Thanksgiving Break Rundown

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

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

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

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?

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

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

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.