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Teachers Don’t Stink

August 23, 2012

For all my ranting about school suckage earlier in the week, I must now expound on how much I do love teachers. An excellent teacher can change the course of your whole life. Someone who sees your value and finds ways of cultivating your gifts~ that’s priceless. And when it comes to trusting other people to have significant input in my daughter and son’s life, well, it’s a HUGE deal.

I’ve considered the home schooling thing many times, especially when we used to travel more with music stuff…but I always come back around to the fact that I really don’t think I would be a good teacher. My husband, on the other hand, he is a teacher at heart. Everything he says with the kids is a teaching moment. So if we ever get that tour bus I’ve been coveting, maybe he’ll be the one who takes over home schooling responsibilities. You can imagine if I get aggravated shopping for school supplies, how I’d feel trying to teach Math on a daily basis. The thought makes my stomach twist, turn and drop just a wee bit.

So I’m thankful for teachers and their ability to:

*Still have sing-songy voices the whole livelong day…not just with my children, but all the other more rotten munchkins too.

*See through what I think is good or bad and determine what still needs work and what is stellar.

*Cover ALL the subjects thoroughly, not just the one I might be able to cover.

*Remember details about my child after the dozens and dozens that file in and out of their classes all day long. (middle school)

*Make learning fun and exciting~ this is especially fun to see if the teacher starts out the year “scary” and ends up being their favorite teacher because of how they can make the subject come alive.

*Put up with all the smells.

*Tolerate the rotten attitudes and naughtiness…

*Excuse the daydreaming~ this is one I have to be particularly grateful about~ I seem to be raising some heavyduty daydreamers.

*Challenge the shortcomings of kids day after day without bang their head against the wall…at least not in the presence of my kids.

And SO MUCH MORE…

I don’t take the job of a teacher lightly. I recognize it is not my gift and I am so grateful for every teacher (at school or otherwise) who has taken the time to nurture my children. Now, if you could just cut back on homework, I will kiss your feet and write you a song. XO

Posted in August 2012, Grateful Heart, Kids, Mama Musings, School | 5 Comments »

School Sucks and Then You Die…

August 21, 2012

Remember that old saying, “Life is hard and then you die?” Or was it, “Life is short and then you die?” Or was it, well…apparently I sort of adapted it to say whatever I wanted it to, whenever I wanted to. I have been known to do that with sayings and songs…

Well, that’s how I feel about school. Life is so short/hard. Why does school have to go and wreck all our fun?

Each year, I have to endure these feelings while maintaining the School is GOOD! face before my kids.

Sure, I LOVE to get up at 6:30 to get one child on the bus and do everything all over again for the other child to get on at 8:47.

It is my life’s pleasure to get (8) Crayola Markers, washable~ NOT (12), NOT (16)…they dare NOT be generic…no, I will hunt until I find those (8) Crayola Markers, washable, and rip them out of another angry mother’s hands if I have to. Seriously, why is she so angry?

It will be no problem for me to print two dozen forms on my measly printer. I didn’t need that paper…or ink…or time.

Yes, I will be glad to send Ziploc bags, Kleenex, antibacterial wipes, two flair pens, and two highlighters that my child won’t ever use. I’m a giver.

I don’t mind writing down the exact same information for the ninth year in a row! It was time I learned my emergency contact’s number by heart anyway. I want you to remember that my child can still take acetaminophen. And that I’m still okay if you decide to publish some genius work they produce with my child’s name included. I’m glad to give you our cell numbers yet again. This time you’ll call me maybe?

It’s no big DEAL if every sickness gets passed to us because so many parents send their kids to school sick. Who wants to be healthy anyway???

Homework is our friend! We didn’t need those four hours in the evenings after a 7 hour day at school. Pile it on!

*Laughing maniacally*

Mama’s okay. Don’t be frightened, children. We LOVE school. School is…well, it’s just GOOD, that’s what.

Why are you crying, Mama?

I’m just going to miss you…I mean…I’m crying because I’m…so excited about all the FREE TIME I WILL HAVE TO DO WHATEVER I WANT! These are happy tears of joy and freedom!

Maybe School IS Good!

Maybe I DO like green eggs & ham! And even if I don’t, I must make sure THEY do.

Sigh. I obviously still need to work on my game face.

Posted in August 2012, Confession is Good for the Soul, Kids, Mama Musings, School | 12 Comments »

Strange Rules

August 17, 2012

We have strange rules in our house. It’s a common thing for us to be correcting the kids and for them to suddenly bust out laughing~ not something a parent really loves when they’re in deep correction mode. Our children have finally brought it to our attention how weird we are. Fortunately for us, they are content being different. Also, thankfully, they’re good, sweet kids; otherwise, their laughing would NOT be funny.

