Cheerleaders

Me:  E, who is your favorite football team?

E:  LSU and the cheerleaders.  The cheerleaders are not a team, but I still like them.  Cheerleaders are my favorite. 

God blessed me with a daughter who loves cheerleaders.  He has a sense of humor alright.

Star of the Week

On account of Valentine's Day, Show & Tell, and the "Star of the Week" activities, I think at least half of the contents of J's room were in his kindergarten classroom at some time the week of February 13-17th.  By some act of God, everything made it home too.  Indeed, that's a minor miracle.
The Star of the Week has the opportunity to share more about himself by bringing pictures and other objects to talk about.  Items J chose...LSU pillow pet, Rex Burkhead jersey, Kobe Bryant jersey, a Ninjago sticker book, and Uno cards because he enjoys family game nights. 

These objects are transported back and forth in a cloth bag provided by the school.  As you can probably imagine, this colorful bag has been crumpled, dragged, swung, stretched, and tattered by lots of rough kindergarten students, so it was no surprise to find many small tears and about five inches of ripped out seam. 

I was certain that the Uno cards would find their way through that hole, so I dug around a little for some supplies and quickly, with incredibly poor technique, stitched up the seam.  About three or four stitches in, I thought to myself, "Holy crap!  I'm sewing a seam on a school pillow case bag without being asked.  That's something that my mom would do.  Does this mean I'm a for real mom now?"
That crazy thought was dismissed after seeing my only sewing supplies contained in  a 2"x 3" emergency kit and remembering that I actually considered just stapling the ripped out area instead of sewing it.

I've got a ways to go.

Hobby Lobby

Me:  Come on.  Put your shoes on.  We're going to Hobby Lobby.

E:  Mom!  Hobby Lobby is a naughty word!

Me:  Who said that?

E:  Daddy.

Birthday Boy

There is a very handsome, kind-hearted, bright, and intense SIX-year-old in our home!

The celebrating started last night with a birthday present (Ninjago toys, of course), a family movie night (Facing the Giants, J's new favorite movie), and a "sleepover" in the living room.  We all found ourselves at home today due to the holiday and a daddy who took vacation.  Our little homebody didn't want to do anything but go out to eat at his favorite restaurant, Red Robin, and stay home and play football and Legos.  The birthday boy asked to watch his new favorite movie twice again today, and since it's his special day, that's exactly what he did.  E mentioned more than once that she has a "birthday brother."  Tonight I held him in my arms with his head resting on my chest until he fell asleep...just like I did six years ago.  Some things never get old.

Such a perfect birthday!

J, I am so proud of you, my sweet boy.  I can't even explain how thankful I am to have you, and I know God made you perfectly for our family.  We love, LOVE, L.O.V.E. you!  Thanks for filling our home with joy.  Every moment with you is a blessing.

Happy birthday, J!

A Lot of Laughing

I told a bedtime story.
J laughed and laughed and laughed.
His laughter was contagious,
so I laughed and laughed and laughed right along with him. 
After many minutes of laughing and laughing and laughing (and some good tears shed and maybe a little pee dribbled), we both sighed in unison. 
A brief moment of silence was had, and J asked, "What we're we even laughing about?"

Laughing so uncontrollably that you forget what you were even laughing about...now that's a good laugh.

(And for all of the former HCCS students out there, a story about the green polyester potty pants was responsible for lighting this laughter fire.  If you know what I'm talking about, you're laughing a little right now too.)

Random Thoughts of a Three-Year-Old Girl

Three things E said completely out of the blue during our eight minute drive to the Y tonight:
1)  Mom, are we going to live in the Death Star someday?  (She obviously has an older brother who is interested in Star Wars.)
2)  Mick Jagger sure got crazy with the Rolling Stones.
3)  I want to go to Australia.  We should do that and fly in an airplane over the ocean.

Short & Sweet

On this Valentine's Day, I should write about the lovely date night I had over the weekend or the cuter than cute thing that E said this morning or my attempts at organizing a classroom party or having fun with dinner or drinking wine out of a regular cup because I was too lazy to get an actual wine glass or having the Star of the Week at our house.

Instead I'm opting for the short and sweet and very true...I am feeling very loved, very blessed, and very grateful. 

The Bodyguard

There are a lot of reasons why I love my husband, but his sense of humor is near the top of the list. 

Me:  Awww, Whitney Houston died today.

Steve:  I'm sure everyone's all sad about her, but what's Kevin Costner going to do now?  He'll have to find a new job.

Un-freakin'-believable

I was cleaning up my e-mail account today when I ran across a message that my husband sent me nearly two years ago.  The subject was "Possible back up babysitter?"  At the time he sent it, we were in search of short-term, part-time (a.k.a. really difficult to find) childcare while our lovely daycare provider was going to be on maternity leave.  Steve's search included a look through Craig's List just to see what was out there.  And he definitely found a possibility that was out there.  Here's the ad...the actual, for real, copy 'n pasted self-advertisement (minus the name and picture to protect the downright scary innocent) for a babysitter looking for a job...

need a baby sitter?

---

Date: 2010-04-11, 12:39PM CDT

---

hi my name is xxxxxxxxx and Im 23 and i have babysat my cousins when they where little just a newborn and 1 1/2. I all so took over my moms babysitting job when she was just to busy on her first day of watching 3 kids all with ADD and the oldest one had ADHD their ages where 7 to 13 and i took care of them for 6 months tell their mom had to move them to get better drs for them that would not just try to get them on just pills and nothing elce.I miss them so much but i know that they are getting the much needed help that they have been in need of for the longest time. im up for anything and any age you can pick the price i just want to help any way that i can. so if you are in need of a babysitter then give send me a e-mail to have us work something out. heres my picture so you will know what i look like when we meet. I don't believe in spanking kids i use the time out system. our normal day involves going on walks, and park, watching movies playing outside sometimes going to zoo etc. im all so fine with working whenever if you need someone to watch your child/childern im ok if you tell me the time you drop them off that you would be picking them up at whatever time then if you where to call later on that same day and ask if it would it be ok to have them sleep over i would say sure why not and i WON'T CHARGE you anymore then what you are all ready paying me to take care of your child/children.for overnight stays all i ask is that it not be no more then 3 days straight with one day without them here so i can clean the house better with out them smelling the cleaning stuff that i need to use for my home so if you would like to work with me let me know you can send me a email. do let me know how i can help you and your child/children.

Nervous

I almost broke out into a sweat when I first saw this photo of my sweet baby E. 

Why?

Because there's something about it that makes me very nervous about parenting her as a teenager.

Please start praying for us now.

Oops!

My running schedule indicates that I should put in three miles today.

 I ate three chocolate chip cookies (and some cake batter) instead. 

The good news:  tomorrow's a new day.

Does That Job Offer Benefits?

Me:  What did you do at the Y with Daddy?

E:  Played basketball.

Me:  That sounds fun.  Are you going to be a basketball player when you get older?

E:  No.  I'm going to be a princess when I get older.

Magic

J:  What's for dinner?
Me:  Fish.
J:  Flounder?  The kind I like?
Me:  Yep.
J:  Mom, are you going to put that seasoning on it?  That's what makes it taste like magic.

Now, if I could learn how to properly season cooked vegetables...