Teacher Thank You Gifts

Tomorrow is C's last day of school. It went pretty quickly though I know I am ready for summer break. I purposely didn't plan any activities for June but it got filled up crazy just the same. Anyway, we (C mostly) made our teacher thank you gifts this year. Here they are:

What Will Mrs. Teacher Do This Summer?

Mrs. Teacher will eat ice cream. 

Mrs. Teacher will go shopping.

Mrs. Teacher will drink coffee.

Thank you for teaching me Mrs. Teacher! Have a good summer. 

If you can't tell, each activity in the book comes with its own $5 gift card to help complete the suggested activity. I liked this gift as it combined the practical with the sentimental (in my opinion anyway) and the homemade with the store bought. 

Husband bound up the books with a cardboard backing/plastic cover sheet and comb binding. I included a thank you note to each amazing lady who has helped him this year. His teacher (not the assistant) also will be getting a copy of Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems to add to her classroom library. Last year I had C pick a favorite book to add to the classroom library and I rather liked that idea so I continued it. I obviously reserve the right to discontinue that as I see fit but for now, it works for me. 

Anyway, that's what we did for our teacher thank yous/end of school year gifts this year.

Time With My Girl!

Oh my gosh! Today was the last "short" day for me and M! We do many things during this time, errands, park dates, just coming home. Today we did a combo of fun. 

We did run errands but she benefited from them. 

She got some ice cream. Strawberry, her favorite! 

And we went to Target where my best gal got herself some flip-flops. She has been asking and asking for them. 

She's pretty excited. I think I will miss our special one-on-one time but next year we will have whole days just the two of us and that will be special too! 

How We Celebrated!

C turned six! Here is a little glimpse at how we celebrated our guy Junie B. Jones style. C really became a reader this year and he thinks Junie B. is so funny. I agree for the most part. And he wanted a Junie B. Jones party. Which... while I love my kid who comes up with the most unique birthday ideas, he does stretch our creativity every May.

Friday he brought a treat into his class for snack time.

We stuck a sticker on them. Not the most creative but whatever man. It's thematic and it's fine okay?!

As it happens Junie B. turns 6 at the beginning of Graduation Girl but I didn't know that until the day before his birthday. But C had just brought our copy of that book into his class to be read so that was kind of fun.

Anyway, we made a Welcome to Room Nine sign for our back door to add to the ambiance. Really only my parents saw the sign (as people who don't live here) but whatever.

And our traditional birthday banner did not disappoint.

For C's party we took it easy this year and just invited his friend Mason to come with us to Jungle Bungle. (A place with tunnels and an arcade.) 

The boys (and M) played to their heart's content, enjoyed some pizza and ice cream, won a bunch of junk from the arcade because that's what you do. It was very fun. For our goody "bag" we went with a folder because it seemed Junie B.

It contains a First Grade Journal, activity book, stupid smelly bus keychain, pencil, and a bag of cookies. 

Later in the day, we had cheeseburgers and C's cake. What made it Junie B. like was we said Christopher P. Go with me on that. Okay? It also happens that Junie had chocolate cake with white frosting in the book. I didn't know that when I ordered the cake but it was a nice coincidence! 

We also got to watch Peter Rabbit with my parents and C enjoyed it. He had wanted to see it in the theater but we didn't make it. It sure made the rest of his birthday special though. 

Happy Birthday C!

My C,

I honestly cannot believe another year has gone by and you are six today. Six is two hands, which is firmly big kid. But buddy I am going to hold your hand in a parking lot until you're aching to let go. Let's not get there too fast okay?

You, my boy, challenge me in the best ways. I am learning how to parent right along with you learning how to grow and there's a learning curve for both of us. But oh how I love you and how you love us all back so well. I love watching you with your sister. (Most of the time anyway.) You two really are the best of the friends, unless either one of you has decided on "alone time" which obviously devastates the person who didn't want to be alone.

I am still up in the air over whether TK was the right choice and I can't wait to see you bloom even more next year. But you know, it is the right choice because I can't take it back. And I wouldn't give away my mornings with you for all the money in the world.