*A brief detour: For a while there I was afraid my daughter was going to turn out to be preppy. EEK! The very thought curled my toes. If you’re reading this, Greyley, I promise to love you even if you wear argyle cashmere sweater sets and your hair is in a perfectly coiffed ponytail every day of the week. Swallow. Blink, blink. Truly, I will.

I like it that they’re a little bit left of center. AND I feel a little bad for them at the same time. It means heartache. It also means they’re exceptional.

This is a recurring topic throughout our lives~ for both Nate AND me.

Nate looked at me the other day and said, “You know, not everyone is going to GET us.”

Um, yeah. It’s been a long hard lesson, but I think I’m finally getting THAT.

An old boyfriend said it best, “You and Nate are just out there…on a cloud…together…”

I wanted to bop him upside the head when he said that, but he was right.

Anyway…here’s a sampling of some of the rules that have come out of my mouth just recently:

*No rollerblading in the living room!

*No flooding the bathroom with bubbles!

*Stop flinging __________. (My son has a serious flinging condition. Flinging- to twirl any and everything very, very fast)

*No playing bongos on your food!

*My buns are NOT your drumset!

*OKAY, let’s De-Chipmunk right now! (think of Alvin singing and you’ll get it)

*No more skating in the tub!

*A bird is going to pluck your eyes out if you disrespect me. It’s Bible. Proverbs 30:17 (For some reason, this sends them into FITS of laughter.)

And the most frequent one of all, so perhaps not very effective:

*If you want to live a long and happy life, you WILL CLEAN YOUR ROOM.

That last one needs work. They’re too happy and young to imagine being otherwise.

Anyway…so I guess there’s four of us…out there…on a cloud…together…

Posted in August 2012, Kids, Lists of This and That, Mama Musings | 7 Comments »

My Child, the Nerd

August 12, 2012

Another week has come and gone, another chunk of summer GONE…I can’t believe how quickly the time is flying.

Weddings, birthdays, VBS, crazy children and nerds…these are the things we’ve survived this past week.

The kids were in a play at church Sunday morning. Take a look at this pair…

I don’t know if you can tell, but the one on the left played the part of a NERD. And land sakes, he did it well. He had a ton and one lines. Click “Faulty Reasoning” below to see a little video sampling of him saying my favorite line…

Faulty Reasoning

The sweetie on the right also had a fun part and led the songs…we were very proud; very proud, indeed.

And then there’s that little dose of reality that just makes life so…~~real~~…~~embarassing~~…humorous.

The Nerd had serious long lines, but I’m repeating myself. And he did it flawlessly, truly he spoke those lines with nerdlike excellence. It was so cute. HOWEVER…he seemed to have a problem in the lower regions. As in, a bundle, wedgie, whatever you might want to call it. The problem was, it was not only in the back, but also in the front.

And things escalated to an all-time nerve-inducing high when he began moving from one foot to the other, doing a little shuffle.

The I-Have-To-Go-To-The-Bathroom-Shuffle.

At first, I just thought he was nervous and that we needed to get new underwear. And new pants. Or maybe he got a mosquito bite. Or please not a rash or something.

Sigh.

Then when the dance came and the end of the play did not seem to be in sight, I began to beseech the heavens to help him hold it. But please, Lord, not literally. Don’t let him hold it literally ANYMORE.

God heard my cry and just when I thought I couldn’t take anymore, it was time for a song.

Estelle (or as Indigo calls her, Mistelle), who was in charge of VBS, bless her, took my boy by the hand while the song was going and let the poor boy go to the bathroom. He came back a new man by the time the song was over.

Whew.

You just never know what miracles you’re going to see during any given day.

Lessons learned:

Force your child to use the restroom before a performance.

Pray the song comes sooner next time.

Posted in August 2012, Kids, Life, Mama Musings | 13 Comments »

All That is Good

July 31, 2012

Sunshine skies and babies’ eyes, these are the things that sustain me…rain is good, too.

Anne Shirley. She has always spoken to me. I love Anne so much. This quote has been my mantra this summer…

“I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string.” -Anne Shirley, Anne of Avonlea

My simple pleasures grow every day, but here are just a handful or two.

Have I shown you the Thumb Sumo wrestlers?

Entertainment for the whole family!

A fish caught by my boy…the little one on the left, that is.

Good eats.

Minneapolis~ pretty city. Twins’ game…

We lost, but it didn’t matter.

These flowers are still beautiful~ some new ones have even been added since this…

I love them.

Finding a heart-shaped noodle while you’re eating Pho…what could be better?

And the spoons!

These flowers might be my favorite…

My mama gave me this chair and I think of her every time I look at it. I think she’d approve of the flowers, do you, M?

Perry the Platypus Sailor by Greyley Sabin

He’s cute…but look at this one.

Perry the Cowboy is pretty stinkin’ cute too.

