A night at the Circus

Tonight I got to watch my 3 loves all see their first Circus!! It was PRECIOUS! you should have seen the kids walking in, taking it all in.  I got an email several weeks ago that I could get discounted tickets to the circus through my school system, and since this weekend, the kids have to go to their biological mother's apartment, I got the tickets for tonight... yes, it was a school night, but it was my birthday, so TOTALLY excusable!!  We got there early enough for the pre-show which was pretty cool.  The kids got to meet the performers, get  a stick on tattoo, watch an elephant paint a picture, see a sneak preview of a few of the performances, got clown noses, and got to try on a few pieces of circus wardrobe. We got to our seats in PERFECT time for the show to begin.  It was terrific.  So colorful, and busy... never a dull moment... sort of like our life :).  We did leave a few minutes early so the kids could still get in their 8 hours of sleep, but they were too tired to really appreciate it by that point anyway. We were in the front row of the balcony, so we had a great view of everything, and the luxury of leaning against the rails with noone in front of us to worry about. It also came in really handy when they brought the tigers out and the kids jumped in both our laps, in fear of the tigers coming to get them.  I thought about telling them they'd be full from eating all the people in the front by the time they got to us, but I decided that it probably wasn't the best way to handle the situation. haha... they relaxed after a few minutes though.

I like this email :)

Too many people put off something that brings them joy just because they haven't thought about it, don't have it on their schedule, didn't know it was coming or are too rigid to depart from their routine..

I got to thinking one day about all those people on the Titanic who passed up dessert at dinner that fateful night in an effort to cut back. From then on, I've tried to be a little more flexible.

How many women out there will eat at home because their husband didn't suggest going out to dinner until after something had been thawed? Does the word 'refrigeration' mean nothing to you?

How often have your kids dropped in to talk and sat in silence while you watched 'Jeopardy' on television?

I cannot count the times I called my sister and said , 'How about going to lunch in a half hour?' She would gas up and stammer, 'I can't. I have clothes on the line. My hair is dirty. I wish I had known yesterday, I had a late breakfast, It looks like rain' And my personal favorite: 'It's Monday.' She died a few years ago. We never did have lunch together.

Because South Africans cram so much into their lives, we tend to schedule our headaches. We live on a sparse diet of promises we make to ourselves when all the conditions are perfect!

We'll go back and visit the grandparents when we get Steve toilet-trained. We'll entertain when we replace the living-room carpet. We'll go on a second honeymoon when we get two more kids out of college.

Life has a way of accelerating as we get older. The days get shorter, and the list of promises to ourselves gets longer. One morning, we awaken, and all we have to show for our lives is a litany of 'I'm going to,' 'I plan on,' and 'Someday, when things are settled down a bit.'

When anyone calls my 'seize the moment' friend, she is open to adventure and available for trips. She keeps an open mind on new ideas. Her enthusiasm for life is contagious. You talk with her for five minutes, and you're ready to trade your bad feet for a pair of Rollerblades and skip an elevator for a bungee cord.

My lips have not touched ice cream in 10 years. I love ice cream. It's just that I might as well apply it directly to my stomach with a spatula and eliminate the digestive process. The other day, I stopped the car and bought a triple-decker. If my car had hit an iceberg on the way home, I would have died happy.

Now...go on and have a nice day. Do something you WANT to...not something on your SHOULD DO list.

Another WOW

So, I was cleaning up the desks in my classroom this morning and found a new WOW in one of the desks...

Yep... the 2011 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.  REALLY!?!?!

At least I know my lesson must have been interesting if they forgot all about the magazine and left it... haha.

Clean up Clean up Everybody Everywhere...

Its no secret that I'm not the best housekeeper.  I've said MANY times that I'm SO glad my parents sent me to College because I NEVER would have made it as a maid. Olivia and Tyler are no Mr. Cleans either. And it probably doesn't help that they have too many toys and clothes to even fit in their rooms and closets, but that's beside the point. Well, enough was finally enough, so after naps Sunday afternoon, the kids and I set out on a clean up mission.

I wanted to get rid of the clothes and toys that the kids never wear or play with, and I was slightly successful with that, but not completely... I kept trying to throw away the toys that Tyler is too big to play with, but he was not too keen on the idea.  I even told him that we'd take them to the church nursery so he could still play with them sometimes, or that we could donate them for little boys that didn't have any toys, but he didn't go for those ideas either.  The boy kept INSISTING that we SAVE the toys for OUR BABY!! "What baby? baby?" "The baby Jesus is going to put in your belly." "Oh, THAT baby." Um, okay??? So they're all in a box... going into the attic, I guess.

Here are our "Clean" rooms.... notice that there is TOO MUCH STUFF for the rooms to ever actually be CLEAN.

