immeasurable number of "I'm telling on you!"'s as CLOSE. Close to killing each other maybe. But, I do think we were typical. Find me a brother and sister nearly five years apart in age who did not do these things, and I'd like to do a case study on them.

When we weren't plotting each other's demise (ok, we really weren't that bad), there were some fun moments. My favorite memories include building Lego creations together, and racing our bikes down the boat ramp at the lake to see who could flip over the handlebars the farthest. We also thought it was great when we both had bedrooms in the basement, away from mom and dad and what felt like their never-ending list of chores. That backfired a bit, however, when our rooms got so trashed that mom took Polaroid pictures of each room and hung them on the refrigerator. She must have been so proud.

Throughout our adult years, we have had times of living far apart - Phoenix to Kansas is no short jaunt; and times of living close together - separated by a mere flight of stairs. Sometimes we talk a lot, sometimes very little. Sometimes we agree on issues, sometimes we don't. Our life experiences have been extremely different, and oddly enough, I think that has only created an increased understanding of one another.

So, are we close? Yes. Do we talk a lot? Sometimes. Am I sad? Yes. His move means fewer holidays together, no Saturday night free meals from mom and dad, and definitely no more building sandcastles with my kids at the lake for awhile.

However, his move means a new start filled with all kinds of possibilities for him. It also means we have to be way more intentional about communicating, and honestly, that is a good thing.

Most of all, I'm pretty sure he is where he is supposed to be right now. And I'm pretty sure I am where I am supposed to be right now. So for now, that is enough.

Imaginations Running Wild

2010-08-25T13:39:00.001-05:00

It's common knowledge to every mother in the world. When your children are playing together nicely for an extended period of time, and you are relishing in the pure joy of having this moment of peace to yourself...BE VERY SUSPICIOUS.

At lunch yesterday my boys decided that it would be great fun to trap a mouse in the house. We have no reason to believe that there is a mouse in our house, but that information would not deter them.

After lunch, I was in the other room doing laundry and sneaking a few moments to read a book. I could overhear them talking about how cool it would be to have string go from here to there, and how the net could trap the mouse, and how....you get the idea. I naively thought this was all for pretend.

Then I walked out and saw this.

That would be a trail of cheese on my kitchen floor. At the beginning of the trail (the top of the picture) there is an air vent. Hanging down that air vent was a piece of string tied around some cheese. According to my children, a mouse should think it is fun to run through the air ducts; therefore, it is a perfect cheese-hanging location.

When the mouse was eating that cheese, the 7 year old would then lift the vent up, and naturally the mouse would come out and continue eating down the line of cheese. Woe to the poor little mouse, who would not know that the last piece of cheese is directly under the bug-catching net. When the mouse reached the end of the line, the 4 year old would yank that string tied to the net, and "WHAM!" the mouse is caught.

The enthusiasm they had for this very believable plan was almost disturbing. After a mouse did not appear in the vent within a few minutes, my youngest son walked to the garage calling, "Here, mousey, mousey!" while my oldest son went to fetch a ladder to see if there were any mice on the roof.

My mother's intuition kicked in at this point, and I nixed the ladder and roof plan. A few minutes later the little guy came inside to report that his brother was indeed trying to get on the roof. I opened the door to find a big trash can upside down on the porch, with a little one stacked on top of it. "You said I couldn't use a ladder....".

I am happy to report that there has been no mouse, no roof-climbing, and no cheese molding in the vent. Only 2 little boys thinking their mother is a dream-killer.

This and That

2010-08-18T19:08:00.002-05:00

I'm so busy this week I cannot even come up with an original title for my post. Thanks, Casey, for not disowning me as a friend for stealing yours. Actually, I'm being a bit presumptuous with that comment, since I didn't actually ask permission or know how she might react. So, Casey, if you are going to disown me for that, could you at least send me a nice little note before you unfriend me? I hate to be left hanging in suspense.

This week we brought new bedroom furniture home from my brother's house. He is moving soon (more on that later in the week), and the king size bedroom set did not fit very well in his little Saturn. My brother did not bother to ask us before setting his moving date, can you believe it? This is the first week of teacher in-service, the last full week of summer, and the week my husband is in charge of a major go-live software conversion at his place of employment. Needless to say, my entire house looks like the bedroom threw up all over it.

