Playing school

I loved playing school when I was little. There are many memories associated with me imagining I was a teacher with a room full of students. Sometimes the students were stuffed animals, but most of the time they were just imaginary. I would give a ton of tests and was pretty harsh on grading… well, the boys anyway. I remember giving all of the girls A+’s and the boys would usually get B’s, C’s and D’s… every once in awhile, I’d fail somebody… again, usually a boy.

Yesterday, my sick child spent the entire day on the couch. She watched a bunch of TV shows, did lots of crafts on the couch, read books and just vegged. Today, her energy is back and after coloring, watching a movie and eating an entire Turkey sandwich… I can no longer confine her to the couch. I took a quick shower and left her coloring on the couch… only to get out and find her downstairs playing in the basement. I just sat next to the stairs to have a listen and sure enough, she is playing school. She is walking around with a notepad and pencil and calling out spelling words. Too cute. I’m glad to see her imaginary playtime by herself. This is the first time in almost 5 years that she has had alone time. Her little sister loves to be with her constantly… and even if I send them to their own rooms for self play, the little one finds herself sneaking into her room.

Cheers to sick days, having an imagination and one-on-one cuddle time with mom.

"Class" picture taken last weekend...

My dog has ADHD

I haven’t been able to walk my dog as much since I am working. By the time we get home from the school day and the kids finish homework, it is time for me to start dinner.

A few nights ago I was able to take Rusty out while husband and the kids played a game together. He would pull me as hard as possible (so much so that I was almost jogging) and then turn his head, grab the leash in the mouth and look at me as if to say, “are you coming human? wait… what are we doing… oh yeah, a walk!” and then proceed to tug me again for another 10 steps. Lather, Rinse, Repeat.

In a completely non-related topic, the weeks have been flying by. Again, I think this is because I am working and my days no longer are filled with constant chores (which seem to take forever to do and then suddenly the day is over with nothing accomplished!). This is somewhat a good thing since now I am forced to pick-up and clean-up the house in the time between getting home and fixing dinner. Since my 2nd grader always needs hands on help with her homework, I am using each minute wisely.

Speaking of my second grader… she woke up Saturday with a tummy ache and a fever. All 3 doctors offices that I called this weekend were booked solid and I was told that if our situation worsened (ie: uncontrollable vomiting, etc…) to go to the ER. Nice. Thank goodness that has not happened. Although, she has developed a cough today. I haven’t told her yet that she isn’t going to school tomorrow. She is still at the age where she loves school and it is punishment not to go.

Hopefully all is well by Friday, since that is the school parade, party and then our church Trunk or Treat event. That would totally not fly if we had to cancel.

The girls and their cousins

all pooped out after our walk... and yes, he nudged the pillow off the couch first!

Makes you want to be five…

A few nights ago while I was preparing dinner, it was one of the 70 degree fall days and my kids were out playing on the swing set. At first it started out with them just swinging and chatting… then, all of the sudden they ran inside and downstairs. I could hear them talking and saying, “If you are wrong, you have to do my homework for two weeks!” (Um… what???) Then they went back outside. I have no idea what their bet was about or who won.

When the kids play outside, I glance through the kitchen window at them every few minutes. My five year old was running as fast as she could to the swing and flying through the air on her tummy. I could hear her laughter and smiled thinking… please don’t fall over and hit your head. Yes, this is the child that has been to the ER twice for head stitches before she turned Four.

Yesterday was also a nice afternoon, so I sent the kids out with the dog. He loves to be outside… but strange as it sounds, he hates to be alone. Your typical dog would sit in the sun for hours – but not Rusty. He will gladly sit there and chomp on a stick, but if the kids come inside… so does he. This time when I looked out the window, my five year old was following Rusty around brushing him. She told him to sit, which he ignored, and kept brushing him.

oh to be a kid

kids playing in the club house, dog sitting

and so it goes…

What can I say? Life is busy. I subbed three times this week, volunteered for two hours in the Elementary school media center and had an Endoscopy on Thursday.

The week started out with only three things planned. I planned on helping in the media center, I planned on attending a girl scout meeting with my older daughter and I planned on having my Endo on Thursday.

On Tuesday morning, I knew I needed to work. I logged into the substitute system to see one job pop up. It was for a teachers assistant at the local special education center, but it was in a call out. Meaning, I could not take the job because it was being offered via telephone to someone else. Normally these jobs aren’t grabbed right away b/c teachers assistants only make about half the pay of a teacher. Usually I will have received about 3 or 4 calls by this time for TA’s in special education, but for whatever reason, I hadn’t. I kept refreshing the page in hopes that the job would not be in a call out… when another job popped up. It was for 5th grade at another school. Yet again, it was in a call out. At this point it was already 8 am and I hadn’t showered. I refreshed for another 10 minutes and still both jobs were in call out. I thought it strange that no one seemed to want the 5th grade teaching job… and just prayed that it would still be there when I got out of the shower. Amazingly, both jobs were still in call out. As I sat there and refreshed… the clocked ticked to 8:55 and I HAD to drive my kids to school. I hit refresh one more time and the job said, “accept?”… ack! I hit yes and headed out the door with yogurt, a cheese stick and a power bar for my lunch. After I dropped my kids off, I called the school that I was going to, to let them know that I was on my way. (The school starts at 9 am… it was 9:05 and I was still 10 mins away.) When I arrived, the teacher was still in the classroom with a teachers aide teaching. It turns out she had lost her voice. Anyway… she needed another day break and asked me to sub the next day also.

