Wonderfully Weary Wordless Wednesday

I think whoever invented Wordless Wednesday must have had Wednesday church!  Finally home after a long, but great day, the highlight being Hannah's preschool Easter program/egg hunt/picnic. (and I think I just broke the rules of Wordless Wednesday!)

Top Ten Tuesday

My daughter has the role of Frau Schmidt in our school's production of "The Sound of Music."  The performance is in a week, so they have been busy practicing late after school.  We've not been getting home til super late and I'm worn out.  So when I sat down to write tonight, I drew a blank.  Really, I got nothing.

So in honor of the hardworking ELCA drama department and the classic musical, I decided that this Top Ten Tuesday would be all about "a few of my favorite things..."  (but never fear, no whiskers, raindrops, or brown paper packages tied up with string).  Without further ado, a few (like ten, really) of the things that have made me smile this week.

10.  Charlotte's newfound love of books.  She even cries for me to read them.  She loves them...and I LOVE that!

9.  Four whole days of being on plan and exercising.  OK, so during those four days, I wasn't smiling.  especially when my daughters oohed and ahhed over the goodness that is Chick Fil A, but I'm proud of myself now.  It may not be a big thing for anyone else, but for me, it's all about getting in the diet mode.  Once I'm there, I'm good.

8.  Boo Boo Bunny. 

 My sweet room mother made one to see if we wanted to make them Thursday at our Easter party.  I commented about how Hannah is always so sad to leave Boo Boo Bunny at Grandma's, and she gave it to me to give to her.  (btw, we will make them, but not call them BooBoo Bunnies, because doing so would insure that any self respecting first grader would not want to do so)

7.  Sisters that love each other.  And don't argue with each other all. the. way. to . school.  and back.

6.  A four day week.  Need I say more?

5. Little girls playing with plastic Easter eggs.  All of my children have done this before and after Easter.  And while the never-ending game of "Mama, find the eggs!" might get a little tired after the tenth time in an afternoon, it will never get old.

4.  Charlotte discovering jelly beans. ( and big sisters trying to get in the picture)

3.  Elephants

2.  A girl and her dog.

1.  Crushed Ice

(and yes, I do realize how lame this is--but man...I LOVE IT!)

I've become that mom...

No, not that one.  If you are a teacher, you know the kind of mom I mean.  You know, the one who always forgets to send things in with their children for special projects and the ones that you have to remind with neon yellow politely worded so as not to offend reminder notices.

The one that sends in her child's student of the week pictures with half of them missing, and when she does send them in, they are all crumpled from being stuck under the back seat of the car.

The one that has to go buy an Easter basket for her child every year because she can't find where she carefully placed last year's basket.

When did I become her?

Was it when I had children?  No.  That's not it.  When Josh was in preschool, I distinctly remember planning for weeks in advance for the Christmas party that I had signed up to help with, even cutting with a jigsaw a Christmas tree with holes for ornaments for a special bean bag toss.  We did homework right when he came home from school.  Each and every paper from school was lovingly taped to a kitchen cabinet or filed away.

Was it when I became a single mother?  No.  That's not it either.  I was surprisingly put together then.  (The laundry was always out of hand, but I think that is some sort of genetic defect I have :).)  The kids always had what they needed for school, always had matching socks, and I often heard, "I don't know how you do it!" And I went to school at night while working full time too.  Hmmmm....

I think it must have been when I got remarried and finally, after five long years, caught a break.  I finally had someone else to lean on.  Someone else to watch the kids while I had some time to myself.  Only then was I able to relax, and relax I have.  Now instead of working or cleaning until the moment I drop into bed, I enjoy my husband, the TV, the internet.  I read.  I peruse Facebook and message boards.  I blog.  My life is so full, that some things just get lost in the shuffle.

Or...it could be that I'm just horrendously disorganized.  Or old.  Or both.

But I think I'll choose fully blessed. :)

Best laid plans....

My plans for this afternoon included this....

and this...

and a myriad of other productive things.  Instead?

I sat on the couch watching Dora and allowing my toddler to eat Oreos...

just to make her stop crying.

Terrible twos?  Ear infection?  Just plain rotten? 

All of the above?

And me?  Lazy?  Desperate? Over-indulgent?

All of the above?

Whatever the case, I'd like my sweet, even tempered, laid back, non-tantrum throwing twenty month old back please.

Day 1 ... in the books

So on Thursday, I officially joined  rejoined Weight Watchers.  I had been able to successfully do it on my own before we got pregnant with Hannah and then again after she was born.  After Charlotte, though, I just couldn't get motivated to do it and stick with it.  So I bit the proverbial bullet and walked into a center after school on Thursday and just signed (and charged) my life away for the next 17 weeks.  As Daryl so eloquently put it at dinner tonight, I am financially committed to it now, so I have no choice but to follow through. (Translation:  You just spent $238 of our money...you better stick with it.)