You never know where you’ll find Jesus…

He’s waiting with arms open wide. Even when he’s just playing…

Thing 1 and Thing 2. Merciful heavens, I do love these Things.

Go out and be happy. That’s your job for today.

Posted in Family, Grateful Heart, July 2012, Mama Musings, Summer | 6 Comments »

WWWWD?

July 25, 2012

Ever since I got this much-coveted Wonder Woman mug, I’ve been asking myself, “What Would Wonder Woman Do?

I know it’s really supposed to be WWJD? What would Jesus do? And I may blog about that someday…if I can find a Jesus mug.

However, what I’m finding is that it can’t really be WWWWD because Wonder Woman really doesn’t have to deal with every day situations like I do…so it’s more like WWWWND? What would she NOT do? What small tortures does she get out of every day?

I bet she never leaves her wallet in the grocery store.

I bet she never has to vacuum the living room…around a grand piano, 6 guitars, 3 flutes and a set of congas.

I bet she never has to get up in the middle of the night and trips on dog you-know-what while cleaning up a child’s you-know-what.

I bet she never says you-know-what.

I bet she never feels insecure about anything, because, well…she’s Wonder Woman.

I bet she never feels bloated.

I bet she never passes on a piece of chocolate cake. Well…maybe. No…no, I don’t think she does. Of course, she can eat whatever she wants.

I bet she never second guesses herself.

I bet she never has blisters on her feet.

I bet she never gets something stuck in her teeth.

I bet she never goes to the gynecologist.

I bet she never waits for HIM to call. You know, The One.

I bet she never waits, period.

I bet she never says something really dumb and then has it replay over and over and over in her mind.

I bet she never looks silly when she dances.

I bet she never has cobwebs.

I bet she never falls down the stairs, or up, for that matter.

I bet she never has a wedgie.

I bet she never has all the ice fly forward in the glass while she’s drinking, causing the drink to go all over her costume and face.

Speaking of that, I bet she never gets stains. Think of all the money she saves on spot remover. And come to think of it, she doesn’t need an iron either, because her costume doesn’t wrinkle. And since her costume is so perfect, that settles the problem of WHAT AM I GOING TO WEAR? day in and day out. Imagine how orderly her closet is! And there isn’t an abundance of hair accessories either, because that crown is perfection and cancels out any other accessory that might be halfway covet-worthy. Plus, when you have blue-black hair that never gets frizzy or too flat, you’re not really concerned about costumes or crowns or wrinkles or problems, because you have impeccable blue-black hair and that’s just…cool.

Sigh.

I love Wonder Woman.

Posted in Adventure, July 2012, Lists of This and That, Mama Musings | 15 Comments »

Savor the Moment

May 29, 2012

This time of year is always exciting and stressful~ all the school projects to wrap up, concerts and activities to go to, and all the while, the feeling of summer is driving the undercurrent of the day. It is not the time of year that children (and their parents, or this one anyway) feel like putting their thinking caps on and doing studious things. “Summer Vacation” looms in all our minds and concentration is a lost art.

At least that’s what I’m trying to tell myself due to the fact that my brain is on Scatter Mode. There are at least 101 things I should be doing, 115 things I actually am doing and another 2,000 that somehow aren’t even on my radar.

It’s times like these that I like to stop and smell the roses. Or in reality, for me, that means to stop and engage in my life. This morning, it meant to not just absentmindedly shuffle through the huge stack of school papers that I forgot to go through on Friday, but to really SEE the beauty there…

Indigo’s regretting that he didn’t put the pants on the back…but I think these highwaters are brilliant. Lessons learned~ next time, I think he’ll glue the pants on the back.

And I love this, even though Indie doesn’t think it looks like him at ALL~

I love what it says: I like me.

Another sweet moment this morning, getting all sunscreened up for Track & Field Day at school…

Today I’m not going to think of the piles of things I have to get done…I will do one thing at a time and try to enjoy the process versus just crossing it off my list. That’s the goal. I’ll let you know if it works. XO

Posted in Family, Kids, Life, Mama Musings, May 2012 | 5 Comments »

Bedtime

May 16, 2012

This guy right here…

He keeps me in stitches.

This is a sampling of some of our conversations last night in the hour before he conked out. And does he ever conk out. When he goes, he is OUT.

But as long as he’s awake, he is my little bundle of energetic delight.

However, every now and then, he does have some down time and last night, I was the lucky one who was nearby when he did.

“Mama, will you come get in bed and cuddle with me?”

You don’t have to ask me twice! I know this will not last long and I am stretching it out as long as possible. I crawl into bed and snuggle him tight.

Indigo: Mom, can we go get a Transformer tonight?

Me: Well, we don’t have the car tonight, so…no.

Indigo: But if we did, could we?

Me: Um, well…that’s a hard question to answer…I…don’t know?