On Thursday I had my Endoscopy (remember when I was diagnosed with GERD?). For those of you not in the know, it is where they take a small tube (camera) and look around in your esophagus and stomach. The procedure is quick, but they knock you out, so you need someone to drive you. My mom and I got there early and checked in. They took me back to a prep room and tried to start my IV. After 3 attempts (yep), the head nurse finally got the 4th try in. (I swear when I subbed on Friday that people thought I must be using something…) The immediate things they found out were that I have a hiatal hernia, which means that part of my stomach is pushing through up into my esophagus. Nice, right? The results on the biopsies they took won’t be in for a few weeks.

So, yeah… I’m pretty whooped this week.

Today we cleaned out the basement (again) and reorganized some furniture, even giving a dresser (that was being used for dress up and play kitchen stuff…) away. Then we headed to a local corn maze. There are probably 15 pumpkin patches/corn maze type places with a 10 mile radius around here… so not hard to find fall fun! I wish I had remembered my camera… but instead I will leave you with this…

My sister and I (the baby!)

So many of my local friends are having babies lately… Congrats to Dana, Jamie and Valerie! In other exciting news… my sister is pregnant with number three!!

The music in my mind

I love music. Ironically, you will hardly ever find music on in my house or even in my car.

I love the sound of silence. There are so many beats, pulses and tempo’s going on in the world around us. You just have to take the opportunity to hear it. Like right now I can hear the hum of the computer and the pulse of the dehumidifier.

I have so many tunes and lyrics running through my mind, minute by minute that I almost always forget that there is no music on. I drove 15 miles this morning before I noticed that I had turned the radio off yesterday. I could put on an entire musical show with the songs my brain comes up with. Normally, the music stays in my head… and sometimes, when the silence grabs me, I start to sing out loud.

I think a lot of people are uncomfortable with silence. There has to be some sort of action going on… a TV, a radio, conversation. I just like to hear what the air has to offer.

I'll fly away...

Through the eyes of a little girl

Looking over the lesson plans for a two day job in 4th grade, I realized that some of the things they were learning about I didn’t quite remember learning… ever. The class was interesting to teach. We had math, language arts, science one day and social studies the next. The classroom is equipped with one of the new Digital Visual Presenters. These things are amazing. You can set a book on it, press the auto focus and read the page together. Or you can set down a normal piece of paper and write in pencil to go over homework. I probably used it for more than half of the day to show examples of things. Bye bye chalk.

At the end of the day, both of my girls came up to the class from their rooms. Seeing them standing there next to fourth graders suddenly made them small again. They were trying their hardest to be cool and have a conversation with the big kids. It was pretty entertaining. I can’t believe my oldest will be a 4th grader in just two years. Scary.

Over the years, I kept picturing how the world looked through their eyes. I finally got to see what their typical day is like. I mean, how many times have I volunteered at school… but I have never been there all day and seen the kids at work. I sneaked out to recess during my break to watch my 7 year old play. She didn’t see me and she was jump roping. She was laughing and having a good time with friends – in her own world. You don’t get to see that everyday.

It was a nice reminder of what the school years were like. The fun, the challenges, the friendships and the teachers. I’m so excited to be in the school and learning new things. Who knew.

A different world

I took my first substitute job Wednesday. At the end of the day I was worn out.

The day started with a phone call at 6 am. I jolted up out of excitement only to be completely confused. The school stated it was a job at a local school in the special education department. I had to repeat the message 7 or 8 times until finally husband and I decided that since the school started earlier than my kids school, I could not go. I declined the offer and hung up.

For the next hour, while making lunches and getting my girls ready for school, I debated what I would do in the future. Friends had offered previously to take my kids for the 30 mins in the morning before school… but this was too early to just drop in on someone without prior notice. Finally, I decided to call the school and ask them what I should do.

When I explained to the school that my kids went to a school that started 30 mins after their school, I then asked, “so, do you know of a program I can put my kids in or what do you suggest that I do?” She replied with – come in late. Drop them off and then come in.

I did just that. Dropped the kids off at school and then went to the special education school down the road.

First, I was placed in a class with children that had extreme disabilities. Most of them could not see or move on their own. It was very humbling to see a girl who was the same age as my oldest. It made me realize how much I rely on my kids to do things for themselves and how they are only 5 and 7… maybe, just maybe, they still need me for some of those things.

