Graduation Day!

Tonight is graduation! If it wasn't for the girls, I wouldn't be walking. But I think it is important for them to see me graduate, so we'll head down to Mizzou and Hearnes Arena tonight. Bobby is excited to see the old Hearnes.

Today was to be Kaylin's field trip to the zoo, but it rained so they have rescheduled. Of course, since I already had a 1/2 day sub arranged and lesson plans ready, I came home to do nothing for a couple hours. It would have been more work for someone to cancel the sub, right? I might as well enjoy it. I think I'll take a nap.

Reflections over tater tots

"My mom is eating lunch with me." She beams as she holds tightly onto my arm.

"Mom, here's where we get our trays." She expertly picks up a green tray bigger than half of her body and hands one to me.

"Mom, you forgot your milk. I'll get you one." She jumps up and runs to get me a carton of white milk. I smile through my tears at her and say thanks.

For five years, I have had a child at Blue Jay Junction, the preschool at my high school. For five years, I have hassled with a kid in the morning, but enjoyed peeking in at them throughout the day. I consider their two teachers great friends, I have gone on field trips with them, and eaten lunch with them in the high school cafeteria.

But that time is coming to an end. I ate lunch with Kaylin today, the last time I will be able to eat lunch with a child of mine at preschool. She grinned at the student helper across from us and said, "I'm going to kindergarten next year so my mom is eating lunch with me for the last time!" My eyes well up with tears again. The student helper smiled sympathetically at me. I know her mom is going through the exact same emotions, as she is graduating and going to Mizzou in the fall.

How can she be old enough to go to kindergarten? What am I going to do when I only have to get myself ready in the morning? My car ride to school will be significantly quieter, that's for sure. But my baby will be in kindergarten.

Thawed hamburgers...

Macy took a nasty spill on her scooter last night, and bruised her knees pretty good. Of course, she wanted an ice pack. Of course, we didn't have any. I did find a frozen hamburger patty in the freezer, wrapped in tin-foil. Worked perfectly!

Until later, when she was asleep and I couldn't find the frozen hamburger. I figured one of the dogs got it, but I couldn't find the tin foil either. They've been known to eat lots of strange things, but tin foil isn't one of them. I looked and looked, but couldn't find it.

This morning in the car, Macy tells me it was under her pillow. But since she was sleeping on Bobby's side of our bed, it was actually under his pillow. A phone call to him was in order to go rescue the hamburger before it completly thawed. Gross....

Not Me Monday!

Wow, two posts from me in one day. I promised I'd be better this week, didn't I?

It's been a while since I did Not Me Monday, so I thought I'd participate today. Nothing better to do for the time being while my kids are working on projects.



Without further ado...

I did not take a shower Saturday night, and realize 15 minutes later that I forgot to wash my hair. I did not then take another shower, just to wash my hair.

It's no secret I'm not the best math student. That said, I did not guess on a few people's totals at the garage sale. "Oh, 4 shirts, 4 pants, that'll be $3.50"

And I did not make a mathematical error at Barnes and Noble Sunday night. I had a purchase order for $200 to buy 10 journals for graduation gifts. 10 journals at $10 each equals $200, right? I was not shocked when, after the institutional discount, my total came to $76.

During an espeically long stretch at my garage sale, I did not play Barbie's in the driveway with Kaylin. She was not impressed with Mom's ability to pretend!

Finally, I did not leave my cell phone on my desk on Tuesday. A student did not borrow a pencil from my desk, then pick up my cell phone and call his own in order to record my number. Then, while I am teaching, he did not call my cell phone three times. I did not kept apologizing to the students for forgetting to put my phone on vibrate, not knowing it was him every time. And three students do not keep texting me random things.

Head over to MckMama's blog for more examples of Not Me Monday!

I'm alive, I promise!

Friday and Saturday we held a garage sale at our house, and it encompassed every thought and piece of energy I had in the last week. I know you like schedules, so here's what my week looked like:

Saturday and Sunday--cleaned out the garage and packed up toys, stuffed animals, etc.
Sunday night--pulled out all the clothes tubs from the secret hiding place in the basement
Monday night--sorted through 6--yes, 6--huge lawn and leaf bags full of girl clothes that never made it into tubs. I put those clothes in the corresponding size group.
Tuesday--secured tables, and folded 0-12 months clothes onto tables
Wednesday--folded 12 months to 4t onto tables
Thursday--folded 5t clothes, got signs ready, organized garage, priced miscellenous items, and finished getting ready at 2 am.
Friday and Saturday--garage sale.

It was insane how much prep work went into getting this ready. The earliest I went to bed last week was midnight. I think Bobby thinks it magically happened, since he was gone all week working. It was well worth it though, as we made quite a bit of money. More importantly, we got rid of some big items that were taking up space in our basement and garage!

I'm glad it is over! I promise I'll be a better blogger this week.

Garage sales and wood chips...

Spent the weekend getting ready for a massive garage sale. I got all the toys, stuffed animals, and baby items organized inside the garage. We have 2 30-gallon Rubbermaid containers with stuffed animals. Seriously? How did we come to have so much? Oh, I know. Everyone buys them stuffed animals, and they love getting them at garage sales. I kept the special ones.

Now I start organizing the clothes. We've never sold any of their clothes, so we have all their clothes from preemie up to size 5. Should make for a ton of stuff!

If you follow me on Twitter, you noticed that Macy spent the afternoon at school with me because she got a wood chip in her eye. The nurse at school got ahold of Bobby first, and he went up there. He took her to the fire station, and it took him plus three paramedics to get it out. He brought her to the high school, and she hung out with me in the afternoon. It's still really bothering her. Bright lights bother her, and so we are sitting in the dark with a wet washcloth on her eye. Ever the self-diagnoser, I looked up her symptoms online and she scratched her cornea. I'm going to keep an eye on it tonight, and we might take her to the eye doctor.

Fool me once...

Fool me once, shame on you.
Fool me twice, shame on me.

Isn't that how the saying goes?

Wednesday night, the girls were in their rooms. I was downstairs on my laptop, doing my usual Facebook, blog, Twitter check. "Wow," I thought to myself. "It is so quiet upstairs. The girls must have really been tired." After a while I went to change the laundry. Both girls were sitting on Macy's bed, hair in elaborate ponytails, bed full of Hannah Montana and High School Musical dolls. I shook my head, sent Kaylin to her room with a little swat, and all was well.

You would think I would learn, wouldn't you?

Last night, the girls were in their rooms. I was downstairs on my laptop, doing my usual Facebook, blog, Twitter check. "Wow," I thought to myself. "It is so quiet upstairs. The girls must have really been tired."

[Picture lightbulb going off in my head]

"Wait a minute..." I head upstairs. You know what I found.