Back After a LONG Time Away

Okay, Here's My Deal...

Looks like almost a year has gone by since I last made an entry. All I can say is that my life has been a swirling swirly swirl in that time. Good, bad, fun, boring, happy, sad. You know, the usual stuff life brings to everyone.

One thing I will say is that I became an aunt on April 1 of this year...no fooling!! Love you, Emma and congrats mommy and daddy!!

My boys are both growing and changing and make me so proud! Matthew is almost through with his first year of elementary school--in a pre-k class. He loves it and has done really well. He will be 6 in May. Owen just turned 3 in April and he started an early pre-school program last week in the same building as Matthew. He goes 8-11 M-Th. That cuts our daycare bill almost in half :)

I am coming to a close on my 19th year of teaching. It is almost like I am a first year teacher again. The entire way the talented and gifted program is done has been totally revamped. I think it is a good thing, but change is always a long process.

Brian is still working at the Comfort Inn. Things have shaken up there a bit in the past few weeks and more is to come. It is a hurry up and wait situation now.

We have a dog named Sasha now--a black lab/keshound (?) mix. She is awesome. And there is Bob, the guinea pig. He is pretty good, too. I am longing for anohter cat, we will just have to see how that would work out.

I have been reconnecting with friends from the past through Facebook lately. It has been nice. But, that has also had me longing to find other friends that I have not been able to find on Facebook. Some are high school classmates, some college friends, some are former colleagues. Not that i have any pie-eyed ideas that we will be best buddies forever, but just to see how they turned out, what they are up to and to share what happened with me.

Sweet Leading the Sweet

Okay, Here's My Deal...

Last night we took the boys for ice cream. It was at a Putt Around golf place. They also have one of those playgrounds that are all meshed in with tubes and a big slide. We let the boys play in that after we got done with our ice cream.

Well, the youngest (2) hadn't quite gotten up the nerve to go all the way up the mesh path to get to the tubes and slide--he'd venture a few feet and then stop. So, we asked the oldest (5) if he'd let the youngest hold his hand and walk him up.

So, he held out his hand and led him up ever so slowly and carefully. It was a precious site. When they slid down, they went right back up again, going just a little faster. By the fourth or fifth time, they were pros at it. Just to see the oldest be so caring and the youngest so trusting...well, it was adorable.

I hope I remember that when the day comes when they are in the middle of a knock down, drag out brewhaha.

Three Amigos

Okay, Here's My Deal...

Just took a peek into my oldest son's room to see my husband on the bed on his stomach, with the oldest laying over him and the youngest sitting beside them--all three enthralled with Madagasgar 2: Escape to Africa. What a cute site. Those days will be fewer and fewer as the boys grow up, so I cherish them when I see them. I especially try to remember them when things are going south between the boys and they aren't getting along :(

Let's Get Ready to Rumble

Okay, Here's My Deal...

I feel like I need to have a twin of myself because there is not enough of me to go around with my boys. I don't know how mothers with more than two kids do it.

I am sitting with my oldest (5) in the living room and he is showing me all the things he can do in his PS2 game. A few minutes into it, the youngest (2) comes in from his room and pulls on my hand--the universal signal that he wants me to come with him. We go to his room, he points to the floor and says, "You." So, I sit and watch a movie with him as he cuddles in my lap. You guessed it, not 10 minutes later, "Mom! Come see this--it is really cool!" So, back to the living room I go. Until I am pulled into the bedroom again by this little but strong hand.

This continues most of the day. Finally, the oldest comes in to the bedroom and says, "Can I hang out in here?" "Of course you can, sweetheart!" We all snuggle up and watch a movie. Soon, I see some pretty heavy eyelids out of the corner of my eye, so I think to myself, "Self, if you can get him to take a nap, you can have some longer alone time with him.

Good idea, until I move the youngest into his bed...he's on to me!! He finds the energy and willpower not to sucomb to sleep...and the oldest goes back into the living room and it starts all over again. How do other mothers do it?!?!?!?!?!?!

Raindrops on Roses & Whiskers on Kittens

Okay, Here's My Deal...

(Extra credit if you know the name of the musical that the line in my title came from...)

We joke at our house and say we should have named the youngest (2yrs) Linus because he is SO SO SO attached to his blankie. [If you do not know who Linus is, I don't know whether to pity you for being so young to have missed the Peanuts comic strip or pity me for being so much older than you] Anyhow, back to the topic--he will search the house high and low looking for it on the occassion that I have snagged it long enough to put it into the washer. The other night he threw the great-grandmother of all tantrums because his daddy wouldn't let him take it into the bathbub with him.

Our oldest (5 yrs) was the same way with his Pablo (Nickelodeon's Backyardigans penguin character) stuffed animal for the longest time. I almost alternatively titled this entry "All I Need is this Thermos..." (Double extra credit if you can tell me what movie that is from...) because tonight I was laying with him and he got settled after he got his blanket with cars and trucks and other vehicles on it arranged just right...then had to find his different colored pillow...which led to rearranging the blanket...then had to find his Pablo...shuffle blanket again...and then feel around for my elbw to hold on to...and FINALLY, rolling over on his side.

My boys, they my favorite things!!

We Are Family--I Got All My Guys and Me

Okay, Here's My Deal...

Holy buckets--it has been FOREVER since I made an update!! Guess that is because we have been spending lots of time together as a family. I have tried to do more with my guys than on the computer. I also have been spending a lot of time on Facebook.

I thought I would make a short entry because we had a really sweet family moment tonight. We were trying to get the boys into bed a little early because we are leaving for my mom's for the day in the morning. The youngest was already sort of settled in with Daddy but I sort of upset the applecart by going into his room to ask my husband something. Then the little guy wanted to follow me around. He wandered into his big brother'a room and climbed right up into the bed with him and covered himself right up and tried to snuggle with the oldest. Pretty soon Daddy snuggled in with them and then my oldest said, "Do you wnat to hang with us?" What could I say? I got in and there we were--the four of us all hunkered down in a double bed under one comforter watching an Indiana Jones movie.

Of course, all good things must come to an end and we got them into their own beds and down for the night. It was just nice because I know all too soon these times will become fewer and longer in between. Well, better hit the hay so I can be rested for the trip tomorrow. I will try to be back on again soon.

I Have (a) Class

Okay, Here's My Deal...

Haven't updated in a while because I have been busy with an online class that I am taking. I am getting a lot done and learning some, too. In my off time I have been hunting eggs on Facebook--I am up to 7,000 now. Anyway, didn't want anyone to think I had dropped off the face of the earth or anything.

I have also been busy tutoring a student that was expelled. There is another one that just got ousted this last week, and I have asked to pick thatone up, too. They are both in the same grade and were on the same team of teachers in the building, so it would be really easy to do. I hope they tell me sometime this week.