On Sunday, we all climbed in the car and drove for a few hours to go to Erin’s house.
Erin and her husband have a “sorta-annual” Memorial Day picnic in May. It also coincides with her birthday, which I’m always thrilled to celebrate! (Happy birthday, Erin!)
There was good food, new friends to be made, kiddie pools, sprinklers, toys, horses and sun.
It was a GREAT day!
Yesterday was the Memorial Day parade in our town.
We started out with breakfast at the diner, where the boys were plastered to the window, watching the parade set up.
Then, out to the street to sit with family and enjoy small town America at it’s finest.
I had the most delicious picnic yesterday.
Monkey in the Middle’s kindergarten class does a belated Mother’s Day celebration where the kids and their moms meet for lunch on the lawn in front of the school and have a picnic.
We packed our own lunches and spent time together and just got to spend a nice hour together in the middle of an otherwise hectic day. It was wonderful!
Monday is hard day for everyone.
You’ve just enjoyed the weekend, and then that alarm goes off, much earlier than you had hoped.
Doesn’t matter if you love your job as much as I do.
Monday’s can be tough.
So, by Monday night, most people are just shot.
In the past, by Monday night, you could stick in a fork in me because I was completely done.
Yet, this Spring, something happened.
Monkey Girl happened to walk through my bedroom while Dancing with the Stars started.
She was transfixed.
I let her stay.
She asked questions, she made comments.
We discussed technique, costumes, why people are celebrities, etc.
It was a blast.
And now…it’s what we do…EVERY MONDAY NIGHT.
I’m devastated that tomorrow night is the finale, because then it’s over for a few months.
Trust me, we connect in lots of ways throughout the day.
But, this was just a new, special thing that we shared.
And I loved it.
And I love her.
And that’s all there is to it.
Today, we spent some time visiting Open Houses.
It was a lot of driving around.
As we drive through one new construction neighborhood, we passed a pile of dirt.
We passed quickly.
Yet, Hawkeye, AKA Monkey in the Middle, yells, “Hey! A turtle!!!”
We went back and still could barely see it.
Hawkeye showed us where it was, yet again.
I’m telling ya, if we were hunters, this kid would win trophies.
He spots animals in nature, with the naked eye, remarkably well.
He’s pretty handy to have on a hike.
I’ve been in DC for the past two days with 280 eighth graders.
Some people might cower in fear at that prospect, but it is honestly the best part of the school year.
Kids, in general, are great
Middle school kids are just extraordinary.
I love, love, love my job being a middle school teacher.
Also, the other chaperones on my bus are just good people.
Excellent people.
Really fun people, and they love middle schoolers just as much as I do.
Great trip with great kids and great adults!
I don’t know what breakfast looks like at your house, but at our house, it looks like this.
The monkeys are up at the crack of dawn everyday, and for the past few weeks, when I emerge from the shower, I find them all on the same side of the table, looking at hidden pictures/objects books.
They have plenty of time before school, so there is no rush. They take turns findng things in the pictures and I have to say, it is a really nice way to get going in the morning.
Yes, there are plenty of mornings that aren’t quite so idyllic, but the past few weeks have been divine!
Sometimes…
…just because it’s 4:30…
…just because it’s raining…
…just because you love them…
…just because…
Apparently, even Mother Nature is a chauvinist.
I mean, seriously, Mother Nature.
We expect such treatment from men (and here I speak of “men” in a general term…Real Man would never behave in such a manner).
We don’t like it, but it is there.
But to be betrayed by our own kind?
Et tu, Mother Nature?
I came across this article this evening, and couldn’t believe that even in our own chemical makeup, the guys get the perks.
Peanut butter and pizza…health foods for the guys, while we get flaxseed and collard greens?
Where is the justice?
Someday, there will be a day when a man forgoes the chocolate and peanut butter ice cream cone for fear it will go to his hips, and the women asks for a third scoop.
That, my friends, is the world I dream of for my daughter.
You know, I think it takes a lot of energy to be silly.
Like, when you try on your Grandma’s reading glasses.
Or, when you have had your bath, are in your jammies, and decide to go with your Mommy to ShopRite on a Sunday night.
However, sometimes…sometimes, just being four is exhausting.
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