Yesterday we went on a field trip with my son’s class. I had been looking forward to this trip all year. As I have mentioned on of my favorite places is Pine Mountain Ga. This is the home to not only Calaway Gardens but also FDR’s Little White House. Now I am not a huge political person and I wont go arguing whom is better ect. However, I don’t believe there are many American’s that can not see the good that FDR did. So I am proud that he called Warm Springs Ga his home. He did a lot for GA based on the life he saw when he came to Warm Springs.
OK, so my son’s class has been learning about the presidents. He can tell you some unique tid bits of information. He can tell you which presidents were assassinated. Whom the 1st and 16th president were. He can also tell you that President Taft got stuck in the bathtub and they had to by a new one :-) His teacher takes advantage of the fact that Warm Springs is less then an hour from here to help the children learn.
So here were my son’s favorite parts of the trip:
1) Riding the church bus
2) Seeing the bump gate (the gate were President Roosevelt entered the home, it is set up so that he could “bump it” with the car)
3) The car he road in
4) The 63 year old roll of toilette paper in the bathroom (yes,,,I said 63 year old TP,,,bet that is scratchy!)
5) The flags. He wanted to see the flag for the State of Canada :-) Uncle C and Aunt J will see the humor in this!
6) The Iron Lung
7) The warm water from the Springs.
All and all it was great field trip. My next trip will be to the strawberry patch with my daughter. It should be just as fun as last year. She ate more strawberry’s then she put in her bucket!
Well by my year old! So it’s not the AACN, GNA or ANA, but from a 6 year old it is pretty important. So just how did I earn this title? I was forced to preform a very tricky surgical procedure on my son. We had minimal anesthetic, didn’t have the proper equipment or decant dressings. However, with the use of rubbing alcohol to sterilize a strait pin, I was then able to remove 2 (yup 2) pine splinters from dear son’s arm. Followed quickly with some soap and water, a squirt of Bastien and a Sponge Bob band aid and to his surprise it didn’t hurt at all. I was then crown Best Nurse Ever! Now before this was 30 minutes of screaming and crying on his part that he would have to “go to the doctor and get cut open”! Sort of graphic I thought and I am not sure were that came from, but I had to convince him that I knew exactly what to do and remind him that I am a nurse. Now granted every other mom and dad in the world is quite qualified to “pick” a splinter, but that seemed to help. What is funny is the other day we had a discussion about college and he assured me he knew that I had never been to college. I even showed and read my diploma to him. So after the splinters were out I said (jokingly) “gee aren’t you glad mommy went to college to be a nurse”. His reply to the newly named “best nurse ever” was “You may be a nurse but I still don’t think you went to college”. So,,,mom if you read this post, will you please show my son my cap and gown picture,,,maybe he will believe me then!
Some folks remember getting there mouth washed out with soap because they said a bad word. Well I am not a believer in washing out the mouth with soap,,,maybe Listerine but I have been trying to work on teaching the kids not to say bad words or mean things. Last week I noticed Parker kept referring to “well so and so is just crazy” or “well thats just crazy” and I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way. It just didn’t sound nice. So though crazy in not a bad word, it was the way he was using the word. It also just so happened that I am out of mouth wash So I remembered a class I went to on Love and Logic and came up with a plan to get this “craziness” under controll. I made Parker pay me 25 cents each time he used the word. 50 cents latter and he was trying to think of new words to use. Last night he almost slipped a few times, but quickly corrected himself and chose a new word.
So as I shared this with my spouse this morning he started laughing hysterically. Apparently hubby uses the word “crazy” a lot and Parker got on to him all weekend. So I suggested that maybe Daddy should pay Parker 25 cents every time he uses the word. Lets see what happens next,,,Parker may be a rich boy by Saturday
Monday I received an e-mail from my mom. However, since I worked a double I didn’t read it until Tuesday morning around 1:30 AM.
It read
“Not to alarm anyone, because we are unscathed, but that big oak tree in the back yard gave up and moved into the kitchen last night about midnight.”
I did a double take when I read it,,aether because I was shocked or just to tired to think. But it was true a tree in there back yard crashed into the kitchen while they slept.
Now my poor parents are faced with the repairs and dealing with insurance and contractors to get the work done. Thankfully though the tree didn’t hurt aether one of them. As my mom said about 2 feet to the right and it would have gone through the bedroom!
I was able to go up to my parents house yesterday and see the damage first hand. It was strange walking in to the kitchen and instead of seeing the yellow wall and window, there was hole covered with a blue tarp. It was truly amazing how much damage the tree did, yet also how much it didn’t do. It didn’t crush all of there fence, it didn’t hurt there dogs, it didn’t totally demolish the kitchen or the entire front half of the house.
So looking at the silver lining, now even though they have go through the re-pairs, they have an excuse to make some up grades. I am sure that I will have more posts about this and photos as the repairs occur.
