Food Courts Suck

So we are on day 2 of "Spring Break". Why the quotes? Because it's freaking cold and those idiots at the Weather Channel are predicting more snow for Friday. Ridiculous!

I digress.

So day 2 of "Spring Break" was spent getting 1st Communion Pictures at the Mall. I called the Portrait Studio last week and they told me that they were "wide open" for every afternoon so I schedule my appointment for 1:20 on Tuesday. One might imagine that I left my house around 1:00 to make it to the mall with time to spare.

But no.

First we had to go to the shoe store to get nice black shoes to match the suit. Then we had to run into Lemstone because we have no special rosaries in the family making me feel a little bad for my kids that they have no traditions to carry on and no story for their rosary except for "My mom ran into the store because it was next door to Payless and she figured they'd have one."

Mother of the Year!!!

Anyway, we get to the mall with plenty of time to spare and the place was freakin' packed! I mean, people in every room, and more at each computer stand looking at their pictures. There was no where to sit with 3 kids and all our winter gear. We get in, thankfully nearly on time, and the pictures went really well. He looked adorable and like such a little man.

Here's the problem. I had to wait 30 minutes between finishing our session and being able to look at our pictures. So I had to venture into the wide open mall with my children.

*Shudder*

The first obstacle was getting past the little play area, filled to the brim with children. We navigate that hurdle and made it all the way to food court without incident. Once we hit the food court, however, all hell broke loose. I told them that we weren't getting any food, but by 2:00, I was woozy from hunger so I caved.

Once upon a time, when i was young and childless, the food court was a great place. No matter who I went with, there was something that we all wanted to eat. Even Bryan who is super picky. Now that I have kids, the options are an absolute nightmare. Why? Because I have 3 kids, none of whom want the same thing. I want Subway, Caden wants Sbarro, Meghan wants Chinese food, and Branden will accept nothing but McDonalds. Kill me now.

A good mother would probably just go from place to place and get them each what they want, but I never said I was a good mom. I went and got my Subway (pat myself on the back), and made the rest of them get McDonalds. Why did Branden get his choice? Because I simply did not want to listen to the enormous temper tantrum that was going to ensue if he didn't get his way. Simple as that. I now know why my sister was such a spoiled brat. My mom just didn't want to hear it and she figured the rest of us were older and could just deal. I'm assuming this because this is pretty much what i told Caden and Meghan.

I know choice is a good thing, just when I'm the one making the choices. Thankfully while I hold the purse strings, I AM making the choices for them...like it or not. Someday it won't always be the case, but for now I'm enjoying my power trip.

First Communion and Hooters

So this is my second attempt at this post as the first one got some nasty error and then lost in cyberspace. So instead of the thoughtfully introspective first one, you are going to get the abridged version.

This past Sunday my friend Julie and I took our boys to Woodfield Mall to get them suits for their First Communion coming up in May. To say that they were reluctant to get their suits was an understatement. We thought that going together may alleviate some of their anxiety and whining about the jacket and tie.

Caden had been whining so badly over the last couple of weeks about wearing a suit that I finally screamed, er I mean commented, that Jesus said all kids had to wear a suit. Yep that's right. I pulled the Jesus card. It shut him up, didn't it? (This blog isn't named Mother of the Year for nothing!)

So we pull up to the mall and the excitement begins. When we get into JCPenney, the boys first ran here:

To any fellow Catholics out there, this should be amusing. There is no church on earth that would allow shirts and ties like this at a First Communion ceremony! The uniform is white shirts and dark ties. That's it.

However, my boy likes the yellow shirt and tie while Joey preferred a nice dark grey one.

We finally got them to get back to business and look for a suit. Thankfully there isn't much choice at that age. We had to go to another store in order to get shirts and ties. Caden wanted no part of the zip tie and headed straight for a solid black silk tie.

Here is the result:

Isn't he handsome?

This almost made me cry. He's not my baby anymore.

I looked at him and wondered where had the time gone?

Where was my newborn, too small for any of the clothes we'd bought? Or the 15 month old who Finally learned to walk? Or the preschooler who didn't want to go to school twice a week because he loved his mommy too much to leave her?

*sigh*

Good Lord! What am I going to be like when he goes to Prom or heaven forbid get married?