And then we both start getting tickled at each other, laughing our matching laughs, which only makes us laugh harder…

I lean over and nuzzle his soft neck that makes me swoon. He halfway sticks it out for me to get and halfway dodges me because it tickles. Either way, it makes us both giggle.

Indigo: Why do you like my neck so much?

Me: It’s so soft and it’s attached to you. Why do you like my fat arms so much?

Indie, as he’s squeezing my arm: Because they’re squishy.

We read Junie B and the Stupid, Smelly Bus and I am attempting to sound like Junie B~ sassy…but he’s getting drowsy and into chapter 4, I stop and say, “Let’s get you to bed.”

He struggles to lift his head and says, “It’s hard to stay awake when you read with no expression!”

I am offended. I am a Big Encourager of Reading with Expression.

“I was trying to sound like Junie B!”

“OHHHH!” He laughs and tries to dodge my yanking him out of my bed to take him to his.

He’s managing to walk to the bed, that’s a plus. Usually, one of us has to carry him to bed and tonight I’m the one. It’s getting increasingly harder to manage.

I kiss him and am shutting the door.

“Mama? What are we doin’ in the mornin’?”

Oh man, this takes me back. I answered this question every night for a couple years, but it’s been a while…

“The same thing we always do…sleep IN (please God, let him sleep ’til at least 7!), eat breakfast, get ready for school…”

That does the trick. He’s quiet and out before I can get down the hall…

Oh my heart. I want to remember these moments.

Posted in Kids, Mama Musings, May 2012 | 4 Comments »

Cousins, Sun Grins and Urchins

April 9, 2012

Happy Monday!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. The only sadness in my weekend was the missing camera charger…ugh. Missed a LOT of picture moments over the last few days. I’m thankful for my phone~ it will work in a pinch.

Our family Easter egg hunt was so fun. The older kids were so sweet~ this is the first year they wanted to help hide eggs for the little ones. Alas, they’re growing up.

Cheri took this sweet picture of the cousins…

Axel & Indigo

As always, with our family gatherings, there was a delicious FEAST, lots of laughter and a high hum of VOLUME that lasted throughout the day. I really do love these people. Met some new friends this time too and that was fun. (Yes, I do approve, if it counts at all.)

We had a great church service yesterday morning. We changed the name of our church at the beginning of the year to Grace Place and our website launched yesterday. Pretty excited about that…a lot of good things are happening there.

I was privileged to see this on the way to church~

She makes my heart go all aflutter.

Every single picture of my boy looked like this~

And this~

A serious case of the Suns and Burny Eyes…but he still makes me feel all twitterpated. They have my heart completely wrapped up and tied with a huge PINK bow. Seriously.

One more. Just because. Every day I look at her and think she’s grown a little bit more. My little woman.

Sigh.

The rest of the day we spent at Matt & Tosha’s house. Such fun. We had another feast. I got garlic’d, oh yes I did. If you haven’t had Matt’s garlic sauce, you haven’t lived. But maybe you can live vicariously through me if you happen to catch a whiff of me anytime this week.

It’s a brisk, but sunny day here in the Twin Cities. I’m going to pile on warm fuzzy clothes and go edit videos with my buddy, Steve. Have a great day! XO

Posted in April 2012, Easter, Family, Friends, Fun, Mama Musings | 3 Comments »

Childlike Joy

December 8, 2011

Christmas elves finally made their way to my house last night…they weaved their enchanting touches here and there, making all of us very happy.

My little man, Indigo, informed me first thing this morning:

1) The Christmas tree really does look so nice.

2) We should have gotten Christmas decorations up before now, so Christmas could come sooner!

We enjoyed the lights all morning and then I had to let him know that the decorations wouldn’t make Christmas day come any faster. All the while, I’m thinking, I don’t know how much sooner it could get here! It feels as though we were just taking DOWN all the decorations and here they are, going up again. I remember, as a child, how Christmas seemed as distant as the end of the world. It would NEVER COME IN MY LIFETIME.

In contemplating this, I’ve realized something troubling.

I am letting OLDNESS get on me.

It has nothing to do with age, but rather an old mentality. It’s wrapping its cloak around me, y’all…trying to make me feel at one with it.

I like the wisdom that comes with time, the knowing…in fact, I like so many things about getting older…but there is one aspect I really do not enjoy~ the loss of childlike joy.

Where does that go?

I’m not sure. It’s more than happiness. Childlike joy is an exuberance for everything that life has to offer. It is seeing the fun and the good all the time~ unless you’re too hungry or sleepy. (I’m fully on board with that, by the way.) It’s a setting aside of yourself and seeing only the best. I don’t want to ever get too old for that. I’m ashamed to say that’s been the case for some time. But for now, I am trying to bottle up my children’s joy and relearn how to feel it again on my own.

Christmas helps me remember.

Posted in Christmas, December 2011, Life, Mama Musings | 7 Comments »