Not the Worst Birthday We've Celebrated!

I took pictures off the camera today to make room for pictures of our kindergartner singing tonight in the school concert.  I came across a particularly sad photo I must share of Ben's big birthday bash.  It was not the worst birthday we've celebrated (the year of the broken bones tops that--my foot on Ben's birthday and RO's arm on my birthday).  But it was a sad, sorry excuse for a birthday.  

 

If you read my last post I mentioned being sick.  I was sick!  Knocked out for 2 1/2 weeks.  I imagine I've been exposed to quite a few germs this year taking over for sick teachers.  Just as I was finally getting over my coughing, Ben called from work to say "I think I'm coming down with what you had!"  Poor guy was knocked out for 1 1/2 weeks.  He says he wasn't sick for as many weeks as I was because he's stronger than I am. 

 

That might be true but he suffered more.  Ben spent his 42nd birthday sick in bed. I didn't make it much better by not baking a cake (he wasn't hungry for sweets) or buying him any presents (I was too low on energy from being sick to go shopping). 

 

All Ben got was homemade fried rice and Panda Express for dinner:

Classy.

 

The kids did give their dad some drawings and a few fun size candy bars left over from Halloween.  That's all.  Ben pointed out that even though we spent the whole month of November sick, at least we weren't sick at the same time.  Pretty cool to be married to a guy who looks past an uber-lame birthday to focus on the blessing of staggered illnesses. 

Subbing and Staying Home. . . and Halloween!

With all four kids in school I've been working almost daily.  I didn't get a traditional teaching job like I'd wanted so I slapped on a smile and became a substitute teacher.  It really was a deliberate decision to slap on a smile.  I subbed 15 years ago and I know what subbing is like.  I know about the unwritten rule that you can get away with anything when there's a sub.  Subbing has just two things going for it: First, I like being home when my kids are home and second, I'm not trained to do anything more lucrative than teach.

I am a sub.

Like the grumpy Dr. Seuss character who discovers green eggs and ham are palatable, I discovered being a substitute teacher is something I enjoy doing.  If the teacher leaves great lesson plans, I'm a happy camper.  If they don't, well, I assume they don't mind that I take liberties and make things up as I go along.  And except for a few moments here and there, I've enjoyed my days.   One subbing surprise has been that I love teaching kindergarten.   I did my student teaching at 6th grade and am comfortable in the upper elementary grades.  It turns out subbing is the teaching job I didn't know I really wanted.

My favorite days are when I get to sub at my kids' school.  When I teach there, my kids will stop in at recess or wave in the hall.  And at the end of the day we go home together.  When I am CO's teacher my day is also filled with spontaneous hugs, kisses and declarations that I'm "the best mom ever!"

I know it's hard to top that, but as a former librarian, my tied-for-first favorite was a multi-day job at the coolest library in the world.  This job was a taste of heaven for me.  The books!  The creativity!  It was beautiful!  Of course I took pictures:

 

 

As a sub it's hard to sweep in and out of schools when the reward for teaching is making a difference in kids' lives.  Luckily I have small, rewarding moments like when the boy with cerebral palsy waves at me in the hall and continues the conversation we had when I was his sub.  He remembers that I carefully listened to him talk all about his favorite video game.  He remembers that I waited for him to type with his "device" the words he spoke that I couldn't understand.  He remembers I disapproved of his violent video game and he smiles now when I playfully wag my finger at him before he disappears into his classroom.  It's not as easy to find those moments as a sub, but they're there.

Well, the last couple of days I have been feeling sick. My 7th grader was also sick but he rested and recovered.  Smart boy.  I took the opposite approach:  total denial.  Not needing to call in sick is supposed to be a substitute's perk, but I took cold medicine and subbed Friday and Monday.  (It's hard to both admit I'm sick and turn down the automated temptress who offers me money for my time.)    When I woke up still feeling crummy today I lectured myself.  "Self?" I said.  "Please stay home today so you can get a little R&R." 

The request was so polite that I obediently answered; "Yes, Maam." 

As luck would have it, the job I turned down this morning was my utopia: teaching at my kids' school in the library!  Staying home sick is never fun but did I really have to miss out on such a cool day?!?  Since I've taken up talking to myself, I'd better tell myself I misheard the temptress and that it was really just a high school P.E job.

Boo!

Speaking of boo, I think some Halloween photos will cheer me up. 

Happy Halloween 2012. 

Ben was a punk rocker.  I was a hunchback with a comb over (not pictured). RO was God's gift to women.  JO was a mummy with a mohawk.  For SO we got crafty with old pants, Smarties candies, and the glue gun.  She was a Smartie Pants.  And my girly CO was Spiderman (NOT Spidergirl or Spiderwoman). 