Since the boys were so good and happily tolerated trying on jackets and ties, shirts and belts (not to mention my incessant picture taking) that Julie and I decided to take them out to a nice lunch. One where people served US! So off we went figuring on going to Red Robin or Chili's or something until something caught our eye...

Yeah Yeah Yeah! I don't want to hear it. We brought our 8 year old boys to Hooters for lunch.

Julie had never been there and I LOVE Hooters. They have the best wings around regardless of what the waitresses might (or might not) be wearing!

The boys loved it.

Especially because of this:

Our waitress was very sweet to take a picture with the boys.

Their dads were very proud of them. (Idiots)

I hope the boys always remember this day, and I don't mean Hooters! I hope they remember spending the day with their moms and each other buying their first suits for a big occasion in their lives.

Though they'll probably mostly remember Hooters.

LOL

Back from the Dead

Holy Cow! Has it really been over a month since I've posted???

Time flies when you are on your death bed.

My house was gripped with the horrible flu epidemic of 2008. It's symptoms included a horrible hacking cough (Not a good thing, especially after 3 kids), completely stopped up sinus cavities, high fever, achy body so that sweet hugs from my kids were painful. Even bryan took time off work and that NEVER happens. I think he's taken 2 sick days in the 14 year we have been together.

Since my recovery, it seems that I have merely been spending time catching up on everything that wasn't done during the 2 1/2 weeks that neither of us could rise from the couch. Overflowing laundry baskets, a disgusting kitchen floor, furniture so dusty you could write your name in it etc. etc.

But here's what gets me when, as a wife and mother, you get sick:

My lovely husband made the comment to me that he didn't think I was as sick as he was because I was able to get up and move around.

I didn't dignify that with a response. It would have been filthy if I'd said what I was thinking.

The cleaned up version is that I was just as sick as he was, I'm just not allowed to wallow on the couch. I have 3 kids who aren't sick (which makes everything worse) who still need to eat, go to school, get taken to activites, finish homework and on and on. As a mom, I don't have time to get sick. They need me and don't really care that it takes every bit of the energy left in my body to rise from the couch and microwave yet another chicken patty for dinner. They don't care that helping them with counting money hurts my head so badly that I want to dig my eyeballs out with a spoon just to relieve the pressure. All they know is that I'm mom and I need to help them like I always do.

The next comment was how come I got to stay home from work when he felt bad too, but had to go in. My response to that, besides calling him a great big whining baby, was because I am a substitute. They send teachers home for looking and sounding like I did. If I walked into a school looking like the walking dead, I would certainly not be appreciated. Now, If I had my own classroom, i would have been back sooner, but I don't, so I didn't.

All of you in my district can thank me now for not infecting your children.

Happily, I am back in fine form now.

Right in time to start my next (and last!) online class!!!

Wish me luck. I'll need it.

Who stole my brain and can I have it back please?

So I know that it is pretty much a fact that pregnancy steals your brain (alongside your body, your balance and a bunch of other stuff I have blocked out), but I never realized that nearly 4 years after my final pregnancy, I still wouldn't have my brain back!

Silly me decided that the easiest way to complete the 5 hours of continuing ed that I needed to keep my teaching certificate current, would be to do it online. So I applied at a large On-Line University. My thinking was I could take this class from the comfort of my home on my own time. Everyone would still get to dance class, basketball, football, CCD and all the other things we need to do and I would get my credits.

Only thing is...I seemingly no longer have a brain.

It makes it tough to go to school.

Really, really tough.

This class is kicking my butt all over the comfort of my own home. This would be why I haven't posted in ages. I am blessedly almost through 2 weeks of a 3 week class but the amount of work and reading required is ridiculous. Plus I have to do a GROUP PROJECT!!!!

I hate group projects. I have always hated them. I think it started at some point in high school when it seemed like I alone completed the majority of the project. They simply leave a bad taste in my mouth. Now, I get to do a virtual group project.

Kill me now.

So my schedule for this week is/was:

Tuesday: Read Chpts 3, 4, 5, 6 (about 35 pgs each)
Wednesday: Submit Junior High/Middle School Debate Paper (with APA Citations - Like I remember what the heck those are anymore!)
Thursday: Answer 2 of 4 discussion questions
Friday: Submit Parent Brochure
Saturday: Adolescent Characteristics Paper
Monday: Learning Summary

Plus we have to post "meaningful responses" to other posts 4 out of 7 days.

