valleys

    It seems we are in a series of valley right now.  Another acquaintance lost her husband in a head-on car accident last week.   This one, a mother of five kids, all in the same age range as my own.  My husband came home from work that day and I met him at the door.
   "These things come in threes.  Don't you even think of being next."
   Yesterday, I received an e-mail that our beloved principal is retiring.  She has been out much of this year, due to being needed by her family.   She has been a part of our lives since we transitioned from home schooling to public school.  She made that transition smooth, eased my mom guilt, and didn't condemn my previous choices in our previous situation.  She had a gift with parents, of empathy, of being "real" without being rude.   There's a lot more I could write about her, her humor, her selflessness, how she worked with the kids....
   It leaves an air of uncertainty around us, especially since our children are transfers...and our incoming kindie hasn't been approved yet.  If they close transfers for the transition....well, then things get interesting.   I'll take that interesting over what either of those women are going through right now.
Peace be with you both, and may there be a river in your valley.

Spring Break

      Spring break for our house was fantastic.  The kids rotated through grandparents.  We had a family movie night.  The weather was perfect for lots of time outside on skateboards, scooters and swings.  We ended it with swimming, a kindergarten play date, and a kid-friendly dinner.  In my bubble, all was well.
      Outside my bubble many were also having a great time, but others we know are hurting deeply.  A parent at our school loses her husband to cancer.  A key staff member is going through the same, drawn out, slip away, pain.  This year our school family has already taken so many hits with student illness, parent hospitalizations & surgeries, and the loss of a sibling in the adoption process to another family.  Yet, for the sake of our children, we keep smiling, waving, and moving forward.  Privately, the adults gather to express their anger, pain, and ugliness...but we keep a cocoon of warmth, safety, and happiness around our kids.   They aren't fooled, but it does help them stay focused and move forward.   They have each other, and us, to turn to and sort things out.   The younger kids lean more on us, the older, on each other.   We know this is life, but we wish we could shield them from this side of it just a bit longer.
   Today is the first day back at school.  Somehow, it seems appropriate that it is raining.  Everything is muddy, but when the storms clear, the blooming flowers and green grass are back again.

Signs I may be approaching middle age

     Okay, forget approaching.  I'm there.  I know I'm there for many reasons.

     1) My favorite live action movies are in the $5 bin at Wal-Mart, and go on sale for 1.99 at Christmas. 
     2) Lavender.  I love wearing it.  The scent, or the color?  Yes.
     3)  I have as much "peach fuzz" as my 13 year old.
     4)  My old injuries remind me of where they were when the weather changes.
     5)  I find myself liking clothes in fabrics and styles I once dubbed "old lady".
     6)  My karaoke list consists primarily of songs from before the current "21"s were born.
     7) Anti-aging cosmetics don't seem ridiculous. 
     8) I count grams of fiber and glasses of water.
     9) My kids have to explain technology to me, like flip notes.  I think of flip notes as a notebook w/ the spiral at the top.
    10) I can never again wear a sleeveless dress.  Even if I do finish "taking off the weight" there is a cleavage issue.  As in when I put on a strapless bra, instead of "lifting" I "fold", leaving the ever attractive "hoochie line" in plain sight.  My tatas need engineered straps to stay over the gut line now.
   and of course,  having a teenager in the house.  I imagine when there's more of them that will age me faster than anything.

Field trip Thursday

   Yesterday was a double-field trip day.  Both my daughters were off to new and exotic destinations, Kindergarten to Kaleidescope, and 2nd grade to the Natural History Museum.  Days like that moms want a clone so we can be in two places at once.  I had the next best thing, a friend leading my daughter's group in 2nd grade who sent me a pic, and grandparents who worked at the university to eat lunch with her.  Thus I was able to go on the kindergarten field trip with a clear conscience.
    At Kaleidescope, I skillfully maneuvered to volunteer at the puzzle station.  It's fun to watch the kids design their puzzle pictures and use the machine to "magically" make it into pieces.  One child came to me saying, "LOOK.  It's a crown in the center!"  (ha,ha, crown center & Hallmark.  Very cute.)   My daughter swung by to visit me twice, and was obviously living it up.  While she was happy I was there, she didn't need me there.  Oddly that was reassuring.
   Meanwhile, at the museum my other daughter was also having a great time.  She was given the opportunity to build her own dinosaur and name it.  Pentacephaquadrosomethingsaur.  (Five-headed-four-tailed-lizard.)  She won the prize for longest name...since parents were disqualified.  There is a photo of this fine creature on my FB page.  She too, was just fine without me.
    I arrived back home to "Mo-mmy!  I missed you!"  and littlest man fell asleep in my arms last night.  I held the monkey with his stuffed monkey for over an hour.  It won't be much longer a child wants to use me as a mattress.

