First Day of Summer Vacation

While I understand that the exciting new-ness of summer vacation will quickly fade, we thoroughly embraced our first unscheduled day.

This morning, as I heard the first rumblings of waking children, I groggily opened my eyes and peered at my alarm clock. As my blurred vision deciphered the time of 8:57am, I inwardly gave myself a high-five. I do love sleeping in. I mean...I really love sleeping in. (Once again, I recognized the tender mercies of a loving Father in Heaven. I could never have handled early-risers.)

I took my time getting out of bed, savoring the laziness of it all. I eventually emerged from my room curious about the noise from the kitchen. I walked down the stairs and found that Lindy and Ellie had "made breakfast" for us.

The girls enjoyed hours upon hours of mind-numbing television and blanket forts.

That afternoon, my sister surprised us and came over to hang out. We ended up playing a long game of Scrabble (my favorite) and, for the first time, I walloped her (also, my favorite)!

What a great day!

Last Day(s) of School

Recently our two girls each celebrated their last day of school. It's been a wonderful year for both of them.

Ellie, our easy-going four year old, handled the event with typical nonchalance. On her last day, she had a little party, bid farewell to all her little friends, and took a goodbye picture with her teacher. Fortunately for me, I quickly discovered that my middle child seems to be just as content at home with her family as she was attending preschool. (Phew!)

My first-born has been another story. Lindy's last day of school was preceded by countless (oh-so-many) tears. Her final days of celebration were tainted by the fact that she would soon have to say goodbye to her beloved Ms. Alius. Each night she would spend several weeping moments bemoaning her fate. (I might have been less inclined to comfort her if it hadn't been for one simple fact: I was horribly sad to have to say goodbye to her sweet (and amazing) teacher as well. It's been a tough month for both of us.)

But the day eventually arrived. As the state-required hours were being tallied, the kids spent the morning playing various games and writing sweet notes to their teacher on the whiteboard.

And as the final moment arrived, more tears were shed.

Our daughter has been blessed by this wonderful woman. She went above and beyond to do her very best, every single, tiring day. And it showed. Her students LOVED her. And, more importantly, they also LOVED learning. She showed them endless kindness, patience, and love...all while maintaining discipline and order. Amazing!

Ms. Alius, you will be missed.

Now...on to summer vacation.

(Shudder.)

Got Swagger?

Thanks Emily, I needed a laugh!

Body Language

Following a normal dinner diatribe of "I don't like this!", "I'm not hungry!" and other various declarations, Ellie excused herself from the table.

I informed her, in no uncertain terms, that she was "done for the evening" and that if she didn't eat the food I had prepared for her, she'd have to go hungry. She quickly agreed to my terms and made her escape. I then dumped the offensive spaghetti in the garbage and proceeded to finish the dishes.

Approximately 11 minutes later, as I'm loading the very last utensil into my dishwasher, Ellie perches herself at the top of the stairs and loudly declares that she is "confused".

"What?", I inquired.

"I'm super, dooper, ooper, mooper, confused, Mom because my body was telling me that I wasn't hungry, but I was just cuckoo in the head because I really am hungry and I don't know why I was so confused but I don't like it when my body is telling me that I'm not hungry when I really am and I don't like being cuckoo in the head (accompanied by a LOT of self-inflicted smacks to the side of her head) because it's not good to think you're not hungry when you really are..." And so forth.

And I'll admit it: Her performance was delivered with such feeling and innocence that I totally caved.

I fixed her a hot dog.

(Which her body apparently told her she was hungry enough to eat.)

Note To Self

Don't spin yourself around in the office chair. No matter how much your kids beg.

You're not a 5 year old anymore.

You'll get sick.

(On the plus side, however, it will remind you how much you NEVER want to be pregnant again...)

Anxious

I came home from a night out (with my book group gals) to find the following whiteboard message from Lindy:

Welcome Home Mom

P.S. When is our dentist appointment? Put it right here:

Apparently she's so overwhelmingly excited about our upcoming visit (next week) that she just MUST have the 411 PRONTO!

(And check out that creative spelling! We're rebels over here...we don't feel the need to follow anyone else's rules!! She cracks me up.)

Manners

(Please pardon the poor filming job...I was too busy laughing.)