Hearing you read me stories is the best. I have prayed that you would be a reader and now I will pray that you never stop. Stories are so important and we can learn so many lessons from them. It cracks me up that you say your favorite thing to do at school is math because you're so good at reading! Regardless of whether you blow Kindergarten out of the water or not, I am going to miss you more than I can even fathom next year.

Lately, we've been working on you forming opinions. You are such a people pleaser that you don't want to put anything against anything. For real, if I ask you who your favorite people at school are you say "everyone." When asked about your favorite food you tell us that you don't know. (It's safely cheeseburgers and fruit.) I love that you are so fair but it is okay to pick sometimes.

Nothing frustrates me more than when you refuse to clean up your messes. I know that no kid likes cleaning so you're not alone in your feelings and I am not alone in my frustration but you know just how to push my buttons it seems. But even when I am the most frustrated and angry, never for a minute doubt that I love you entirely and I am so incredibly thankful that you are mine.

Your love for penguins and walruses has not ceased and I am so thankful for that. Just when I think the world is spinning too fast and you are getting too big, you come back for a snuggle or do something that reminds me that you are still my little boy. You have the absolute sweetest, most empathetic personality and I love when it shines. You are such a gift to humanity and we should all be a little more like you.

I hope I never forget my sweet boy who loves to copy books word for word into notebooks, strew crayons about, play make believe, loves Disney Jr., tell jokes and drink chocolate milk. You are such a precious gift and you have my heart. Happy Birthday, C, I love you entirely.

Love,
Mom

But how did we go from this

to this so fast?!

My Week So Far

Y'all it has been a long week. Can I say y'all even though I am firmly, firmly in the north and have never actually said y'all before? It's just really such a good catch-all and "you guys" just doesn't seem to have quite the same feel to it. And is okay to say that it's been a long week even though it's only Thursday?

Monday was a pretty typical day. Our internet was out for a stint and I may have been a little dramatic as I tend to get. I wasn't even mad because the guy I talked to at the internet place explained the outage and there were already techs en route to solve the problem. But tell me I can't do something and it's all I want to do.

Later after the internet worked again. (It was out for three hours tops.) Husband found this meme on intsagram and I died laughing because when I was complaining he told me I could go watch Carrie fall down a hill and that I was going to be fine.

Tuesday was the first meeting of our Invest group. Our parish started a new program called Invest in Your Marriage. Couples get together in small groups and well, invest in our marriages. We have discussions, assignments and even some individual time with our spouse at the meeting. Our parish had over 75 couples sign up!! Our group is a group of 4 couples and we are really excited about it. Next Easter all the couples will have a vow renewal as a capstone. The part I am the most excited for is the tangible assignments. This month the focus is on self-giving love over self-serving love. Yay marriage!!

Wednesday was just yesterday. Holy moly. I spent the day cleaning for the weekend because my parents are coming. Then in the evening, we had a VBS meeting. I think VBS is going to be good. I hope so anyway!! When I think too much about it I get a little stressed. I am the volunteer coordinator and also running the Sing and Play station. But it's going to be fine!

TODAY! Mostly a normal day with some more cleaning. And I have to run to the store this evening to buy Zebra cakes for the snack at school tomorrow. Because this weekend is C's birthday and that is his chosen school treat. :)

We are in countdown mode over here though with only a few days left of school. (5!) Crazy how fast it's going to be June!!

A Busy Day

Well, today was a Saturday. A good one but a busy one.

It started with the royal wedding. Did you wake up to see it? I fully admit that I slept through my alarm but did catch some. (I plan to watch the rest later.) M was watching with me and said: "This is just like Cinderella!" She wasn't wrong.

Oh Queen Elizabeth, I simply adore you. M liked that her Knuffle Bunny matched the Queen!

After the wedding festivities, we had a soccer game to go to. I didn't take any pictures. But I did get sunburnt so that's special. (Not really. I feel dumb.) The actual game was rough. C didn't have very many teammates come today so he played the entire game!! He got water during the quarter breaks and halftime but otherwise, he played the whole time. He was so tired! He kicked the ball a few times and that was really great, I am super proud of him. Our opponents significantly outplayed us and I lost track of the score at 0-10. The other coach did sort've try to hold back her three best players in the final quarter. She could have done a better job at that but luckily our kids didn't seem too dejected by the score. 

