A Birthday Post

It was a great birthday for me.  Too bad about Ben's birthday in November.  Oh well, whatcha gonna do?  I've had a lame birthday or two in my day.  It's just the way things go. 

Spring Break is a great time to have a birthday.  It gives me time to think up weird things to do with my kids.  I channeled my dad and bought all the kids shoes for my birthday.  Not to worry, I got myself some hiking sandals.  And Ben got me a scarf from the Australian Store in Leavenworth while we were visiting last weekend--I've had my eye on those cool babies for a while.  ;)

The kids and I are fans of not going to school for a week.  It was so nice to have a week of no work.  I still think of myself as a stay-at-home mom but the reality is that I spend most days working (perhaps no medical benefits keeps me in the SAHM mind-set). I had a long-term job teaching 2nd grade in March while Mrs. E. was recovering from a concussion.  It started as a one-day job.  When I found out she was out with a concussion I immediately thought of two things.  First, that Mrs. E. shouldn't be thinking about school while her brain is trying to recover.  And second, this could turn into a long-term job depending on what her doctor recommends.  I corrected tests for her so she wouldn't have to read over them during her recovery.  And sure enough, her doctor told her to stay home until after Spring Break.  It was different getting to know kids' names and grading papers, but it was definitely more time-consuming to have those papers to grade and lessons to plan.  I got a phone call from Mrs. E. yesterday thanking me for the extra effort.  I told her honestly that having lived through last spring and summer with RO recovering from his concussion, it was the least I could do for her.  I just couldn't let her grade all those tests and papers!  An added blessing: I may have found myself a co-teaching partner a few years down the road.  Mrs. E. has severe rheumatoid arthritis that will prevent her from teaching full-time in a few years.  A shared classroom would be perfect!  I will miss those 2nd graders.  Mrs. E. has a great group, one of the girls is in our ward and is a smarty.  We all had a bit of Easter fun the last period Friday:

It would have been easier to have the 2nd grade job if it wasn't for PTO.  I don't know how/why, but I let myself be nominated.  I told myself it was partly because when I was in elementary school, my mom was PTA president (and she had 6 kids--including a newborn).  If my mom can do it with 6 kids, I reasoned, I could do it, too.  Funny story:  I was telling my mom about getting myself roped into the PTO and she just laughed.  No, she told me, she did NOT throw her hat into the ring voluntarily.  The real story about my mom is that my dad went to a PTA meeting and they were nominating officers.  He nominated her!  Isn't that a great story?  I love that my dad had the confidence in his wife that she could contribute to her kids' school like that.  I don't know if my mom loved it.  Oh, yes, I do know.  She was shocked.  But she did it and did it well.  I remember her organizing a major school carnival including boxes of Oriental Trading Company prizes that my sisters and I spent hours drooling over.  Oh the rubber bracelets--the ones you'd twist through each other and run up your arms!  I don't do major events.  Nothing makes me quite as frazzled as putting together a school-wide event (like, say, a district-wide PTO Easter Egg Hunt that I wasn't at all in charge of).  But I am happy to say we voted to spend funds this year on implementing a reading program for grades 1 though 5.  Sixth graders (and older) already have the reading program and it is what turned JO into a voracious reader OF BOOKS!  I don't think of PTO as vehicle for school events.  My goal this year was to impact the instruction and encourage academic excellence.

It's high time I mentioned one more birthday present I got.  On April 2nd Ben accepted a job with the ITD and starts with them the end of this month.  This is a huge blessing because, although it means a 30 minute commute, it also means an end to three years of threats of fall layoffs.  Ben also accepted a calling that same evening which shall remain nameless until it's official.  Change is good.  Change is good.  Change is good. 

A few days before his ITD job interview he had another interview downtown.  Parking is impossible there so, after talking to a former co-worker who works at the office where Ben was interviewing, he decided to drive to a Park-n-Ride then take a bus into the downtown area.  He got dressed in a suit and tie and left early, tucking a bus schedule he'd printed from the bus company's website in his portfolio.  I got a call from him 30 minutes before his interview.  He was on the wrong bus!  More specifically, he was on the wrong nonstop bus heading west out of town.  We live about 15 minutes east of downtown so not only was he trapped, but he was travelling away from both his interview and his rescue ride (me!).  I was supposed to be at school teaching CO's kindergarten class and would be late to my job if I went to pick him up and take him downtown.  I had my phone to my ear and was gearing up to make a mad dash out of the house when Ben said; "Hold on."  Then I heard what sounded like loud voices and running.  I said/yelled into the phone; "Ben, what do you want me to do?" He replied "Pray.  I'll call you back." and he hung up. 

