Crochet for Dummies

Last night I was looking for some cute hats for the kids on the internet. The more I looked the more I thought to myself....Self, I can do that. How hard can that be? I figured I could buy a hat for $20 on the internet or spend a couple of dollars on yarn and needles and make my very own custom hat. My mom is in town so she could give me a jump start and I could finish off my first hat, scarf, glove set by night fall.

By the time we got done with lunch and walmart we were having our first lesson. I had decided to make the kids hats and scarfs (pictured above). I think it was around 2:30ish when we started, by 4 o'clock I had knitted a green and brown poop size ball of yarn. Mission accomplished. Hopefully, Andrew will grow to appreciate his poop looking key chain that I made him. Maybe I'll have more luck in the morning. I'll keep you posted.

Mema Comes to Town

After much talk and anticipation, Mema has arrived. I took the kids out of school early so they could go with me to run an "errand". It was not until we arrived to terminal 3 that Andrew asked what we were doing at the airport. My kids have a special grasp for the obvious. Nothing gets past them. After lots of squeals and screaming we made our way to security. We went to lunch at the Olive Garden then off to the house. After an hour of swimming and 85 board games they kids were off to bed. Its 9pm and Mema has a headache so we are off to dream land.

Good Times, Good Times Saturday Night

Tonight Andrew had a friend sleep over. I guess if you, as parents, plan on hanging out at the house you might as well let the kids have a little fun. A couple years ago I would have had a hard time imaging why I would want to invite more kids over to the house. Now that the kids are starting to get a little older and more self sufficient, I don't mind the thought of extra kids. Really, it kinda helps me out if I need to get work done . As you can see Andrew and Justen's fun night quickly turned into Ross, Andrew, Justen & Abbey fun night. After Abbey verified, "Justen, are we still friends?", she retired to her separate sleeping corners. All is well.

Don't Bring Your Kids To Work Day

Every once and a while, I'll go on a photo assignment for a friend. Almost always I'll say no. On the rare occasion that I loose my since of reality and say yes, I always have something to show for it. As you can see here, sometimes it works and sometimes it ruins a picture perfect pose. I'll keep this as a little "note to self"for the future.

School Lunch At It's Best

After being scolded by the almighty lunch room monitor for sitting across from Abbey instead of next to Abbey, I took my seat. Abbey was excited to see me, but more interested in the McDonalds. She and the notorious Steven played the whole time with her happy meal toy, a bobble head star wars figure. Steven was known by the lunchroom staff, and explained that he is Abbey's friend because she throws cheetos in his lunchbox. Soon after my chat with Steven, I lost all hearing and ability to think clearly when the PE class entered the cafeteria to play dodge ball. I knew this was a "multipurpose building" but I had no idea that 3rd graders would be playing dodge ball next to my hungry kindergartener? I think the accuracy of a 3rd grader dodge ball is a bit like trying to launch a fork full of spaghetti into the trash can from the dinner table. Possible, but a very messy miss. As I rubbed my head and laughed to myself, I turned and noticed Shane (pictured above). He said something that I could not hear, but I'm pretty sure we we had the same thought.

Having lunch with Andrew was a little different. The PE class had shifted out, but it was still full of 2nd and 3rd graders. Andrew was happy to see me, but you would have never known. He grabbed his Mikey D's and headed to the end of an abandoned table. I guess if your mom comes to lunch, it's best to avoid everyone completely? As soon as we sat down, the table began to populate.....with girls. There was not a boy within a 10 foot radius. As I sat and recalled Abbey's lunch had been a similar experience with the opposite gender. What was happening? Was this normal? I asked Andrew where his buddies where and he could not even point in the general direction. My thoughts jumped ahead about 5 years, and I started to sweat.

Any who, after coming back to reality I started asking the girls in front of us about their lunch. I had sat through 2 lunch breaks and could not figure out what they were serving those kids! One of the more adventurous girls volunteered to taste the concoction. She came to the conclusion that the mystery meat was chicken with a pint of gravy, but she could not be certain. She added that she was going to ask her mom to start making her lunch. Good choice, wise beyond her years.

Homework Assignment: Make a time like of your life complete with dates and pictures.

We received the first project of the year on Friday. I've been asking Andrew for days now to make a list of 15 special events that he might want to put on his timeline. I let him know yesterday I would be able to help him out tonight to pull his ideas into an actual timeline. Being true to form, his page was empty. Frustrated and out of patience I sat him down and asked him what special memories he had so far. Quickly he responded with one word....Papa.