Anyhoo....my parents were gracious and came to help my husband unload all of the furniture while I was at a three hour church meeting last night. I was thoroughly embarrassed that they were going to walk into my extremely trashed house, and secretly hoping that my mother would feel sorry for me and do the dishes. {Sigh}. The good news is that the furniture was all placed nicely in the room by the time I got home. The bad news is that I have no idea where my socks are.

This weekend we are going camping for one final hurrah before school starts. Four adults. Six kids. That kind of parent:child ratio always makes me a bit nervous. What makes me even more nervous is the lake we are going to. Two months ago it had a major algae issue and all the swimming beaches were closed. Last month it tested high for e coli. E COLI. The beach closed and then reopened a few days later. It's been open ever since, but still....we will spend roughly 70% of our days in the water swimming and jet skiing. Ick.

I have been eating nonstop. I cannot figure out what is wrong with me. Nonstop carrots and celery would not be a problem, but the theme seems to be nonstop COOKIES. This may turn into a BIG problem, literally. But, maybe I'll just go jump in the lake for a little e coli. That oughta curb my appetite for awhile.

The Countdown

2010-08-11T23:01:00.000-05:00

Today is August 11. School starts in 15 days. Fifteen days!?

I know I shouldn't complain. Some schools around here start next week. Some have already started. But still, where in the world did summer go?

There is so much to do....oh, SO MUCH to do before school starts. Here is my 'back to school' countdown:

15 Teacher Objective Folders to create.

14 Weeks of Spelling activities to plan.

13 Math files to sort and organize.

12 Hours of scrapbook time on Saturday!

11 Grades of Standardized Test scores to graph.

10 Days until my brother moves far, far away :(

9 Days until we go to the lake for one last summer bash.

8 Hours (approximately) of planned time with my brother before 1,726 miles separate us.

7 Stacks on my desk at school to tackle.

6 Folders of writing information to read and process.

5 Days of Teacher In-service meetings to sit through.

4 Pieces of furniture to haul from my brother's apartment to my bedroom.

3 Levels of Phonemic Awareness activities to create.

2 Orthodontic consultations for my 7 year old. $$Cha-ching$$$

1 Child to convince that going back to school is a great thing!

Hiking

2010-08-02T18:11:00.010-05:00

Most of the people we saw hiking yesterday had something that looked similar to this.

I'm sure they were packed with the necessary hiking items....water bottles, snacks, sunscreen, first aide kit, rain poncho.....

Our backpack looked like this.

So classy.

Let it be known that I tried to talk the rest of my family into using the fit-for-a-regular-sized-person St. Louis Cardinals backpack.

Because that would have made us look so much closer to a die-hard hiking family.

We did, however, have one family member who was nearly fully equipped.

Hiking stick.

Hiking shoes (that he insisted on wearing).

Not-so-hiking clothes.

Those shoes must have been magic. He endured the 2 1/2 hour trail pretty well.

The boys were pretty proud of the fact that we had been "way up there" and had hiked "way down here".

What they didn't know at that point was that we pretty much had to climb "way up there" again to get to the end of the trail.

So we took a short rest.

This was the beautiful view from "way up there".

Testing out the timer on our camera.

We made it back, having to endure a manageable number of "are we there yet?"'s.

To which we honestly answered, "we think so" every single time.

To which we were wrong the first 10 times the question was asked.

The trail was just a tad longer than we thought.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game

2010-08-01T08:40:00.010-05:00

Watching the Cubs warms up.

He's trying to find Derrek Lee, his favorite Cubs player. Favorite because Lee's name is on the back of his one and only Cubs shirt, and, of course, because they both play the same position - first base.

Derrek Lee up to bat.

One very happy boy after Lee hit a homerun with 2 men on base to tie the game 5-5.

The Cubs lost 5-6, but they still thought it was a great night!

S'mores, anyone?

2010-07-30T08:00:00.000-05:00

Evidence that my children are desperate for a camping trip.