He hung up!! 

I felt helpless thinking of Ben on a bus, the minutes ticking away as he headed farther away from where he needed to be.  I don't do a lot of interviewing, but have heard that if you're late to an interview, you might as well not show up.  I was frazzled at the prospect of having the kids get themselves ready for school on class picture day, getting myself ready in under a minute, and driving down the freeway to an unfamiliar town to find Ben on the side of the road and take him downtown.  I called all the kids into the living room and I said a prayer.  It was an emotional prayer and the kids and I were all worried and waiting for Ben to call back.  I left to drop RO off at school (my spoiled seventh grader gets a ride because he starts an hour and a half before K-6) and waited for the phone to ring.  I had a feeling he didn't need me to drive to get him anymore, but decided to call him and find out what the voices and running were all about.  He told me that instead of being stuck waiting for a bus, his bus had pulled in just as the east-bound bus he needed to catch was pulling out.  What a blessing!  So Ben was getting off the wrong bus and running to the second bus just as he had ended his call with me.  He ended up downtown in the reception area at the office joking around with his former co-worker a full 15 minutes early to his interview!  He insists, and I believe him (I do!), that the website's bus schedule was wrong.  I wished him well and told the kids that their daddy made it to the interview and then I waited for my heart rate to return to normal.  It eventually did.  Ben got a second interview and still hasn't heard back about an official decision.  That doesn't really matter anymore because he was fortunate enough to get this other job, one that doesn't require public transportation.  He will be a great asset to his new company.  Our Heavenly Father is watching over us and answers our prayers and gives us life experiences that make us grow. . . and laugh.

It was also a big birthday  weekend for Mister JO, who turned 12 on Saturday.  I have pictures of JO and his birthday tra-bam-poline fun on my new smart iPhone, but haven't had time to upload them.  It's true that smartphones are for dumb people.  Ha ha ha!  As soon as someone invents an automatic grocery shopping app, I'll have time to figure out the uploading part!  Going shopping is so lame.  Buying groceries is truly one of my least favorite things to do.  I always think EVERYTHING is overpriced.  Ben says my mind is storing prices from a decade ago.  He may be right.  Hrumph!  Off I go. 

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!

Things I've Learned. . .

. . . About Bedtime. My kids are much grumpier than usual on Wednesdays.  (So am I.) 

I've been a mom for going on twelve years and if there's one thing I've figured out, it's that kids (and grown-ups) need a good night's sleep or they're grumpy. We try for an 8:30pm bedtime, which means lights are out and most are quietly sleeping by 9:15pm. Our boys go to scouts every Tuesday from 7:00pm - 8:30pm. Scouts pushes our Tuesday bedtime to 10 o'clock at the earliest.  I am trying to be a mom who enjoys scouts, honest!  RO and JO have some wonderful leaders who are working hard to make things go well.  RO almost has his Tenderfoot (I'll just pretend like I know what that means!) and I just found out that Blazer Scouts is the same thing as Eleven Year-Old Scouts.  I'm coming along.  Minding my own business. Liking scouts.  And then I remember the pinewood derby is next week.  All JO has to show for it is a rectangular block of pine wood.

Before I sign off, I wish you a very Happy New Year! Those of you hoping for a glimpse of my kitchen and bath will have to wait.  It's Wednesday. 

First Day of School for My Baby Girl

This big girl had a big day today!
 
She's been looking forward to going to school all summer.

For 2 1/2 hours a day, four days a week, my children are ALL in school.

And I didn't get all weepy until I got home and walked into our messy kitchen. I said I'd clean it today.

And I will.

After I hit "publish post."

The weather's been just lovely today.

The boys rode their bikes to school.

Our primary program is in 6 days.

Ben's far away living in a hotel five days a week for the next six weeks.

I bribed CO to stop sucking her thumb and it worked.

I'm stalling?

Hmmm.

The kitchen sink I ordered from amazon arrived ten minutes ago while I was looking at pictures.

I'm forcing myself to clean the kitchen before I open the new-sink-filled package.