I stopped in my tracks and regained my composure and asked him if he wanted to put all of his memories of him and my dad, papa, into his project. The two of us spent the better part of an hour looking through pictures. There were so many to pick from, we had to narrow them down. Although dad lived a thousand miles away, he was still a central theme in all of our activities. What a great papa he was. Andrew recalled stories and laughed at pictures. We had a great time. As we reached the end on the timeline we were unsure how to end it. He really struggled with putting something for the last picture. We decided to put a copy of his obituary. He drew a cross after that and simply wrote, Papa. He sat and gazed at his timeline and started to tear up. We both agreed the timeline seemed so short, and how we wish it would have gone on forever. We both hugged and had a good cry. I can't help but grieve for the future. I miss my dad so much and I would do anything to have him back. As I sit here in one of his t-shirts, I cant wait to see him again and to hear his voice. I know he's in a better place and his forever has begun.

Some of my best childhood memories are those sitting on the front porch. I remember finishing up a nice big plate of hamburger helper and heading out to play. Mom and Dad would pull out a couple of lawn chairs and chat it up with the neighbors. We lived on a street were everyone knew everyone, and no one really knew where all the kids were.

As a child, it was so much fun running in one house and out another, as long as I was home before the street light came on. My next door neighbor, Lareasa, was my best friend and worst enemy. We would start everyday as best friends and top off a long day of playing with a quick shout...."I'm never playing with you again". She is still my friend today after all this time.

I wonder why we don't have that anymore? Are we too busy as a family to enjoy a nice night out on the front porch? Can we not enjoy a quiet evening talking to our kids and waving to the crazy souls out for exercise? Every time I buy grapes at the store, Abbey wants to sit out on the porch and talk over a bowl of grapes (ice cream was the case on Saturday.) Needless to say I try to always have grapes on hand because I know one day, my kids will retreat to the phone behind bedroom doors.

This morning started out like any other. Running late, still in pj's when I load up the kiddos for school and an unplugged automatic coffee maker. As luck would have it my neighbor drove by and offered to take my kids. I think she was more worried that I might need to get out of my car in public with the clothes that I was wearing. Without much fight, I let her take my kids to school. Sweet!

After convincing Ross that I did not pawn them off at the corner to a nice man with puppies in the trunk, he really surprised me. He split half of this prized $200 rebate with me and said I deserved a little something for myself. He also had the wisdom to tell me to buy me a nice pair of jeans. Some men buy chocolates, some send flowers, but it was the nice confrontation on the stairs that really made my day. No holiday or fight just plain sweet. How nice.

Wow, this whole work out thing is really working for me. I woke up this morning a little sore from my vigorous workout regiment the day before, but I motivated myself to get to the gym. When I arrived I noticed two firetrucks and an ambulance, so naturally I worried about my senior friends up on the track. Much to my viewing pleasure, there was a basketball scrimmage going on. Firefighters vs. Paramedics. I immediately found motivation to stay on track with my workout.

I did notice that old man jogger was obviously intimidated by my speed and did not show today. I did have a hard time keeping up with "fish or die" dude, but easily passed Hawaii 5-O man. I think he had a wooden leg, but I can't confirm that. After a mile and some change (immediately following the big bb game) I went into the cardio room. Old man winter was finishing up on the bike, so I sat next to him. He must have been intimidated by my blazing speed because he left shortly afterward, and I had the place to myself. I put in 1 1/2 miles on the bike and almost stroked out. I sat on the bike stationary for the next 10 minutes starting at my calories burt. Depressing.

Any who, nothing completes a great workout like two scoops of cappuccino chunk! Yum.

Well, it seems arriving to school by 8:15am is humanly possible, despite previous claims to the contrary. Today was Abbey's first day to be dropped off before the bell, so running to class in a full sprint was not necessary. This proved a little confusing for my baby.