There's a case full of cars, a dresser with a tv on it, another big basket of toys, a huge fire truck and tractor trailer that wouldn't fit in the box, and a basket full of shoes that are not in the pictuer of Tyler's room.  HAHA i just now realized that I STILL haven't gotten another blue curtain to match Tyler's stuff... haha... See, NEVER WOULD HAVE MADE IT as a housekeeper!! And that strange random blob on Olivia's wall is a flower... there are several more on the wall, they just didn't make the picture :)

Snack Night

Every once in a while, my dad's side of our family will get together for a family game night.  Everyone brings snacks, and we eat, talk, joke, and play board and card games.  Well, our most recent game night was Saturday, but it didn't quite turn out the way we'd planned.  We had SO much food and SO much fun that we never got around to playing the games!!  We decided that next time, we'll just have snack night :).  Everyone raved and raved about how much they loved to have appetizers and dips and snacks like that for dinner.  It was terrific!!

Junior and Tyler went up to my parents' house a little early, since it was such a beautiful day, so that Tyler could ride the four wheeler that Santa brought to him and his sister. By the time I got there, he was riding all over the pasture all by himself.  Before that, he'd been following Junior around on one of my dad's four wheelers.  I was so proud watching my big boy ride around on his REAL four wheeler.  He's so big and so smart.  I just love my little boy to pieces!!!!

SSOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO CCCUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!

How can a child that I didn't give birth to be so much like me???

My poor sweet baby girl has had a runny nose for a few days.  Saturday, we had a full day, so I wanted to make sure she was feeling okay, and didn't have to blow her poor little nose constantly.  I had a coupon for Triaminic, and it was on sale at Ingles last week, so I bought the daytime formula... so I gave it to her Saturday morning, and about mid-morning, when dad came in from working on the dune buggy, she sat in his lap to snuggle with him, and this is what happened...

I just thought she was tired from all the housework we did earlier that morning, and she'd gotten up really early. So, 4 hours after the first dose, when we were getting ready to go see the Sound of Music, I gave her another dose so that she would not be sniffing and blowing during the show. We got ready, hopped in the car, and were on the way, when she suddenly got very quiet.  I looked back to find...

It was at this point that I realized that daytime medicine has the opposite effect on my baby... SAME AS ME!!! I understand why some of her mannerisms, expressions, and sayings are like mine, but there are a lot of other things that are similar between us that don't make sense.  FREAKY... but I love it!!!!

She's feeling much better now :) and she woke up before we got to the play.  When she was waking up, I asked her what she was doing and she said "I'm playing the quiet game." :)  I told her she's very good at it.

When God Shows you Something...

sometimes he makes it too obvious for you to deny.

I added a post last week about some bad news and God reminding me through my own blog post that He has a plan. Well, I'm still praying over the events of last week, and as I was taking up papers in my 6th grade class, I was reminded, yet again, how sometimes things seem so trivial and then end up being perfectly in place for something else.

I won't bore you with the details of my paper taking-up skills - or lack thereof, but it was just another reminder that everything happens for a reason.

I'm pretty excited about that.

You might have children if...

Your toothpaste disappears...

Wednesday, Junior and I could not find our toothpaste.  Now, losing something, is not unusual in our household, but we usually find whatever it is in a nearby location where it would make sense being there. Well, I looked all over for the toothpaste, in all the drawers and cabinets, even in the trash can.  I finally chalked the toothpaste tube up to one of those unexplainable losses, and bought a new tube of toothpaste.

Meanwhile......
Sometimes, we have too much laundry to wash everything in one load, so on weekends, I make sure to do an extra load to get everything washed that may have been in the bottom of the laundry bag that week.  The only strange thing I have found in the bottom of my laundry, thus far, as been the mouse that invaded my house, and got stuck there.  On that occasion, was happy to find him there, and was able to relocate him to a place more appropriate for a mouse... Heaven. But every once in a while when there's a sock, or a wadded up wash cloth, or something small in the bottom corner of the bag, I get that heeby geeby feeling. Well, I got that feeling Sunday night, when I felt something cold and hard hit my leg as I was getting to the bottom of the laundry bag.....

Anyone want to guess what it was????

You guessed it! I found the toothpaste in the bottom of the laundry bag.

4 years ago, this would have worried me, but with kids in the house.... its just another one of those things :).  Gotta Love 'Em!!

In my dream world...

I would come home from work, and Junior has already picked up the kids.  He has made a huge, beautiful salad, and has steaks marinating on the counter.  He is washing some asparagus to have with the steaks, and the kids are playing peacefully.  We eat a lovely dinner together, put the dishes in the dishwasher, and sit down to play a family game of Dominos.  We play a few rounds of Dominos until bedtime, then the kids go get ready and brush their teeth all by themselves. After the kids are in bed safe and sound, Junior and I sit on the couch and snuggle while watching new episodes of our favorite shows.