So today was Day 1.  I had gone to the grocery store to stock up on good, healthy, fresh food.  I had planned out my menu for the day.  I had my giant water bottle.  I was ready to go.  On a path to a new me.  A thinner me.  A more healthy me.  And all I could think about all day long was how hungry I was.

Now was I really hungry?  Well, yeah.  I was.  Not only my stomach, but my mouth, my hands, my heart.  For those of you who have never had an issue with food/eating, you will think that last statement sounds strange.  For those of you that have...it will make perfect sense.  It was a struggle all day long not to give in to the impulse just to give up.  But I sit here at the end of a very long day, content in the fact that I did it.

And what did I do while I was trying not to think about how hungry I was?

Well...I hung with two cuties who modeled the latest in couture headwear.

 I went to Maddy's very last track meet of the season.  It's on to the regionals next weekend.

 Here she is pulling ahead of the competition to grab 5th place out of 18 runners.

 And then came home to my sweet girls.  Did lots of laundry.  Cooked a healthy dinner. And listened to the sweet babbling of my sweet Charlotte, who is growing up too fast.

Here she is enjoying a pedicure, a la Sarah.  She was so proud of her toes when she was done! (and what is the deal with that hat again???)

All in all, a very satisfying Saturday.  Even if it didn't feel like it sometimes.

Five years ago...

on the day of Spring Fling at my kids' school, Hannah made an unexpected entrance into the world.  The kids were all excited about Spring Fling--a chance to hang with their friends, play games, eat fun stuff, and best of all, get out of school at noon.  I woke up that day with contractions, but assured the children that I would be there at noon.  No sooner had Daryl gotten on the road to take them to school did I know that this was real, and the only Spring Flinging I would be doing is perhaps something across the room in extreme pain.  My mom went and got the kids and gave them the choice of staying for Spring Fling or coming to the hospital and they all picked the hospital.  They arrived, so eager to meet their little sister.  Unfortunately for them, she didn't arrive until 3 hours after Spring Fling ended, and every year since, they remind Hannah that she caused them to miss it.

Last year, I went and got Hannah from the babysitter's house, bought her tickets and a t-shirt, and with great enthusiasm introduced her to the great ELCA tradition of Spring Fling.  She was less than impressed.  She was sick (found out later it was strep throat) and would not even go near an inflatable.  This year, being the big school girl she is, it was a completely new ball game.

Maddy and Hannah, in my classroom, this morning

 As she was running off to join the fun, I told her to turn around for a picture and this is her pose.  I hope she always loves herself this much!

'

 Hannah and her "bruddah," who came to school to take her around

 Suffice it to say, she loved the inflatables this year!

 She even went down backwards!

 Hannah and her best friend Gracie

 The Tumblebus.  This bus comes to the preschool every month, and Hannah never wants to go on it.  She says it's "scary."

 Today, maybe because she had a friend with her, she decided that she wanted to try it.  But she was convinced that she had to stand right here, on this piece of posterboard.

 She had a great time inside...and what a cool concept!

 Sarah, before she had to leave for Sound of Music practice

Can't believe my Spring Fling baby girl is about to turn 5!  Where does the time go?

In my classroom, every day before we begin our day, we gather on the carpet and have calendar time.  For each day, I have several adjectives that start with the same sound as the day of the week and the special helper gets to choose what kind of day it will be.  For example, this week, the helper decided we would have a magnificent Monday, a tip top Tuesday, a wishful Wednesday (I took out the adjective wacky after it became a self fulfilling prophecy), and today, it was thankful Thursday. 

To that point in my morning, I hadn't a whole lot that I was thankful for.  I had awoken at 3:35 with a terrible stomach ache, only to get back to sleep at 4:00.  At exactly 4:46am, I hear this through the monitor:  "Cough, cough, cough, cough, wheeze, Mamamama!  Cough, cough, cough, wheeze, Mamamama!"  I tried to lovingly put her back to sleep, but she literally climbed up me and into my arms.

She was just as sweet as pie for the first thirty minutes.  We lay on the couch in the dark watching Dora, and I thought to myself, "This is the sweetest child ever."  And then the sweetest child ever turned into a screaming diva.  All she wanted was me to hold her and walk. Every time I had to put her down to put on my clothes, do my hair, find Hannah's clothes, she screamed so loudly and so violently that had I not seen her throw herself on the floor, I would have thought she was hurt.  Needless to say, it was not the way I wanted to start my day!

So today, when I saw Jenny's Thankful Thursday, I knew what I was thankful for.  Thankful for the smile back on her face.  For the sweet babbling.  The hugs and snuggles.  And once again, she is the sweetest child ever.

Other things that I am thankful for today~~
*I am an official Weight Watcher for the next 17 weeks.  I have the chance and the tools to get healthy.
*Both Sarah and Maddy made the competition cheer squad at school.  It means lots of practicing, lots of travel, and lots of money, but they both have such a passion for it.  So proud of my girls!
*Tomorrow is a half day of school!

What are you thankful for?