More than you wanted to know

Nice try bucko

Tonight at dinner, I cleared one of Lincoln's bowls and walked back to the sink.  He wanted me to refill his milk and said "Waiter, waiter.  Hey mom, is it ok if I call you waiter?"

Ummm, no.

I be tired

Here's a not so brief summary of the past three days:
Friday, drop kids at school then hurry to drop off my stuff to be sold at the children's sale. It took me over 45 minutes to unload my 10 buckets plus 6 large items that had completely stuffed the Navigator.  Then I had to rush home to put the finishing touches on the agenda for the night's Cub Scout meeting. After calling Best Buy at opening and learning that they did in fact have Wii's in stock, had to rush out to get one of those before they were all taken.  Then there was a quick trip to the library to pick up a book that I'm dying for my friend to read (it's this one which I read months ago and have been wanting to talk about it, but Amy hasn't read it yet and her library is taking forever to get it to her, so on a whim I put it on hold at my library and it came in the very next day).  By the time I finished that, it was time to get Lincoln and work in the lunchroom at school.  So we did that, then picked up some preschool friends for a play date at the park.

After the park, we headed home to collect Malcolm (who had gone to a friend's house after getting off the bus) and do homework. Then it was time to go out again for the Cub Scout Pack meeting, my first since taking over as Committee Chair of our Pack.  Being the chairperson means I'm in charge of the pack meetings and parent/leader meetings which take place each month.  Fortunately, there's plenty of transition time as the outgoing chairperson won't leave till March.  She must have told me at least 4 times Friday night "The first pack meeting is always the craziest!"  I don't necessarily believe her, I'm sure she just doesn't want me to quit till after she's gone. =)

Saturday morning dawned nice and early since we had to get downtown for the Food Allergy & Anaphylaxis Network Moving Toward a Cure walk.  Boy that's a mouthful.  The boys and I were walking with a friend of Malcolm's who has severe allergies to peanuts, eggs and milk proteins.  Just the three of us raised over $100 which is impressive considering that not a single family member contributed (slackers) despite my email plea. Lucky we have good friends. (But family, consider yourselves on notice, it's popcorn time and you'll be getting a phone call or email soon.)

Anyway, the walk was a lot of fun. The sun made it sort of warm, but the 2nd part was pretty well shaded so we survived.  It was 3 miles in all and despite a little whining in the beginning, the boys did superbly.  We had 5 kids and 4 adults and it was definitely more fun with friends.  We also got to sample some allergen free foods like peanut butter made from soy (surprisingly tasty).  When we got back home, Malcolm went to play at a friend's house.  Lincoln and I headed out to pick up our clothing sale stuff that didn't sell.  I was a little disappointed at what came home, but after I sorted it all out, I ended up with 5 bins and one big thing, so not as disappointing as I previously thought.

By the time we got back from that I decided that I wanted to go to church Saturday evening. We hadn't been in a while and I want to get back into the habit.  I love love love the music at this new church we've been going to and I borrowed a CD that they made from Amy and have been listening to it non stop, so I was eager to hear the good stuff live.  Of course, I forgot to bring the book to give to Amy that I made a special effort to pick up at the library yesterday? By the time the kids played after the service and we got home, it was bedtime already.

Sunday dawned a little later than Saturday thankfully. But as soon as we were up and about, we were out and about and didn't stop till bedtime. Malcolm had a birthday party right at noon that we had to buy a present for before hand (just couldn't work that in to my schedule this week!). So we dropped him off, came home and had lunch, then Lincoln went out to play.  Malcolm was dropped off after the party and immediately went out to play for an hour. Then it was time for both boys to head over to a friend's house so I could go to a PTO board meeting that I had tonight.  Sunday night was the only time the whole board could get together, but it worked out nicely as we got to have a leisurely meeting since no one had baseball, soccer or whatever to get to.  After the meeting, I had to swing by the grocery store and get some staples as we are out of everything except milk. After I got the kids, it was time for bed once again, much to their dismay.

And now here I sit exhausted.  I started thinking of going to bed 45 minutes ago, but am trading emails with someone and I'm waiting for the last reply. Then I call it quits. 

A brilliant idea

I've figured out a way to move up the Wii gratification to a more acceptable time frame.  You see, once again, my younger child got screwed this year.  We never got around to having a friend's birthday party for him.  In fact, not a week goes by that the boys aren't planning where the party will be.  I really did have every intention of doing it, but the further away we get, the more I am stymied....do we invite the original guest list which included several preschool friends that we haven't seen since June? Do we invite some of the new kindergarten friends who will probably be invited to his 6th bday next June? Do we do a half birthday (too bad that's the day after Christmas). Or do we do nothing, after all, they don't get a party every single year.  But I feel like the expectation was set, I need to do something for the kid.....it ain't easy being the youngest.  I was flummoxed.

But then, I came up with the perfect solution.  It's brilliant, really.  What if we make a deal whereby we agree to forgo the friend birthday party this year, and instead purchase the Wii that they've been dying for.  The boys don't need to know that the Wii has already been procured. Neither do they need to know that mommy is really impatient and doesn't want to wait till Christmas. This could totally be a win win scenario. And I don't have the hassle of a birthday party with 10 5 year olds!

It's astounding how good I am sometimes!