And THAT, my friend, was my evening last night!  It makes me smile just to think about it :)

Here's a shot of my favorite people playing one of my favorite games :o)

Oh, and I almost forgot. Sometime between Dinner and Dominos, Tyler helped me make cupcakes to take to my class the next day as rewards for the Knight Shields they earn for good behavior.  I iced them and added the sprinkles after the kids were in the bed.... I don't know if Tyler would have wanted to share his sprinkles.

I knew it was a good idea to make a blog :)

Yesterday something, although not surprising, unexpected happened and it really got me down for a while.  I started worrying, stressing, planning.... you know.... I haven't really thought about it much today, because I got some more bad news, that I will not be working at Richards Middle School next year, and dont know yet where I will be working (I do, at least, have a job). Its the end of the day now, and I'm waiting on my students' buses to get here, checking email, looking at friends' blogs, and pretty much anything else that's NOT grading the papers I need to grade. So I was reading over my last couple of posts, and the last line of one of them says "God is such a good planner."

And that's probably all I need to say about that. Send up a prayer for us, please.

Family Fun Day!!

This was the first Saturday in a while that Junior didn't have something to work on, or something planned, so I took the opportunity to plan some fun family activities :).

We started the day out slow by watching cartoons on the couch ;).  Then when Daddy got up and got back from taking the trash to the dump, we headed to Fernbank. We did, however, make a pitstop at the Varsity for some lunch.

The kids didn't think the hats were quite as cool as I did, but they still put them on for a minute!

Fernbank was a lot of fun.  We saw a lot of familiar things, and some new things. I think Olivia and I liked it the most.  Tyler got tired before we were done and hitched a ride of Daddy's shoulders, and Junior was nice enough to wait until after we left, to tell me that he's not a fan of museums (Of course, that was no shock to me). You never would have known that while we were walking through it, though, so I was happy about that.

It was so nice to see the kids having such a great time, and to watch Olivia try to read everything. They were so well behaved, too.  They make me proud :).

On the way home, we stopped by Dave and Busters to use some coupons I had for free games. It was a great time, and we even ended up with the busted ski ball machine, which worked out to our advantage because the guy that fixed it put a few extra games on it for us.  That was pretty cool :) It was funny to watch how they both seemed to migrate to the racing games and shooting games.  They are definitely their Father's children.

We headed home to relax for a while, then met Mr. Kent and Mrs. Janice at the auction for some evening entertainment :). We always have a good time at the auction, and sometimes even find something we just can't live without :).  My dad loves it too, but once he starts bidding, he usually ends up with a truck load of stuff. We finally got home about 10, and both kids were out like shout within 5 minutes.  Junior and I were about 10 minutes behind them!  It was a long, yet WONDERFUL day with my family.  I'm so fortunate to be able to do things like that with them. I'm so happy to have them :)

Yaay for Early Release :)

Olivia has been asking her dad for a while if she could be a "car rider" at school (meaning she doesn't want to ride the bus to daycare and wait for us to get off work).  Well, as luck would have it, on the first early release day, my school dismissed early enough for me to pick up my girl at school. She was almost as excited to see me as I was to see her :). We picked up Tyler, came home for a quick snack, and met Stacy and Anthony at the park.  It was a fun, but short-lived endeavor.  It was a little too chilly for our blood, but we made the most of our time there :). Then we made a grocery run, for some grill gas, ribs and steak... yum yum, and Lindsey and Matt came and ate dinner with us.  What a Wonderful Wednesday!!!!!!!!!!!! God sure is a good planner :)

Not just a job

You know, there's more to a job than the work you do.  You're still "you" while you're there.  And part of me, is a coupon clipping, frugal shopping, penny watcher (granted, many times, I just watch the pennies float away, and many times I pinch them, but all that comes down to where your priorities are, I guess). So, working at a school, I have access to a full meal, including drink, for 3 dollars.  And yes, it is 3 dollars for a school lunch that is no more food than the students get, but if I were working in an office and had to "run out" for food, I'd spend a lot more than 3 dollars, so its good and bad, depending on how your outlook is that day.

BUT... I can eat lunch for much less than 3 dollars too! I can bring left-overs, or even buy those frozen dinners that are only a dollar. What do I do when I don't have leftovers or dollar meals and I don't want to spend 3 dollars on school lunch???  Sometimes, I bring tortillas and cheese, and have makeshift quesadillas that I melt in the microwave in the custodians' break room, but today, I've chosen a 225 calorie lunch that was surprisingly less nutritious than I thought, but was delicious, and only cost 49 cents plus tax. Plus it can be prepared in less than 2 minutes at school and requred no preparation at home.  What is it you ask???

YUM!

A couple of days ago, Junior brought me flowers.  Well, I wanted to enjoy them at home and work, so, yesterday, I clipped a couple of the smaller flowers off and brought them to school with me so I can look at them during the day before they're all dead and gone.  I set them on my filing cabinet with one of our wedding pictures.

I dumped my paperclips out of the paperclip holder, and poured some water in there out of my water bottle to make a home for my blooms.