WHAT a week!

Well, after miss P's birthday last Friday, everything rolled into fast forward.
Saturday we had  a wonderful church baby shower for one the sweetest, most domestic, wifey gals I know, who also is a high school English teacher!   The "cake" was cupcakes:  a row of blocks spelling her last name, with a cupcake onesie under it and cupcake flowers surrounding.   She got tons of cool pink stuff, and a few not-as-pink too.  It was kind of a mad rush after to clean up quickly because that same night  was our elementary PTA auction.  Lots of money made, a kitchen smoothly run,  food/beverage flowing freely.  This is a family blog, so I'll just leave it at whatever happens in PTA, stays in PTA.
      Sunday was a boy scout pancake breakfast, stretching in bed after grandparents picked up kids and getting struck by the DOH!  fairy.  It was the first Sunday of the month.  The kids were supposed to sing in big church.  So it was a text to grandma and a drive to the other church where the pancakes were to get our kids to our church in time to sing.  After that we came home for a fast lunch and were off to see THE Lorax, the last part of Ms. P's birthday celebration.  After that, Mr. Man fed the kids dinner and took them to AWANA and I went to bed, at 4pm.  No, I did not rise again fully until the next day.
     Even then, Monday was more sleeping than not.....except that Ms. P had a Petal ceremony for D-A-I-S-I-E-S.  She carried the flag for flag ceremony & got to be the D in daisy.  She was definitely quite the little star.  FLOWER POWER!
    Tuesday was laundry and Brownies for Ms. D.  Our dryer is temporarily out of order, so laundry right now consists of running the washer all day, then hauling five loads to the laundromat to dry after dinner.  That's where we hit the 6pm snafu.
 Brrring, from grandma"Can Isaiah go do his Den Chief thing tonight?"
"Sure."
      Then tell the husband he has to take 3 kids under 10 to laundromat and leaving for Brownies  very quickly before he thinks to switch jobs.
Then said Brownie gets sent home from school today.  "tummy ache" ...prob from all the cookies, doritos and cake last night.  We just don't eat that stuff that often.
     Today was pretty simple.  Mr. Man found out some good news.  I got to spend the morning planning a  family camping trip.  Then I spent the afternoon making soup from scratch as per the man's request.  Then I had a middle school PTA meeting.  Our nominating committee had the roster filled, except for the spot of co-president w/ Ms. M.    (an overall great gal I hounded out for the nomination, thankyouverymuch.)  Then we sat down to start the meeting, and she turns to me;
"Why don't you be my co?'
"What?  I'm no politician.  See me here in my sweats and a bandana in my hair?  Besides, we want an incoming 7th grade parent.  You want someone with tact."
She;s quiet for a minute, and then writes it on my agenda.
"Be my co-president, please?  We know we get along."
"Fi-ine"
Then she sells it to the board, pointing out the real reason we wanted a 7th grade parent  was we just wanted someone who'd be around a while, and well, I have 5 more kids to go through.  I'll definitely be around.  That and she thinks I'm pretty smart.  We'll just let her think that.
So, I'm left wondering, how'd I get here? 
Tomorrow I have another PTA meeting.  At least I know there aren't any big surprises there.

Happy Birthday Princess P!

    My kindie girl is six today!    She's already exhibited some birthday generosity this morning.  She was very concerned about what to share with her class, and shared her "good morning" gift of snap bracelets with her sister on the spot.  Miss. P likes to make sure everyone is included.
    She always has been my little "mommy"...but is so close to the end of the kid line she has to content herself with dolls and stuffed animals to practice on.  Later today, we're going to add to the stuffed animal end.  Her "big" gift is the stuffed unicorn from the (color)-alicious books.  We have pink, purple, and gold.   
    After her birthday dinner of meatloaf, her grandparents are whisking her away overnight.  She'll be back tomorrow, in time to go celebrate another baby that's almost here.  On Sunday, we're going to a movie, The Lorax.       
    Yet all that is ahead of us.  Today is picture day at school, so she had double incentive look her best.  We even took the time to "do" hair this morning.  She's stepping out in style and growing up in grace.  It is good to be queen for the weekend.