Kill me now.

All of this is seriously making me think that my brain got hijacked in-utero by one of my children and I want it back. Problem is, I don't know which one. I'm not really sure when the ability to acquire higher learning was sucked out!

Since being a mother, my common sense knowledge has skyrocketed. I have learned that the 5 second rule can be extended to the "as long as I know it's yours" rule. I have learned that kids hate to brush their teeth, but its easier when they have watermelon toothpaste and a toothbrush that sings to them. I have learned that arguing over outfit choices with a three year old is a losing battle. Just let them wear whatever they want. No one cares.

There are days that my kids think I am brilliant.

My fellow classmates, however, probably wish I would just log off.

As I told my teacher, I will probably get used to all this and catch up on day 5 of week 3. It will be too late to help with this class, but I still have one more to go and I think I'll need all the help I can get.

Up next: Adolescent Psychology! Yikes!

MOTY walks the red carpet

LOOK WHAT I GOT!!!

As you can tell from my yelling, I'm excited.

My friend Lisa@take90west just gave it to me!




Now what? I'm ready for my red carpet debut.


(Yes, that's really me)


(Gotta Love the 80's)


(yes again, that really is sparkle velvet and taffeta. I'm just a vision aren't I?)


Like how I cut my date out of the picture? He wasn't worth a spot on my blog anyway! (Can you tell he dumped me?)


Anyhoo.... I appreciate Lisa thinking of me since I'm new to this whole thing. I would like to thank her for supporting me in my blog endeavor and answering a bunch of really stupid questions about how things work around here.


All of this is my first reaction. I swear I ran upstairs to the old photo albums to find this picture immediately!


Now for my second reaction: Holy Crap! Do you know how many people read Lisa's blog???? If only 5% of them came to take a look that would be like... um... uhh.... I don't know but a whole lot more people than usual! (Math was never my best subject).


It dawned on me that people I don't know might actually look at the drivel that I write. Yikes! That is a scary thought. So please be kind if I don't know you as an actual flesh and blood person.

I hope I haven't bored you. :)

My new favorite Layout

I made this on Photoshop 5.0. I love these pics of my daughter at dance class. It's like her at 6 at her at 16.

Big Lessons in Little Packages

Well I definitely know that school is back in session - full swing. I am actually working all week! Very exciting. Unfortunately for the class I will be handling for the next two days, I am no sort of Math teacher. Thankfully, no teacher assumes a sub actually knows what they are doing, so hopefully its just a bunch of review! I apologize to these as of yet nameless children now. I promise to do no harm. If I don't know, I will just say that and allow your teacher to help you on Thursday!

So today I got to work in a bilingual 1st grade classroom. Going in, I was a little nervous. I had never been in a 1st grade room except to help host a holiday party. In the end, they were so sweet and it was pretty much like a normal summer day around my house. Kids everywhere all trying to talk to me at once!

There was one little boy, however, at the end of the day who almost had me in tears. We were watching the episode of "The Magic School Bus" where Miss Frizzle turns them into water. The class is working on evaporation, condensation etc, etc so this fit in nicely and a quiet way to end the day.

I turned the show off to get everyone in coats, hats, gloves etc and he was crying so hard. He had to stay at the after school program and he just wanted to go home. He kept telling me that he just wanted in Mom. He held my hand when I walked all the rest of the kids to the buses or their waiting parents and all the way back into the school. He asked through tears and snot if I could just sit with him in the classroom. And he asked me over and over, "Why can't my mom just come get me?" and all I could do was hug him.

So is this what working mothers feel all the time? I wanted to cry too, because I have a 1st grader and it would break my heart to think of her crying like that to her teacher. It makes me wonder, what in the heck am I doing? Isn't there some other way for me to make money??? But when little Jesus was settled into the afterschool program, and feeling better, I thought that I am lucky. I have a degree that will allow me to work somewhere that I will always be home after school for them. I won't be working breaks and days off or over the summer. Who knows what his mother has to do to make ends meet. I AM glad that I was there to comfort him and hope that it helped. Even just a little.