My Real Life

Sometimes, if you ask a man to try that picture one more time, after the thirtieth time of taking the photo, he may get fed up.

And make this face:

Or this one:

And when you switch position and say “This one will be perfect,” but it’s not, and you ask him to take “just one more,” he may make this face:

But, if the guy loves you, then he’ll make this face:

And all will be well.

You’ll have to wait until tomorrow for my next post. Right now I’m enjoying the view and will be coming home tonight. Ft. Lauderdale, it was fun!

Real Men wear homemade, paper Father’s Day hats in restaurants because it makes their sons proud.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Real Men in your life.

I apologize, once again, for the frequent randomness of the blog, lately.  Lots going on, and my mind is scattered.

That being said, here are my thoughts for today.

1.  Someone posted this link on Facebook.

It’s meant to make you feel old.

It works.

Check it out, then come back for the rest of my randomness.

2.  School ends tomorrow.

Yes, we have to come back for graduation next Wednesday, but the day in, day out of school is over tomorrow.

I’m excited to spend the summer with my babies.

I’m so sad to say goodbye to my students.

Over 100 kids who have absolutely wormed their way into my heart.

I love them, I worry about them, I’ll miss them.

The hardest thing about being a teacher is that you fall in love with your kids year after year after year, and yet, they always leave you behind.

You are consistently saying goodbye.

You know they are destined for great things and that it’s the circle of life that you teach them what you can and then they move on, but it doesn’t make it any easier.

It’s just hard to say goodbye.

3.  Speaking of growing up, I’m finding that I’m liking this new stage we’re in, at home.

Monkey Girl is now old enough to watch Monkey in the Middle and Baby Monkey for a few minutes while I run to pick up Tiny or take Tiny with me to the bank.

It means that every trip out of the house doesn’t have to be a major production of 5 people in the car, out of the car, in the store, out of the store, in the car, out of the car.

It’s nice.

She’s not quite old enough to watch Tiny, but soon enough, soon enough.

And the boys love it when she is in charge for a few minutes.

And, apparently, they are angels for her.

All good stuff.

4.  If you blink, it all passes you by too quickly.

Two weeks ago, I was worried that Tiny wouldn’t be walking by the time we went to the beach this summer.

Today, you can’t slow the kid down.

He falls, but he walks everywhere.

One minute, he’s a baby.

The next, he’s a toddler.

The next, a little boy, going to school.

It’s June…you gotta forgive me all the “people growing up and making me weepy” talk.

It’s what June does to me.

5.  So, remember my quest for simplicity and purging?

It’s going well.

I’ve Freecycled an infant car seat, some books, have tossed some broken toys, given the kids grocery bags to fill up with trash from their rooms.

I’ve cleared off a counter that used to be a collection spot for things when they come in the door, and have set up some Rubbermaid drawers to collect the stuff, out of sight, to be gone through once a week, thus leaving the counter open and free.

I’ve donated some clothes, and plan on going through my closet next week and pruning that, too.

Also planning on moving Tiny from the highchair into a booster seat at the table, next week, so we can get the high chair out of here, also.

That one is sad, but I’m thrilled with the path through the kitchen that will be opened up with that particular piece of furniture removed.

6.  We recently bought Monkey Girl a laptop.

I know how much she will use it in middle school, next year, since I work there, and we decided we’d get it for her now so she could get familiar with it over the summer.

I guess that was silly, because she’s had it for a few days and she already works her Mac Book Pro better than I work mine.

I am consistently amazed at how easily kids pick up technology stuff.  I realize it’s because they’ve grown up in a tech world (digital natives) and it is just part of what they know, but it still amazes me.

It also makes me excited to see what they’ll all invent when they become adults.

7.  E-cards.

I kind of hate them.

They are everywhere.

Particularly Facebook.

And Pinterest.

But, some of them.

Funny.

Really funny.

So, I try really hard to hate the e-card.

But I really can’t.

Oh, how I absolutely love all these boys in my house.

Being a mommy of boys is awesome.