When we got home we had lunch, M took a rest and the rest of us started cleaning the basement! Super exciting I know. I didn't take any pictures of that either. It's not done. But we made some good headway!! 

Then we took some pictures of our kids because we haven't done a photo shoot in ages. I don't even know. My dad wants some new pictures of the kids for his birthday so we bribed the group with Chick-Fil-A to make that happen. It worked. Cute pictures. Fed tummies. 

While we ate our dinner we watched The Preakness! Justify won again! A triple crown contender!! It helps the excitement that this year this was my horse! (I just really like Bob Baffert. I always pick his horses.) 

So there we are. A busy Saturday with lots of hat wearing opportunities, (I did not actually wear a hat but I sure should have!) productivity and some sports. Pretty much a good day! Happy Weekend!

Farewell Microwave

Once upon a time in October 2016, I had a microwave saga. If you want to read the whole thing it is here.  If you don't care to read the whole thing it can be summed up as we bought a new microwave.

Well. It stopped heating this weekend. Oh, it still turned on. The turntable spins. The light comes on. It sounds like it's doing something, but it isn't. So we removed the microwave from our counter and suddenly our kitchen feels huge.

Now my brother-in-law and his family are organic dairy farmers and ultra hippy. And they do not have a microwave. We do not fall into this category. At all. I have absolutely zero qualms about microwave usage. But we are currently a non-microwave family and I will stubbornly NOT be purchasing another one any time soon.

Partly because even at a fairly low price point they should last longer than 19 months and I am a little stubborn about that.

Partly because I am kind of really enjoying the counter space and the fact that the toaster can live on the counter instead of getting put away every time. (It's a really pretty toaster and it does 4 slices! It was a Christmas present so the novelty of toasting more than two pieces of bread at a time is still largely in play. Plus it's pretty. And it's friends with my stand mixer.)

Partly because even at a fairly low price point I could get a week's worth of groceries for the same price and... we just don't use the microwave that often anyway.

I have always (like since a child) hated the smell of microwave popcorn so we do stovetop or more recently our stircrazy machine.

We are not big on leftovers in this house. We cook about what we need and Husband takes whatever is left to work for lunches. For reheating pizza, which is the leftovers I enjoy, I have always used the oven because soggy pizza isn't good.

We already own a vegetable steamer basket so even the super easy "steam in the bag" veggies don't take that much longer. To be honest, veggies are one of the things I would use the microwave for most often but really, steaming them on the stove doesn't take but a minute more.

The other thing that I use the microwave for the most is melting smaller amounts of butter for recipes. And the mighty Google and internet even have a solution for that. It's a teeny tiny little pot.  Or I could make shift a little double boiler for the short term.

So here we are going on a microwave free journey. At least for the next month or so just to see if we can.

Heading into the Weekend

I have been in massive spring cleaning mode. I deep cleaned the kitchen on Sunday. And I did the porch yesterday. I would love to tell you I am doing one room a day but life, you know? We've got to keep the rest of the house clean and the kids alive right? But it is so satisfying to get the winter grime out. I'll get there to the rest of the rooms! But those were the worst anyway.

We are gearing up for a fun weekend. We are going to baseball tonight as long as the rain holds off. C has a soccer game tomorrow. (Which I wouldn't mind at all if the rain didn't hold off and that got canceled.)

Look, I got a little excited when I saw some of the kids in his class were signing up. He took the soccer skills class for years and that went well enough. So I thought why not? Because I hate sports. Remind me of that next time I get a little FOMO will you?!

C is adorable. And actually, his skills aren't bad. But he is not aggressive. It's kind of a hard concept actually. In every single other part of life, he's supposed to wait his turn and not steal the ball or get in front of people. Ultimately, I turned out just fine never having played a team sport and I feel pretty good about his chances of being fine too. We've got loads of time to figure it out.

Sunday is Mother's Day. I feel bad for the women who feel like they can't go to church because of the mother's blessing. My heart aches for them. But I really love the blessing because darn it, if I don't need a little encouragement sometimes. Hopefully, we have an inclusive blessing for the best of all worlds.

But really. I am sure the day will be lovely.

They may not appreciate my overthinking but they do appreciate me. And golly but I am glad they're mine.