Hubby has now been back to work for a full week. Things are doing well. He was given his first set of challenges immediately and so far he has proving his worth. He is happy to be back to doing something more then cleaning house. Though he misses the kids and they miss him. Wednesday my little guy asked on the way home “how many more days until daddy is home with us all the time?” It was hard not to say “I hope not for many years” but instead I just simply said “well it could be awhile,,,but he will be home with you on Saturday”. This luckily satisfied him and he was off on a “beg” about going to play with his friends.
So we are getting back into the swing of things around here. I have a few hours every morning when I am totally by myself. I have forgotten how quite the house can be at times. At this moment all I can here is the quite hum of the dishwasher and the water in the the fish tank. It is nice,,though I do miss my husband being here with me,,it is nice to be falling back into a normal routine.
One of the jobs we have to get back into is planning for the day we both work. Making sure the kids back packs are ready with there clothes for the day. Even when my spouse was working before he would come home from work and make dinner for the family on the night I worked. Most nights though, this was easy because I think I might be the crock pot queen. Even before we had children I would cook in the crock pot several times per week. Mostly this was due to our different schedules. We have always worked somewhat opposite of each other. When I was not working weekends he was working nights. So it just made since to use the crock pot. In 16 yrs of marriage I have “cooked” out two crock pots.
Yesterday, though I tried something new and it proves as my mom said “there is no need for people not to cook”. Tyson has put out a pre-packaged meal that is perfect for the crock pot. It is in the meat department (it is not frozen food). The meal consisted of pot roast, carrots, red potato’s, celery and onions. It even came with its own seasoning packet and directions. The cost,,,around $10. They also have one for vegetable beef stew. Granted with the post roast, I would have preferred more potato’s and carrots,,,but I relay wanted to try this out. For our meal I added corn bread and corn on the cob. It turned out great and it was so easy,,no chopping or preparing. I just had to wash it off and put it in the pot (I didn’t use the crock post last night as I was home all day). So this defiantly could be a solution to one of our meal nights. That is of course if in this day of re-calls we find out there is something bad with this product!
EEEKKKK!!!! We just got school pictures. Oh, and I just wanted to cry. Look at my little boy!!! He was just a baby the other day! In fact this time 6 yrs ago I was praying for his travel call everyday. Many mornings I had my head on the table crying because he was on the other side of the world!
Now look at him! And oh the changes! He is reading now and learning how to add. He jumps in the care every afternoon full of excitement about what he has learned today at school. He lists off his best friends and tells me why. He talks non stop and is so full of wonder and awe of the world around him.
So here he is my kindergärtner. Only a few weeks left and he will be a FIRST GRADER!!!!
Spring Break came early for our school system this year. I think this is the earliest one I remember since being in college. It also marks the end of my spouses un-employment for a little while. Though he is excited about his new opportunity he is still nervous. So as I had mentioned in a previous post we decided to take the kids on a short trip. This helped to keep ever one relaxed, and it may be our last trip for a little while (I hope and pray!).
There are lots of historic places to visit in Georgia. We decided to take the kids to the Atlantic coast. So we went to Savannah in order to let the kids experience the Atlantic coast as well as see a little of Georgia history. It was fun to watch our son get excited about seeing the Washington Guns. He learned about President Washington and President Lincoln in school. He also loved all the stuff about Pirates and ships. We visited Tybee island and went to the see the light house. Both the kids braved the steep open spiral staircase and climbed the 171 steps to the top of the light house and even went out on the landing (I couldn’t handle that part). They enjoyed visiting the fort as well.
Of course our daughters favorite part of the day was spent at the beach. Here is the fun part about Georgia this time of year it was in the 30’s during the morning. So the kids started out on the beach bundled up in there coats and long pants. They were given strict instructions not to get in the water. They had fun searching for shells and chasing the sea-gulls (per Nigel in Finding Nemo,,”rats with wings”). After we visited the Lighthouse and had lunch it had warmed up into the low 70’s so we were able wade in the water. By the time we came home from supper that night it was time for jackets again. However, we braved it at got out and enjoyed the day.
Our final stop for the trip was to see the Cathedral in Savannah. What is still a strange sight for me is tourists visiting. While parishioners are praying the visitors are talking about the architecture of the building and snapping pictures left and right. Having grown up Catholic it is still a little “un-settling” to me. I simply whispered to the children what certain things are and took a few pics out side the building.
We also visited River Street. This area is more of “bar and pub” type area however the walk along the Savannah river is beautiful. The kids were able to see ships, river boats and tug boats. The best attraction for them though was the candy store. Here they were able to watch them make salt water taffy and even sample some fresh, warm taffy for free. Any time a little one can get free candy is a plus to them
All in all it was a great trip. I think though that the next time we will just stay on Tybee island. The city was pretty crowded and of course there were the “party” goers on River street to contend with at meals times. Now it is back to work for me tomorrow and back to work for hubby on Monday! Again we start a new chapter. I am anxious to see how it unfolds!