Normally, the school has a militant rule on the kids allowed in the first gate, pictured just behind the kids here. The only kids allowed through this gate are Kindergartener's, no exceptions. This gate is also closed and locked at random times, often before the 8:15 bell even rings. It's a very confusing system and the only people allowed to know the rules are the people with the keys. I could go on regarding the gate nonsense. I digress. Abbey did not see her teacher so Andrew got as close to the Kindergarten gate as he could and gave Abbey a small shove and pointed her in the right direction. She continued for a bit than turned around in a panic to her brother and said "I don't know my class!". The very brave brother approached the all powerful gate keeper and asked to walk his sister to her class. He then proceeded to walk her past the gate close to the doors and I saw him point to her door. He turned to walk to his appropriate spot in the playground for the non-Kindergarten students. Abbey turned to me in the car, eyes full of tears, and threw her arms down by her side. She was preparing for a full on panic. Just as I put the car in park, I noticed a my Andrew running from across the lot to his sisters side. Just when I thought he was off to third grade land for social hour, he still had his eye on his sister. He ran up to Abbey and bent down for a hug. He spoke to her, stood up, threw his arm around her shoulder and escorted Abbey to her classroom door and waited with her until she found a familiar face.

After a summer full of screaming, scratching and the occasional eye gouge I thought the days of best friends were becoming a distant memory. I was so proud of Andrew today taking care of his baby sister. I also knew he took great pride in coming to her rescue. With my hand on my heart and my eyes full of tears, I noticed Abbey shoving Andrew away and with hands on her hips, I'm sure she let him know that he was too old to be on that side of the campus or maybe how much he was embarrassing her. I had to laugh. I'll take my moments as I get them, someday we'll all sit back and laugh.

Day 2, still no kids.

OK, so I joined the Beuf Community Center so I could have a nice place to workout, cheap. My commitment was $50 a year - what a bargain. Today was my first official workout. I really looked official: shorts with strips down the side, tank top, jogging shoes, water bottle, ipod and community center card around my neck. My plan is to get familiar with the layout of the facility by just making some general observations from the walking deck. To be very honest, I was not sure how long I would last after climbing the 30 steps to the upper deck. That was a challenge, but I took them running (I wanted to show everyone how eager I was to work-out). When I reached the top, I was excited to see so may of my senior citizen friends. At my pace I passed old lady with the pink shirt 4 times and "woman at work" lady 5, I was really cruising. I managed to clear 2 miles with a couple of cool down laps. I had fun entertaining myself with thoughts of the ipod playlist of my fellow seniors. I laughed to myself thinking how funny it would be if they had some Snoop or Little bow wow playing in their ears. Overall, my workout was a success and a do again for sure. It was great to have some time to myself and my thoughts, as random as they are. I could have never done it with out my friends support: Steven Tyler and his little band, Blink 182, Bowling for Soup, Justin Timberlake, Ciara, and yes a little from Ms. Brit Brit. Tomorrow my goal is to pass old man jogger in orange shirt, I'll keep you posted.

Well, there they are. My two precious little devils. I remember the day my son was born I thought that it would take forever for him to grow into those cute little overalls, size 2T, hanging in his closet.

My precious little Abigail, always my little partner. She has come with me to take Andrew to his first day of school for the past 2 years. We would always have a fun day, just the two of us. We would always work in a trip to Pei Wei for some honey seared chicken.

Now, I'm childless between the hours of 8:15 and 2:45. When did these kids grow up? What am I going to do all day? I find myself getting my work done during daylight hours and listen to the radio instead of silly slapstick tv shows.

Anyway, the first day of Kindergarten must have been somewhat confusing for Abs. When she came home I noticed we were already short one lunchbox, the cute little water bottle (pictured) and her homemade hairbow (pictured). She did, however, manage to bring home all of her school supplies, complete with 2 big boxes of zip lock baggies. I'm sure she had fun meeting new friends, but a shock none the less.

Before too much time passes, I want to blog about my very special father. I took this picture of the sunset at my parents house the night my dad passed away. As the sun set that night, I wondered if would ever shine again. My dad was such a light and inspiration in my life. I will always wonder if he knew just how much I loved him or just how much he would be missed. He was such an unassuming man. He held no public office, he never preached a sermon, he never rescued anyone from a burning building but he was one of the greatest men who ever lived. He did so many special things for others and told no one. He never bragged about who he helped out or the great ways that he showed love to others, but I know now that he did.

As I sat with him the last couple of weeks of his life, I saw so many people come and go from the house. Each person brought stories of how dad impacted their life. I am motivated to be a better person, and I strive to make my kids proud to call me mom. I want to do good things for others and never tell a sole. I want to look for ways to help others without recognition. I want to be more servant minded.

I know my dad is in a better place, and I can't wait to hear his voice call my name again. I can't wait to get one of his big strong hugs. Abbey asked the other day if we get sparkley legs in heaven. I told her that I was not sure but I know Papa has a new body that is cancer free now. He's free to eat as much chocolate ice cream and dr. pepper he can stomach.