Make a Smilebox scrapbook

That's right people. I got in the dunk tank.

My day started very early...well for me anyway...not for people like my parents or my brother...but anyway...

I woke up at 6:15 and quickly got dressed and threw on a hat because I had to be at the school by 10 til 7:00am to start setting up for the Spring Party. I don't know why we call it a Spring Party, it's totally close enough to and hot enough for...Summer...anyway...

So I had to be at the school at 10 til 7 and I was most definately going by Starbucks for a Venti before going to the school. When I get there the PTA president and I start setting up for the school wide party and our helpers begin trickling in to help also. After all we had about 12 carnival games, 6 inflatables, cotton candy, snow cones and, of course, a dunk tank! The inflatable people were totally late...I wasn't happy because I could have slept for 15 more minutes if I had known they were going to be late. So we get everything set up and the party begins with Kinder, Pre-1st and 1st grade. They have a fantastic time, everything goes well, there were NO injuries! Yeah for us! There were also no shoes or socks left on the field after the young ones...which I'm considering a small miracle since there were 6 inflatables were they couldn't wear their shoes! Then comes 4th and
5th. Again no injuries, everyone had a fantastic time...however...FIVE pairs of shoes and one pair of socks were left in the field! WHAT?!?!? Fourth and fifth graders surely know that they don't have any shoes on when they walk from the party into the cafeteria for LUNCH! What was the first clue? The hot pavement of the sidewalk on the way in or the cold linoleum in the cafeteria! I had to take the bullhorn, go into the cafeteria and get their attention and then I said this, "Attention 4th and 5th graders. Everyone please stop where you are and look at your feet. Are any of you missing your shoes and/or socks?" No kidding, I said that. I had 3 takers...remember...5 pairs were left. One pair belonged to a kid who had a bloody nose and was in the nurse, so I gave him a free pass...but still we had one pair left. Finally I find the owner. One of the children of the ladies running the party!

Now we come to the "best" part...and I use that word loosely! My turn for the dunk tank was sort of a surprise...meaning I didn't know I was getting in until about 30 mins before...I was totally unprepared. No extra clothes. No floaties. Nothing. But alas, there was no one else willing or stupid. So I get in there and the first 4 people to throw are my husband and my 3 children. yep. Paul throws all three balls and misses completely! I was really glad! Then Abby steps up and hits throws the first ball and misses. She throws the second one and it hits the target but not hard enough so I don't fall. On the third one, Mommy is wet! She was so excited. Then comes Caleb. One ball. One throw. One wet Mommy. On Jacob's turn he was a little over anxious so he missed all three and promptly gets back in line. I continue to be dunked for the next 45 minutes including 2 times by Jacob and one more time by Abby...Paul never tried again...I'm sure he would have connected eventually.

All in all we had a great day. And by this time tomorrow I will have a Second Grader (Jacob), a Kindergartner (Caleb) and Abby Sue will be in PreK at our church! My how the precious time does fly!

Something to read....

Hello all seven of my blog readers! I am looking for something AMAZING to read this summer. We are going to be home quite a bit, which is new for us! So I'm calling on you to let me know what to read. I'm looking for something thought provoking, challenging, a learning experience. So let me know what you think! I'm excited to see who's reading what! Let me know!

Abby's 4th Birthday Party

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Field Day 2009

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Superfast Rundown of My Life.....

Last Week...kids get out for Swine Flu...not because they personally have it, but because up to 148 students in our district were SUSPECTED of having it...Whatever. We had a great time on our FLU-cation.

I paid all my Sunday School teachers to clean their toys and rooms and disinfect them. It is a lot of work taking the toys home, getting them in the diswasher and bathtub, washing them AND drying them...ugh...I hope I don't have to do that again in the near future.

We stayed around the house for the first couple of days and then we got tired of that so we went to Fiesta Texas and a birthday party at Incredible Pizza.

We had church...not too many people came. God did though...just so you know. He's not fearful of contracting the swine flu.

Had to go to a funeral for a charter member of our church.

After hearing for a solid week that we would not return to school early...we returned to school early...today (thursday) in fact. Paul drove by the school running various errands today and every time he went by there were 3-5 classes on the playground. Really. Did I have to get up at 7:00am for the kids to go play on the playground?

AND

Tomorrow is Field Day. So tomorrow I will get up at 7:00am to go run games for 3 hours at Field Day. Why? Because i love my son.

My parents are coming tomorrow too...so I'll pull Jacob out of school early tomorrow and we are going back to Fiesta Texas with my parents.

The boys do get to play their ball games on Friday...so that's good. That was one of the reasons my parents were coming anyway. Also to celebrate Abby's birthday. She thinks she rules the world right now because she is about to be four.and then five.and then 20.

Then on Saturday mom and I are getting a massage for Mother's Day! Yahoo!

On Sunday mom and dad are going home, we are going to church and then we are going home to have a sandwich. All the other people in the entire western hemisphere will be at the restaurants so we will go home for lunch and we are going out to eat with our great friends for mother's day around 4:00...maybe we'll only have to wait an hour at that point.