Today was one of those wonderful spring days. The sun was bright, not to hot not to cool just perfect. However, I think today was great just because things are feeling great.
First of all my Mr. Mom found a temp. job with the potential to be permanent. That has put him in a great and motivated mood. He has put on a smile and said everything was fine for 6 months. However, I could tell for the last 2 months it has taken it’s toll on him.
We also found out that our daughter made it through the pre-K lottery and has a spot. We spoke to the director of the private school last week about possibly putting her in public and shared with her that it was a lot about the cost. She didn’t realize that my spouse was out of work. She then proceeded to tell me not to let tuition play a part in our decision. She actually told me that if we wanted to continue at the private school she would take care of the tuition! Though I would continue to work extra if that is what we want to do I was still so touched by her generosity. It totally warmed out hearts and of course is making our decision even harder!
So as I said today is a Good Friday. The kids had there Easter parties and egg hunts at school. Since I work the entire weekend the “bunny” came early to our house. We have a new problem our daughter enjoyed hunting for eggs so much, she keeps hiding them! Yup, she goes to the fridge, takes out the eggs and re-hides them. Then she grabs her basket and “searches” for them. Each time she finds an egg (that she hid) she yells “oh, wook, egg, I won” Yup that is 5 words!!!!! From my little girl that is worth letting her re-hide the eggs!
Now we have a much needed Spring Break. Then as hubby heads off to his new job, we get started into the busy spring pre-school season. If it is like the last two years every week there is at least one event that requires us to be at the school. There will be field trips, special dress up days and it will fly by in lighting speed. The reality is hitting me,,,soon my darling kindergärtner will be heading off to first grade! As I watched him hunting eggs and interacting with his classmates (some of which he has been in school with since 3 yrs old) I realized how lucky I have been to have this child in my life. He talks about his school, his teacher and his friends with such pride and happiness. I am thankful everyday to be his mom.
I am a very blessed women,,,and today is truly a GOOD FRIDAY
Tomorrow will mark 6 months since my dear husband lost his job. It is hard sometimes not to get discouraged. The market is just not that great right now for his type of work. He has sent applications to every possible company in the state. He is doing well not getting to distressed over the situation and making the best of it.
So on that note he had his first experience with an Early warm spring day. One of the things I love about our state is that Spring comes early and fall hangs around for awhile. So today we met with some other mom’s from Kindergarten for an after school pick nick and play date at the park. The high today was about 78 degree with a little breeze, sunny and bright blue sky’s! Perfect for our outing. We lounged for about 3 hours in the grass while the kids all played. And as I had promised him our little group weren’t only ones with the great idea,,the park was packed! I think it was just what we all needed. The end of winter is so close at hand and it was nice to not be cooped up inside with all our worry’s right there in front of us.
He is also getting himself prepared. I have already warned him that the last few months of school get relay hectic! And as Mr. Mom he is going to be very busy!
Last night was one of those very proud mom nights. Every thing was great! My Parker attended his first belt ceremony. Most remember he tested last week,,so tonight was the “results show”. I will forewarn you this is going to be huge MOMMY brag,,,so if you need to close this screen now,,go ahead.
Parker has done well from day one. His teacher continually tell us that he is very good. Now I take this with some credit because his instructor is a World Champ, National Champ and State Champ. He is 4th degree black belt, his son a 2nd degree and XMA instructor (at only 15) and his spouse is a 1st degree black belt and judge. I think he might really know about ATA. This knowledge only came about after we put our son in the class. Parker has wanted to take martial arts for several years but we didn’t know whom to go with or which one.
He really puts his heart into and loves to go. He has been so excited about getting his belt and moving up. So here is how it went.
First he did pass his test and receive his Orange Belt. However, he received more then just that! The instructors wife noticed our son and his friend sitting quietly waiting for the ceremony to start and gave them both a blue star for showing good discipline. The instructor gave him a Silver Star for showing kindness to someone else from his heart. Guess how he earned that one,,,,,he gave the instructor a Valentines Day Card. However, Parker’s biggest award was yet to come. The one he wanted the most. Student of the month! He tied with another little girl so they both received a metal. He is so proud of his belt and his metal. He is already talking about were he wants to put them in his room (oh, well so much for putting it on the mantel).
Of course, we let him know how proud we were of his accomplishments. So my favorite part of the night was when we were coming home. He listed all the things that made the day great, from the belt to the metal. However, he told us his favorite part was the “he made us proud”. I could cry. This of course brought him a huge hug and assurance that though I am proud of his awards I love him and am proud of him no matter what!
but I have been trying to work on teaching the kids not to say bad words or mean things. Last week I noticed Parker kept referring to “well so and so is just crazy” or “well thats just crazy” and I guess it just rubbed me the wrong way. It just didn’t sound nice. So though crazy in not a bad word, it was the way he was using the word. It also just so happened that I am out of mouth wash 