After about 15 mins, they transferred me to pre kindergarten because a teacher needed to go to a meeting. After lunch, I had my biggest challenge of the day. I was placed in a class of Autistic children. I’m not sure what the ages were – probably between 6 and 9. Let me tell you, another very humbling experience. These children were so bright. The major difference that I saw in them and my kids was the fact that they don’t always make eye contact. In many ways, these kids were more advanced than other kids their age. Place a puzzle down and bam, it is solved. Most of the things we worked with were in a puzzle type format. One of the girls could tell time and was working on completing sentences.

Overall it was an enlightening day. However, when I left, I had to pick my kids up, go home and start dinner, shower (because I hadn’t yet) and go to two different girl scout meetings. Did I forget to mention that both girls joined troops? Stay tuned…

cute, cute...

The sound of silence

I can hear the humming of dehumidifier in the basement. Otherwise, my house is silent. No kids running around, laughing, fighting or playing. No TV or music on… the dog is sound asleep on the couch.

My brain, however, is in overtime. I am so behind on household chores. Every room is messy, tons of laundry has piled up and mother Hubbards cupboard is bare. Time to make a to do list.

This weekend was filled with tons of fun and family time. We spend all day Saturday at my parents house and spent the night. After church on Sunday, we needed to head back over the bridge to pack our things and head to my nephews birthday party. However, there was a major accident on the bridge closing traffic completely for a few hours. We didn’t have any where else to go to wait it out… so we opted to get a close spot in line to wait. After an hour and a half, we finally started to move and slowly made it over to grab our things and head out. By this time, there was a disabled vehicle on the bridge going in the other direction, so we had to sit in more traffic. I’ve been working on patience and I think I did pretty well! The girls had a blast at their cousins birthday party. There was some major wind, then a downpour and finally the clouds parted and we were able to roast some marshmallows! I love the smell of camp fire and the sound of leaves crunching…

Which means, it is that time of year again… football season, aka fall. When I told the girls last night that our first home game was this weekend, Pig Will’s eyes got huge and she said, “That means it is fall!”

playing on the football field...

Wounds>> into Wisdom!

Part of my morning routine, after lunches are packed and husband is off to work, is to sit down with my kids while they eat breakfast. During this time I talk to them and open up my Bible. Educators always say that you should not only read to your children, but that you should read IN FRONT of your children so that they understand how important reading is.

On the same line – not only do I want them to see how important reading is… but how important being in God’s Word is. When you start your day with the living water, the breath of life carries you throughout your day.

Today’s study was about John 2:1-11. It is a story about a wedding. At the celebration the wine was about to run dry. Quickly and quietly Jesus worked behind the scenes to turn water into wine so that hosts of the wedding would not be embarrassed. The banquet master was surprised when he tasted the wine that it was better than what had first been served.

The lesson from all of this is that when we invite Jesus into every aspect of our lives, HE can exchange our past pain for present comfort. He can take old wounds and turn them into fresh wisdom. All we have to do is ask!

So, I leave you with this funny story I read:

Years ago when Johnny Carson was the host of The Tonight Show, he interviewed an eight year old boy. The boy had rescued two friends from a coal mine outside his hometown. As Johnny questioned the boy, it became apparent that he was a Christian. So Johnny asked him if he attended Sunday School. When the boy said he did, Johnny asked, “what are you  learning in Sunday School?” The boy replied, “Last week our lesson was about when Jesus went to a wedding and turned water into wine.” The audience roared, but Johnny asked, “and what did you learn from that story?” The boy squirmed in his chair. It was apparent he hadn’t thought about this. But then he lifted his face and said, “If you are going to have a wedding, make sure you invite Jesus!”

having a chat with dad...

Lessons from a 7 year old

After I picked my kids up from school yesterday, we drove straight to look for new school shoes. Yes, I am a slacker. As usual, I asked the girls how their day was and what was the most exciting part. The Kindergartner replies immediately with a list of things. I tell the girls that I am so proud of them because they are such big girls… but that I also miss them so much while they are gone. I let out a little “wah” right after. Pig Will replies… “uh mom, don’t wah us… we are right here. You can wah when we are at school.” Wow, so true. In other words, enjoy the time you have with your kids when you are with them. Don’t dwell on the fact that they are gone all day while you are with them. Miss them when they are gone, kiss them when their not. Such wonderful insight from a seven year old.

The shoe shopping was unsuccessful. I mean, $55 dollars for a good pair of school shoes… really? I don’t even spend that much on MY shoes. Okay, well, yes I do… but they will last me. Kids shoes last maybe one year before their feet grow again. So, we will try another place today… otherwise I will resort to ordering them online. I found Stride rite shoes on sale @ shoes.com. A whopping 12% off. Thanks shoes.com.

In other news, tomorrow is the big day! I am getting processed for substituting. Hopefully the day is not too painful. They make you watch “the movie” on appropriate things to say said and do and what not to do. It’s from the 70’s and I’ve already seen it 3 times. I wish you could test out of it.

So, I’m off to clean the house from top to bottom… since I had the last two days of absolutely nothing bliss…

so, what's the secret?