Ok. So that's it for a while...hope to blog more often soon! Don't leave me! Hang in there. Keep caring about what kind of junk my family is doing!

"I am not peace."...UPDATE

*****UPDATE*****

Well, we have moved on from peace to self-control. Abby even told me very empatically this morning, "Mommy! I am being peace today!" We made a very big deal about this! The self-control post-it has a few marks of disobedience...even from mommy and daddy. Mommy ate 2...count them...2 cinnamon rolls the other day. While I was cutting the second one to eat I literally said to myself, "Self. You should have self-control and NOT eat the second cinnamon roll." About the time I got to the end of that sentence...I put the first bite into my mouth... no self-control. So I got a mark and Daddy got a mark for losing his temper while the kids were supposed to be cleaning the playroom...That in and of itself should not be reason for a mark. I'm pretty sure God himself would lose self-control while trying to get my children to clean the playroom. Seriously.



***ORIGINAL POST FOLLOWS***
So last sunday night I was teaching my preschool AWANA group. We only had 2 weeks left so I decided to teach 2 weeks on the Fruits of the Spirit. We had a coloring page and some fun activities that were brilliant, I might add. So we started going through the Fruits of the Spirit. I started with Love, then joy, then peace....and I get all the way to self-control.

This is when the story gets...well...interesting.

I am teaching on self-control and all of the kids (except mine) are "practicing" self-control. We were wiggling our feet and then we would stop and "get control" of our feet. Then we would wiggle our hands and "get control" of our hands...and on and on. It was just a good physical excersize to try and teach self-control. Well while all of the other children were practicing self-control my children were...

doing hand stands.

yes. people. hand. stands.

Not exactly self-control.

So while this is going on, I look at my other teacher and say quietly through super-clenched teeth..."If someone doesn't remove my children from this room right now..."

I didn't even have to finish my sentence before the other teacher had scooped my two kids out of the room on the way to daddy...for, you know, encouragement.

Paul and I were so defeated that night after I had told him the story about self-control. So we came up with a plan. We would write on sticky notes each persons name and a couple of the Fruits of the Spirit. We stuck them to the oven (don't ask why...) as a reminder of the Fruits of the Spirit that we are supposed to be practicing.

For some reason...

I got patience. and Abby got peace.

Seriously, God and my husband have an amazing sense of humor.

So all day on Monday Abby and I are practicing patience and peace. We both did pretty good for the morning except one little time.

Abby and Caleb got into a little skirmish and Abby hauled off and hit Caleb. I calmly (really...I promise) walked over to Abby and said, " Ab's you are supposed to be practicing peace today and hitting Caleb is not a good way to practicce peace."

She looked at me with eyes only a mother could love and she started to stomp her way to her room for a good pout session and about half way across the living room she stopped, turned and looked at me and said, in a not so pleasant voice...

"I am not peace!"

And so we begin again, maybe we will have better luck tomorrow.

The "Big Girl Section"

Not to far in the distant past I remember buying Jacob some clothes and when I got them home they fit and then two seconds later I found myself crossing the isle in Target from the "Toddler" clothes to the "Big Kid" clothes.

Several things struck me when I crossed over.
1. The clothes are at least $4-$6 more expensive over there.
2. This means my little boy is growing up...(insert all appropriate emotions here.)
3. Now he is officially a Big Boy.

After that incident I gradually became accustomed to purchasing clothes from all different departments at each store that I went to. Caleb's transfer to the Big Boy section went without real incident because, well he is the second boy. I love him no less and I did have a twinge of sadness when I realized he, too, had crossed over. The sadness did not linger as long as it did with Jacob.

And then...

The other day I was shopping for Easter clothes. I, of course, picked out matching shirts and shorts for the boys from the big boy section at a considerable price increase and as I was looking for something for Abby, I remembered. The clothes I had bought a few weeks ago were a tiny bit snug on Abby. Her midsection is...thicker...now than it was not so long ago. Her legs are longer and her torso is growing longer too.

It took me a minute to come to the realization that all of you probably already have.
I should cross over to the Big Girl Section. After all...the smallest size in the "Big" section is not all that different from the biggest size in the "Toddler" section. The clothes, however, are cut differently and therefore fit the "big girls" better.

So I reluctantly walked over to the Big Girl Section. I was walking really slowly, not really wanting to find anything so I could go back over to where "I should be." After all I don't have a big girl...do I? Again I began to realize that in fact, I do, have a big girl. She has stopped wearing pull-ups at night, she talks like she's 25 and she has the attitude of a 15 year old.

The Big Girl Section was a different animal than the Big Boy Section. So many choices, so many options, SO MANY accessories! I slowly and somberly warmed to the idea of shopping in the Big Girl Section and found a cute dress that has the same colors as the boys shirts AND THEN...I went to the Big Big Girl Section and bought me a dress to match! I guess that is one perk.

Here's to me having three "Big" kids.