The kitchen's not getting any cleaner.

Here goes.

Kitchens are so stupid and I hate them and they're dumb and they never stay clean for more than a couple of minutes at a time and they're good for nothing and I hate the dishes that are still on the table because they're dirty and kitchens are stupid times infinity. (My kids would have gotten a time out for a rant like that--good thing I'm the grown-up, even though I'm not acting like it!)

What? 

Nothing!

Fine. . .

Bye.

:)

Housework and Homeschooling

Because last week was sleepover week, I have designated this week as cleaning week. My sons make no secret about their dislike of assigned jobs that start with "Clean up the. . ." and end with ". . . kitchen."  or ". . . living room." or ". . . guinea pig cage."  But today I discovered something truly wonderful.  My boys can organize stuff.  I'm pretty sure they didn't learn it from me. This morning RO organized the spices, kitchen utensils, and cake decorating items that were living temporarily on the window sill while JO organized ALL the board games downstairs.  And they enjoyed themselves immensely.  I have so many nooks and crannies that need the attention of a happy organizer or two.  I am writing a very different job list for the rest of the week. The closets, the books, the office supplies, the garage toys. . . this is going to be such fun! 

In other news, I applied for a full-time teaching position as a homeschooling teacher for our school district.  I will be monitoring homeschoolers from my home computer. The job would start in September and the posting closes tomorrow.  I am hoping for an interview and keeping my fingers crossed!

Not Another Downtown Freeway Fix

During the summer months, my husband hangs out on freeways, off-ramps, and busy city streets. He oversees construction and repairs of state roads. It's gritty and ugly work sometimes. His jobsites are often filled with smells of exhaust and hot asphalt. That's all about to change. He still has the same job for now, but he will be in quite a different environment. Some engineers have all the luck! Ben went north an hour and a half today to see his late August/early September jobsite. Aside from the fact that he'll be on a bridge and way too far removed from solid ground for my liking, I'm a little envious!

The kids and I will be visiting Daddy and his breathtaking jobsite OFTEN during this bridge repair! Can you blame us?

Summer 2011 Yellowstone Family Reunion

YELLOWSTONE SMITH FAMILY REUNION 2011
(RO took this picture, nice rainbow!)

The kids didn't mind the long drive. It might have had something to do with the new portable DVD player.  They are SO accomodating.

We had family photos, this is SO with my mom! 
Aren't they cute?

 

When three of the cousins are toddlers/babies, the "How about a quick shot of Grandma and Papa with the grandkids" idea ends up looking something like this:

 
(my four are on the left, Mom is holding Dave's, Dad's got Jamie's and Steve's, and Andrew's four are behind and on the right of Mom and Dad)


 

What JO was thinking about during family pictures
(He paid $75 for it at a yard sale):

Jamie's cute little man!

 

You'll have to tilt your head to the left for this
picture of Dave's baby, but it's worth it!

 

Silliness with cousins. 
Andrew's son is on the left, and my RO is on the right.

Tilt it again, sam! CO sporting her new glasses, swinging and smiling on this hose-swing:

Uncle Andrew wondered why SO was planking. Luckily, she's not "cool enough" to know what planking is. I think she was just tired of taking family pictures!

Wearing a green t-shirt under your nice shirt makes for a hot photo shoot, but it's worth it to JO, who was wearing "comfortable clothes" within seconds of the last picture.

Dang it, tilt one more time, okay?

Auntie Kiki was in her community's musical: "Cinderella" and the girls loved it.

 

CO even got to dance with Prince Charming after the show. After the final scene, CO whispered to me; "I'm nervous to dance with the prince, I only know how to pirouette." (if you read the last sentence and replace all the "r" sounds with "ow" sounds, that's how she said it.  And when a four year-old says a big word like "piwowowette" it is exactly as cute as you think it is.)
She's lucky to be alive, I want to just eat her up she's so delicious!

This is what Steve, Jamie, and I (and Dave for 45 minutes) spent our days doing at my parents' new home:

 

Uncle Buckethead strikes a pose.  Steve is quite an amazing guy.  He has worked so hard on my parents' house this summer.  And I love to hang out with him (I also love the wood detail over the entrance, don't you?):

 

Leftover wood flooring makes for some great puzzle pieces!

