So tired...

Ethan loves to ride the bus to and from school. He goes to school in the afternoons and is one of the last ones to be dropped off so he is on the bus for awhile. Some days he falls asleep on the bus before he gets home. Yesterday was one of those days. The bus driver woke him up when they arrived at our house. He drug himself into the house and laid down on the first thing that he saw...

I woke him up and asked him to go to the bathroom before he fell back asleep. He did...and this is what I found...


Ok, sorry it's a little gross but any mother of boys can totally relate. At least he kept it on the seat instead of letting it fly all over the place, which is highly possible with sleepy boys! In Aubrey's words, "really gross but really funny!"

Happy Birthday E!

Four years old today! Where has the time gone? How we love this little guy!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Bug Hunters

Trevor and I went bug hunting last night in our backyard. I carried a really bright LED flashlight and a blacklight while Trevor carried the commercial strength bug spray and a hockey stick. It was a successful hunt.

We found 5 of these:

and 8 of these:

Die, savage beasts, die.

Better outside than in, don't you agree?

Mom Goes Back to School

I started teaching preschool again this week. It feels great to be back in the routine. The first week of school is usually a little rough. It takes a couple of days to get to know the children and for them to get to know the classroom routines. It's funny how young they are after sending last year's class off in May and then getting a new class of little ones in August. They grow and learn so much during this coming year. I love to be able to watch it!

My family has been really patient with the amount of work that I've had to do to get ready for the new school year. Pearce wrote a "welcome letter" to the preschoolers on the white board. It might remind you of a note that Aubrey wrote at the end of last school year that I mentioned in a previous post. This may becoming a new tradition. Here's Pearce's note:

In case you can't read it, the note says:
"Welcome you preschoolers. You are now in jail! There is no escaping this place!! Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!

Ok, he's thinks he's pretty funny. Well Aubrey came in and read the note and responded by writing this note on the other side of the board:
"Hey preschoolers you are going to love Mrs. Lisa. Mrs Lisa ROCKS!!!! But watch out she's a tricky one. You are going to do a hole bunch of fun activities to help you learn. You are going to learn how to read. I was in her class too when I was in preschool. You will love her! Love Mrs. Lisa's doter (daughter) Aubrey."

Thanks, Aubrey, for the vote of confidence!

Just pick it up!

I think I may have found our new official family song. And the dance is pretty catchy, too!

Happy Birthday Parker!

I had so much fun walking down memory lane and making this little movie. Thirteen years has gone by so quickly but looking back on it all it seems like I've known Parker my whole life!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Out of the Mouths of Babes (or Teenagers)

I have to say that it is so fun to be a mom to older kids. They are so fun to talk to! We have conversations that really make sense and they are pretty funny. No courtesy laughs here! Parker is especially funny sometimes, when he wants to be funny yes, but also when he tries to talk like he's older that he really is. Here's samples from our conversations yesterday:

"Mom, did you know that people are saying that John McCain should pick Mitt Romney to be his Vice Principal?" (hee, hee, is he in the back-to-school mode or what?)

Later that day as we were driving past the new Hobby Lobby store:

Parker: "Mom, my friend said that you shouldn't go to Hobby Lobby to buy RC car stuff."

Me: "Don't they have that kind of stuff?"

Parker: "Well, they only have decorating stuff and some furniture and some home appliances."

Me: "They have home appliances? Like what kind?"

Parker: "You know, like dishwashers and stuff."

Me: "Well, I wouldn't consider using the dishwasher to be one of my hobbies!"

Parker: "Well maybe some people like to decorate dishwashers!

So quiet....

Eighth Grader

Fifth Grader

Second Grader

Preschooler

Everyone has gone back to school and my house is so quiet. No whining children, no whining mom, no Sponge Bob, no Hannah Montana. I have been so ready for school to start this year, even more than usual. Because of my injury, we've had a crummy summer. My recovery has seemed to coincide with school starting so I think I've felt like once school starts, we can close that chapter of our lives and get back to normal. Yeah for normal! So, I'm enjoying my quiet afternoon. Ethan goes to school in the afternoons. Poor guy, all morning he kept asking when it was time for him to go to school..nearly every 15 minutes! Check back with me in about 14 years and I'll probably be saying how I miss the noise, but today I'm just going to enjoy the quiet!

I read this quote by Pearl S. Buck the other day. So timely--

"I love people. I love my family, my children, but inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that's where you renew your springs that never dry up."

I hope you all get the chance to spend some time renewing those springs. I know I need it!

What really needs to go in the backpack...

So I've calmed down a bit about the school supply issue. I used to work in the public school system and know that it is far from perfect! Our teachers need all the help they can get. I came across this article in the yesterday's paper. I couldn't find it online so I'm including it in my post. It made me proud to be giving my best efforts to teaching my children and know that their future teachers really appreciate what I do at home.