If mohawk crafting is in your future and you'd like to avoid sifting through the "how to" pages on the internet, I'll tell you the secret.  Working in chunks, apply egg whites to clean, dry hair (I used a round preschool paintbrush), then blow dry on low.  Use hairspray on stubborn fly-aways.  For longer or thinner hair, have your hawker tip upside down while you blow dry. 

Telephone

CO was relaying a message for me tonight.  We had just gotten home from swimming and RO jumped in the shower.  Since he is notorious for taking LONG HOT showers, I told CO to go downstairs and say "Everyone needs to take a shower, so no long showers, just rinse the chlorine off, shampoo your hair, and get out."

She relayed most the message perfectly.  CO said; "Okay, guys, listen to me now.  This is a very important message from Mom:  No long showers.  Just rinse the caffeine off and get out!"  Kids make me smile.

RO reported after his shower that she added her own directive: "And if you don't get out right now Mom's going to ground you." She might be the youngest, but she's no pushover.

Have You Ever Had So Much To Write About That You Just Don't Write Anything?

Here's some of what I haven't blogged about yet: our vacation to Hawaii, a trip to Utah, a trip to Leavenworth, why dogs baffle me, JO's PEP fair a.k.a. his obsession with Pele, the Pinewood Derby, teaching primary children who eat too many jelly beans, my grandma, why I didn't have fun at Parent-Teacher Conferences, chalkboard paint, smart children, and three springtime birthdays.

Instead of feeling so far behind I'll never catch up, I thought I'd tell you about something that hasn't happened yet.  My eight year-old daughter has decided to be baptized.  For local readers, we will meet together for her baptism at the stake center this Saturday, April 14th, at 3:00pm.  We'd love to see you there.

I'll catch up a little now with a picture I like from our vacation:

Haleiwa next to Surf and Sea

Eye Eye Eye!

CO goes to the opthamologist a lot. Her first visit was when she was five days old. She was born with a polar interior cataract the size of a pin prick in her left eye. Even though the cataract doesn't affect her vision, we figured it was a matter of time before we found out she needed glasses because of her genetics and her frequent visits to the eye doctor. Sure enough, CO got glasses few weeks after her fourth birthday.

We went to see the eye doctor again this winter and discovered something we hadn't seen coming:  Her left eye was developing amblioplia, or lazy eye. This means her brain ignores the images sent from her left eye and is starting to rely solely on her right eye. Without intervention, her brain could cause vision failure in her left eye. To which we say; "Silly brain, CO wants to use both eyes!"

Now every morning for two hours CO wears a patch over her "good" eye. This reteaches her brain to rely on her left eye.  She goes back to the eye doctor in March and has been very accomodating considering it's tough to see things "all blurry." We are counting our blessings because her cataract (and the resulting frequent visits to the eye doctor)  helped us catch the pre-amblioplia before it got any worse. The other blessing is that her eye doctor says there's no reason she shouldn't eventually have 20/20 vision! Such a good girl. She has been so good about wearing her patch every morning. 

A Formal Apology to My Kitchen

I was rude to my kitchen a few posts ago. So I would like to take this opportunity to extend my deepest and most sincere apology to my kitchen.  Ahem. 

Kitchen?  I'm sorry. 

There, I said it.  I had no reason to be so rude.  I didn't know that underneath all that linoleum, formica, and general lameness was the potential for such awesomeness. 

Exhibit A:

 Exhibit B:

This is pretty much what our kitchen looks like! Under-cabinet lighting is not pictured. But it's there! The cabinets are natural hickory. You can see we chose to have the sink in the corner instead of under the window. I'm happy with that decision--the whole triangle of happiness is also happy. We still have some work to do: Countertops will be concrete. We'll have a new faucet after countertop is installed. The old light fixture above the micro/range is gone. We haven't made any back splash decisions yet. And the raised peninsula on the right side of the kitchen (designed by me, built by Josh from TBC) will be painted with chalkboard paint.  I'll have to post more pictures when it's done, done, but getting this far has been a major undertaking and I choose to pause and take it in!


P.S.  By way of announcement, except for a car built by a kid's grandpa, JO's pinewood derby car was undefeated last night.  It was a tie for first place with a run-off to decide first and second place.  Throughout the derby, Grandpa beat JO a total of three times, and JO beat grandpa's car twice.  I didn't upload a photo of his car.  But I did upload this impressive shot of Mr. Almost-Undefeated.  (Yes, he IS that handsome in real life.  But, sorry girls, he's only ten.) 

Creative use of cinnamon-flavored gummy Santas, my boy.  Well done!