Bumper boat "after" picture. Because all flooring and no play, makes the kids wonder why it's called a "vacation."  Actually I didn't make them hang out at the construction site, my mom did a wonderful job entertaining my kids and feeding them ice cream and/or Shave Ice daily.  They went to the museum, the movie "Rio," and played and played and played!

RO takes after his uncle and namesake. He rocked the rock wall!

I hope your summer vacation is going well. Excuse me while I dream about going on a vacation to recover from my vacation.  As I type, my kids are entertaining the neighbors in the back yard.  JO is playing "Pink Panther" outside on the keyboard, CO is squealing, and I'm almost afraid to account for the rest of them, but I know digging for treasure is involved. 

It's good to be home.

Guest Post from the Birthday Boy

RO brought home his 5th grade journal at the end of the school year.  His teacher gave the students writing prompts every day and they wrote at least 13 lines a day.  Some of the prompts were "I wish I had a million dollars. . ." and "I get nervous at school when. . . "

I had to smile when I read what he wrote for the prompt: "If children were in charge of the world. . ." because I would have written something entirely different.

"If children were in charge of the world I would help in the kids' army.  I would help do world domination and I would fight to be president and I would fight to be in charge of my own continent and I would buy all the stuff I wanted and I would have my own farm and I would help anybody that needs help and I would have a big ranch so that I can have a lot of animals and stuff."

What I would have written is something like the need for 3 square candy meals a day, rollercoasters in every back yard, recess all day, and parents who do all the work.  Never though of the need to lead a kids' army intent on world domination.  Should I be worried about RO?  Happy 11th, my sweet, ambitious, army man. Perhaps you'll be riding a moose at your ranch?

Want to see a picture of the school-aged kids from May on "Crazy Hair Day?"  I thought so.

(Yes, that's sliver goo on her eyebrows.  And do you like the color of our new cabinetry in the kitchen?  It's Natural Hickory.)

Now for a picture of a rocky "sandy" world to practice ruling:

The X Factor

Thirteen years ago my husband and I were working and living in Brazil.  We stayed a short 181 days, but I learned a lot.  A blog I read titled Uganda makes me want to leave the United States again.  Every U.S. citizen should live in another country for a while.  Yeah, I said it.  Being an expatriate puts life in perspective.  I am glad I don't know what it's like to live in a country where violence is something "you'll get used to."  I am also glad the Uganda blogger is such a good writer!  I found myself reading and agreeing and loving his insights.  I also found myself wondering if eloquence is something you can learn. 

Well, I don't know if we'd be allowed to take my four children as far as Uganda or Brazil (or the Philippines--RO is half Filipino, after all).  But if it's for a few short months, maybe our parents will forgive us.  Maybe?  It would be quite a shock to my system to have expats for kids.   I would love to see how being expats would change their views of the world, of consumerism, and other ideas.  If the boys' desire to play computer games and be entertained were to vanish, I'd start packing right now.

And if I could avoid all future encounters with the boy scout program?  BONUS. No, it's not about the Pinewood Derby this time.  My oldest child is on his first scout campout tonight.

and

We aren't there. 

and 

It's no fair.

and

I miss him.

A cell phone pic of my boy who better come back alive and intact, ya hear me, scout leaders?

Breaking the Law is Fun to Do

Is it really breaking the law if you are volunteering?  I hope not, because I broke the law like 200 times.

As if renovating the kitchen, loads of job hunting, packing for a vacation, teaching Father's Day songs, juggling a household with opposite schedules (Ben's back to working nights again) and being a mother just isn't enough, Friday mornings I volunteer with the school district.  I teach a 4th grade math group, then a 5th grade writing group.  Then I drive over to the Community Connections Center (CCC) to help there for an hour.  So one day, a CCC teacher hands me the Teacher's Edition of a pre-algebra book and asked me to make a booklet of teachers' answers for the practice pages.  I don't know if you've seen TEs, but they'll often have microscopic answers for the worksheets in the margins.  This was the case with this book. 

I enlarged the margins and xeroxed my way through each section of each chapter of the whole entire book.  The teacher who handed me the book and led me to my xerox machine accomplice did justify the whole thing by saying "A solutions manual is available for purchase, but there's no money in the budget to order it."

Ohhh!

Well! 

In that case. . .

Bring on the criminal activity!

I believe I'm more excited this is the last week of school than my kids are.  Any suggestions for legal summer activities are greatly appreciated.