"Put values, not just supplies, in backpack"
By Deedee Abaroa
published in the Gilbert Republic, 8-2-08

"My dollars are being spread thinner and stretched more than I can recall in my 50years of memory. The need to keep gas tanks, freezers and pantries filled is only pulling the Spandex dollar to an uncomfortable and unpredictable strain. As many parents are, I am filling my sons' well-worn school backpacks from last year (hoping the zippers will hold out a bit longer) with supplies that the schools struggle to provide. The supply lists include basic needs of paper, pencils and folders with bonus requests of facial tissue, cleaning wipes and antibacterial gel. All these items are critical for a healthy learning environment.

As an educator for more than a quarter of a century, I am hoping for a different sort of supply list, one that includes the pencil, the ream of paper and the folders but with a few extras that won't cost a penny more. This supply list also creates a healthy learning environment. How great it would be to have the stomachs of children free from hunger, worry, stress, or illnesses? How much more could a student accomplish if his or her own soul had been nourished with validating love, esteem and support? How amazing our educational communities would be if children could attend less indulged with needless fluff, could come to school from families with positive traditions,could arrive from homes where leadership actually leads rather than timidly submits to children's whims and wishes!

Being a teacher with a history in kindergarten through sixth grade classrooms, I can tell immediately those children whose backpacks are lined with love, packed with promise and filled with a firm foundation of self-worth. I always anticipate the first day of school to see how many of these little people with polite manners I can build and nurture while under my care. But alarmingly, more and more are coming with backpacks that are empty of encouragement and missing the morals of civility. Those are the children that will consume my thoughts, worries and time for the next school year, if not more.

Let's start the school year putting values back in the backpacks. I promise that schoolrooms will be well-stocked with the supplies that really make a difference, without adding more stress to the already thinning dollar."

I love this!! It makes me feel so good about what I am trying to teach in my home. Feel free to share this with anyone. We all need validation from each other! Good luck in lining those little backpacks with love!

Do my kids love me or my Mastercard?

I took Parker to the junior high to do registration stuff the other day. He is going into 8th grade. Holy Cow!! When did this child grow up because I certainly haven't aged 13 years since he was born! Since he was an 8th grader who knew everything and no longer a 7th grader who needed help from his mother, I just followed him from table to table while he did his registration stuff...ordered a yearbook, picked up his schedule, got an id card picture taken, etc, all without my help. "Mom, I can do all the talking." Oh, yeah, I helped, I followed him around writing checks for all of it. He turns 13 next week and I'm wondering, is this what it is like to be a mother of a teenager? Following them around, checkbook in hand, while they do their own stuff without my help? Sounds expensive.

Emily Watts is a favorite author and speaker of mine. She writes for a blog that I enjoy called Light Refreshments Served. She posted this the day after my checkbook/junior high experience:
"I am looking at my calendar and realizing that August starts tomorrow. It has thrown me into a state of near-panic. Where did my summer go? I’ve just barely acclimated myself to its being July, and now, in a few more hours, it won’t be.

This has only reinforced what I know to be true about time: It speeds up as you get older. You really start to feel this as a mom when your kids get into junior high. They’ve been moseying along, six or seven years in the same school, basically the same routines, the same teachers, even the same body (just a little taller each year). Then WHAM! they’re in seventh grade, and before you can breathe again they’re finishing ninth grade and heading off to a whole different school and really a whole different life in almost a whole different body - and you’re running along behind saying, “Wait, wait, I’m still trying to figure this out!”

Well, I have a theory about why time works this way. What if it’s a relativity thing? Think of it this way: When you’re 10 years old, one year is a whole tenth of your life. When you’re 50 years old, it takes FIVE years to equal a tenth of your life. So, at age fifty, five years actually seem to speed by in the same space it used to take one year to pass when you were ten.

I think it’s nice to have a logical, mathematical explanation of a phenomenon that I’m never really going to have any control over anyway. It makes me feel slightly less crazy. Maybe that’s the ultimate symptom of my delusion - that I’m starting to make sense to myself."

Thanks, Emily. I agree with your theory!!

And seriously, people who think that Christmas is the most expensive time of year have never gotten children ready for going back to school. I thought about adding everything up but then decided I would be happier if I didn't. New clothes (that 13-year-old is all of a sudden picky about brands so Target will no longer suffice), new shoes (same problem here), new socks, new underwear (ok, only because they are on sale right now, you really don't need new underwear to go back to school), backpacks, lunch boxes, waterbottles, new contact lenses for the boys (yes, big deal at our house, HUGE), and school supplies. Which I gripe about every year. I mean what are my tax dollars going towards if I have to send paper and pencils to school with my children? And folders and scissors and glue and rulers and colored pencils and crayons and markers and ziplock bags and white board markers and tissues and antibacterial hand wipes. Come on, this won't even fit in their backpacks. And Open House is coming up and you know that the teachers will ask for more supplies then. as well as beg for supplies throughout the year.

Ok, that all just seemed to pour out and sound a little cranky. But as I mentioned in a prevoius post, tis the season to be cranky!