Don't tell the kids

I bought a Wii today.  I really thought we might be the last people on earth to buy one, except I was warned earlier in the week that they are still flying off the shelves, so I should grab one if I saw it. So grab I did.

I was figuring to give it to the boys for Christmas, but now I don't want to wait that long.  Delayed gratification sucks!  But I'll try. I can't wait to see their faces.

I could just eat this kid up

As I was helping Malcolm with homework today, Lincoln came to the table with paper and pencil and asked how to spell Dear.  Apparently he was ready to write his letter to his teacher.  So I helped him decide what to write (keeping in mind his writing level, I didn't want him to get too overwhelmed).

So here's his first love letter:

 

He wouldn't let go of the "I love snack" sentiment, so I wrote that at the bottom to speed things along.  He will deliver it tomorrow. 

Blooming

The other day I was making dinner and Lincoln asked me if I was blooming with cooking.  I was a little confused, it seemed like he meant was I learning about cooking.

Last night I went to curriculum night for his class and learned that they recently read a book called "Leo the Late Bloomer."  Apparently, Leo is a bit of a late bloomer and isn't good at anything.  He can't read, he can't write, he's even a sloppy eater.  But eventually, at his own pace, he blooms and learns to do all sorts of things.  It's a neat story from the bits that I know, and important for kids to understand that not everyone does things at the same pace.  Another thing they are learning isto not be bloom squishers.  A bloom squisher is someone who might say "I can't believe you don't know how to tie your shoes."

So yea, Lincoln, I guess you could say I'm blooming in my cooking.

Have I mentioned that I love this teacher?

Peace

I just came across this definition of peace and it made me laugh out loud.  It's worth remembering.

"Peace is that brief glorious moment in history when everybody stands around reloading."

Babies and Santa

Lincoln and I were playing a game today and we had this conversation (forgive me, I don't feel like typing quotes):

L: Mom, I want a baby.
M: Do you mean you want a baby doll?
L: No, I want a real baby.
M: OK, how do you get a new, real baby?
L: You wish for them.
M: You wish for them?
L: Yea, you wish for them, then Santa brings it.
M: Oh, Santa brings it?
L: Yea. Mom, can you take me to the North Pole so I can ask Santa for a baby?
(hmm, let me check the schedule...let's see, ccd tomorrow, meeting on thursday, cub scouts friday. can't squeeze in a trip north right now)
M: Well, remember honey, only Santa and his elves are allowed to go to the North Pole (as you may recall from the other eleven hundred eighty seven times you asked me if we could go there).
L: Well then how do we ask Santa?
M: What if we ask him when we go visit him at his house in the park?
L: Oh! Ok. But I bet he'll say "Sorry, we don't have any real babies right now."
L: Mom, do babies cry a lot?
M: Yea, they do, especially at night.  Having a baby would make mommy tired. And mommy gets cranky when I'm tired, don't I?
L: Yea, but the baby could sleep in my room!
M: What do you want a baby for anyway? They're kind of boring, all they do is lay there.
L: But mom, I can tickle it!

Poor child. He never gets anything he wants.

I'm in love

I don't know if I've spent any time singing the praises of Lincoln's Kindergarten teacher.  There are four K sections, 2 am and 2 pm.  The am teachers consist of the teacher that M had that I was less than thrilled with.  And then there's the other one, Mrs. T.  Now, I don't know Mrs. T all that well, I've seen her around school and at different functions, but I had never spoken to her personally.  But I've heard such great things about her that I've spent all of spring and summer hoping and wishing that L would get put in her class.  So I was thrilled when I saw that he was, indeed, in her class.  All of this to say that I've been firmly in like with this woman, she's just fantastic.

But today, like turned to love when I checked messages upon returning home after lunch.  We had a voicemail from Mrs. T saying that Lincoln got his name put up on the board last week which is a big deal.  As far as I can tell, a child gets their name on the board when they do something above and beyond expectations.  So Mrs. T tells us that last week, she and Lincoln were guest readers to the class. They read "Mrs. Bindergarten gets ready for Kindergarten" together with Mrs. T reading one page and Lincoln reading one page (evidently, every other page says "and Mrs. Bindergarten gets ready for Kindergarten." and those were L's pages).  And apparently Lincoln did a great job of "diving and gliding" while he was reading. That's what she calls reading with expression so the kids understand that their voice should go up and down as the story moves along.  As a result of his excellent diving and gliding, Lincoln got his name on the board, a phone call home and extra hugs at school and kisses at home. 

I called him into my den so he could hear the message and it just made his day, his smile could not have been any wider.  I think he's in love too.  He told me last week that he missed Mrs. T so much he wanted to write her a letter.  Unfortunately, we were in the car at the time and I forgot till the next day, so when I said, "Hey, do you still want to write a letter to Mrs. T?" he said no thanks, he didn't miss her anymore.

**edited to add, I just got back from a meeting at school that Mrs. T was at and I told her how great the phone message was.  She said that Lincoln has been so quiet and reserved at school that when he read with her with such emotion it almost brought tears to her eyes she was so proud of him.  Now that's the kind of kindergarten teacher I want.

No wonder I'm tired

According to Reader's Digest, having a husband creates an additional 7 hours of housework per week for a woman.

Even if he's in Brazil.