Nothing's Really Happening

So here's what's going on in our lives. A whole lot of the same old same old but on a busier track than normal. Between soccer practice and soccer games, making dinner and keeping the house clean there isn't a whole lot of interesting things to report.

Husband and I saw this the other day and we laughed so hard we cried. Because, yes, this, every morning.

M is finally starting to feel better. I did wind up taking her in on Saturday morning because her fever just kept spiking. It's a virus, we know that now. She fell asleep on me at Mass on Saturday night. This is the kid who only fell asleep at Disney World one time and even that was when it was dark and she was in a stroller. She is a strictly in bed or car seat sleeper. But slowly we are seeing her appetite come back and she is starting to be a little more cheerful. This morning started out not so great but she took a 45-minute nap after breakfast and since then seems to be doing pretty good.

I'm sure you've all seen the lava in Hawaii yes. Am I the only one who thought lava was a wee bit faster than that? I know that the lava is incredibly dangerous but it's so slow moving. There was a video going around of the "lava eating a car" and it's a timed lapsed video. I still don't know why they didn't just move the car because there was certainly time. Whatever.

Well, Happy Wednesday friends. Make it a good one!

Long Week!

It has been a week. Wow, am I glad it's Friday. Tonight I am heading out with some friends to go play trivia. I am not particularly good at Trivia but I am looking forward to being a grown up!

C rebounded from his sickness quickly. He was mad I made him stay home from school. But M spent three full days as a little feverish baked potato snuggled next to me.

She did not leave my side for 3 days unless she was asleep in her bed. It was mentally exhausting. I was getting worried about her and made an appointment for this morning but she woke up right as rain. I feel a little guilty going out tonight mostly because Husband and I have both been busy with something every night but it's going to be fine. Because I need a break!

We made it to art class this morning which was nice.

M was not super thrilled with me taking a picture of her snack. But it was so cute!!

This weekend we have a soccer game and Mass (on Saturday because it's First Communion this weekend so we will leave them room.)  plus it's the Kentucky Derby! Woohoo! I am excited. C picked his horse. He has a 4 year "pick the winner" streak but I think this year that will come to an end.

I feel like 98% of the people I follow on Instagram or blogs have not only received One Beautiful Dream but read it already.  I am sure it's great. I'm going to let you in on a secret though? I never read Jennifer Fulwiler's first book. So... I feel like if the universe plops the book in front of me and I win a copy, I'll read it. But I haven't won yet so I'm just going to wait on the universe.

Our Natives arrived today! Just in time. It's been in the 80s and we didn't have summer shoes in our right sizes. The feet on these kids of mine just keep growing! But now we have shoes that don't necessitate socks, which is a good thing certainly. The kids picked different colors this year, C picked green and M will be rocking the purple. And, yes, green Natives is an exercise in me letting go. Because they're green. And the navy blue ones could be dressed up a bit. And I liked how they look. But... I am not the wearer and he has had four years of the blue so for summer number five he can pick green if he wants.

Happy weekend! Hope it's lovely!

May Day!

It's May!

So happy May Day! I love giving out May Day baskets but alas this year I am not going to be able to do that. Both kids are under the weather. I don't really know what the deal is. Just general malaise and a touch of elevated temperature. It certainly didn't stop them from waking up at 5:30 but still. Apparently, C was really quiet at school yesterday so no sense in sending him to be sick there.

May is such a busy month. I know you know that!!

We just skipped right past spring-like weather and it'll be in the 80s all week. Zero complaints about that though because open windows and playing outside is the best!

In my lawn sage of this season, I am just trying to grow some grass. Last year all the Clover and Creeping Charlie was exterminated so this year it's just time for grass to grow. I have seed down and have been babying it. This may be a case where my persistence wins over the yard's reluctance but we'll see.

This past weekend C had his second soccer game. They still lost but they did way better. They played actual defense (which is an improvement) and scored two purposeful goals!

C and his sweet friend from school. They are peas in a pod. Happily running around with the group but if the ball comes near them their main objective is to not have the ball. Here they are just watching the game go on around them. It's the best.

M is frustrated watching because she really wants to play. But she has been creating art while she watches.

"He missed the ball and so he is sad." I love art by 3-year-olds. It's so honest.

Well, that's all I know. Make today a great one friends!