Staying At Home

I'm typing this in my bedroom while my fourth child, a lovely almost four year-old girl, is marching on the bed making up lyrics to a song she's shouting singing.  "If you wanna have it you want to have it stay. If you lost it you are really sad." Apparently  she lost. . . hold on, I'll ask her. . . she lost her stick.  Okay.  A song-worthy ballad.  And there she goes.  She's heading to the bathroom to show she's mastered the task of potty training.  But she'll be back to ask me about the faces in 100+ photos she distributed in a two foot radius around me. 

This is actually the quiet part of my day because three individuals who love humanity more than money are in the middle of the noisy part of their days.  They are educating my two ten year-olds and my seven year-old at our beloved public elementary school. 

I volunteer at my kids' public school twice a week.  I've taught math and writing to groups of six.  I've helped with after school activities.  I've tutored a fourth grader.  I've created spreadsheets for posters and administered geography quizzes.  It's fun and rewarding to pop in and teach.  But I'm ready to teach again full time.

I used to be a teacher.  I have an elementary education degree.  I worked as an elementary school librarian and reading teacher for two years.  I didn't make the kind of money folks in other professions make.  But I loved my job.  I loved the book fairs, I loved teaching vocabulary in my reading groups, I loved recess duty, I loved May Day, I loved finding books for the kids who thump, thumped up the stairs into my aqua blue library.  And I loved the acronyms, the curriculum realignment committees, and teacher's meetings. Wait.  I need to stop laughing.  I could have existed just fine without acronyms, curriculum rewrites and those ~humid~ Wednesday meetings in Tulani's room! 

In June 2000, a month before my oldest son was born, I "put in my 40 hours" for the last time.  Before the 2000-2001 school year was over, I had two new employers:

How I love them!  And I love the two additional employers who joined our company in 2004 and 2007.  There's no arguing my job description is more stressful than my old full-time career.  I do more cleaning and scolding than I ever did teaching.  Elementary school children also don't require diaper changes, thank goodness.  And I'm not as well-rested, come to think of it.  

I put in more than double my 40 hours a week, but I have loyal employers. This summer marks my 11th year with their company.  The perks are fabulous.  I listen to their jokes, join in their adventures, and end each night with their hugs and kisses.  I was even showered with gifts, jewelry, and hand-written commendations just last week Sunday!

An acquaintance suggested my being home for the past 11 years makes me an undesirable employee and teacher.  And while my most financially rewarding gigs in the last 11 years have been as babysitter and secret shopper (remind me to write a secret shopping post!), I think being a mother has prepared me to be an ideal employee and teacher.  Parenthood stretches the mind and challenges the intellect.  Parenthood changes who you are.  If you're reading this blog post, Dr. Chun, my "Teaching P.E." professor, listen to this:  I took what little athletic prowess you saw in me and voluntarily coached my child's soccer team--and they won two games (a "soccer coach" post is in the works!).  Parenthood exposes us to previously unattainable levels of selflessness.  Who doesn't want an employee like that? 

Now, would you like my employer's letter of recommendation in crayon or playdoh?

A dragon-wearing babysitting charge with my lovely fourth child.

Blogging From My iPod

Know how water and wood don't mix? Well CO has unequivocally established that bubbles and laptops don't mix. She forgot she was holding a wedding favor-sized bottle of bubbles and she pointed at a picture on the screen. Less than a tablespoon of soapy liquid dripped into the speaker holes. I did everything in my capabilities, including wiping the inside down with rubbing alcohol, but unfortunately I was unable to resuscitate our laptop.

It can be expensive to have a three year-old!

It's Back!

Spring weather isn't quite here yet, but soccer season is back. I am coaching SO's team.  With 6 and 7 year olds the game is more "mob ball chase" than actual soccer at this point, but SO seems to like it.  She scored her first goal ever this Saturday (our second game of the new season). We played my friend Tiffani's daughter's team and she e-mailed these pictures to me!

Here's our intense star player with her daddy, the referee. JO and RO are in the background watching the action.
Cool family shot, Tiff!

RO will be watching the action all season as his arm heals, but JO scored twice in the first half of his game before the coach put him back in defense.  Taking shots up front is a little new to him, but you can't argue with two goals.  Maybe our Goalie slash defender will be a forward this season.