Beer

I don't know why I am admitting to this, but this morning I was in such a rush to get out of the house that I mistakenly grabbed a bottle of Jerrod's beer from the fridge instead of my bottle of water. (Yes, I was so frazzled that I didn't have time to fill my usual travel mug with ice water.) It would have been something if I actually made it to school with the bottle in hand, but I did realize that it was not my drink-of-choice as I was locking up. Maybe it's a message from the Beer God. Would I be a better teacher if I had a little to drink before stepping into the dungeon (what I affectionately call my classroom)? It sure wouldn't help my dozing-off in the middle of class.

While the cat is away.....

I'm not saying that Jerrod is a cat...or that he is the only person who wears the pants in this house. I am saying though, that we "mice" (Rylan and I) are having a dandy time playing around with a lot more freedom. Jerrod has taken the two older boys to the Redding Air show for the weekend and Rylan and I have been very busy having fun. Today we started off by sleeping in until 8 and then getting ready to go to the library. We read some books and then hopped on over to the Green Expo in the library parking lot. I was hoping that I could get some information about composting, but Rylan wasn't really interested in conserving the environment so we left to go watch some soccer. First stop was to watch my friends' daughters' game. They are in 1st grade so you can imagine a large clump of girls with pony tails and ribbons trying to get a foot on 1 ball. It was very entertaining, mostly because I don't have girls and I am just fascinated by just how cute they are playing sports. Our second soccer stop was to watch Cayden's team play. Yeah, Cayden wasn't there. I don't really know what it was that made me feel obligated to go, but we did and cheered his team on. Maybe it was the money that we spend to have him involved in the club.....hmmmmmm.
We went to church and made it on time. I volunteered in Rylan's preschool class. He seems to enjoy having me there with him. But today was a bit chaotic because the "boss" wasn't able to make it and us leaders just stood around not knowing what to do. The kids were out of control because they didn't know what to do. Thankfully, church is only an hour and with preschool, you can get away with just saying something like "Today we're going to learn that God made everything. He made toys and friends to share with" and then let them play.
So tomorrow we may head off to the beach or the orchid show. We may even make it to OSH or the Home Depot to start building a compost pile. You know you have to let that stuff sit for a while before it actually becomes compost, right? Things you learn when you read books.....amazing!

More car problems

On the eve (afternoon before...whatever) of sending my "big men" to Redding, I spent too many wasted hours waiting for the cars to be "fixed". I DID say CARS-plural! Jerrod had asked me ever so gently to take his car in for a re-alignment so he could drive safely up the 5 freeway. I obliged and planned to take it in after work. Well, I drove to work and dropped off Rylan and realized that I had the wrong keys to my classroom and cupboards where all of my teacher "stuff" was. I drove home to get them and drew a sigh of relief. OK, work done and off to Allen Tires (to which I have always had such good experience with). As I sat there with Rylan laying on the floor for almost 2 hours, the "guy" finally came to ask me if someone had recommended 3 new tires. No, no one didn't. After a few calls to Jerrod and realizing that I had Cayden to pick up in 30 minutes and another car appointment in 45 minutes, I took the car home with cracked tires. What do I know about cars and tires? Nothing. I switched cars and was off to pick up Cayden and sit in the Toyota lounge for another 2 hours because the shuttle wasn't anywhere near HB, I guess. We waited and did homework....we watched the Angels lose. I fed my boys Dr. Pepper and Pop Tarts. Ultimately, it was a wasted day of car nonsense, but I will have peace-of-mind when Jerrod returns to Allen Tires today to pick up his car with 3 new tires. I didn't cook dinner. We just ate what we could from the fridge. As Jerrod and I settled in for the night, we looked at each other and realized that we didn't feed our little 3-year-old Rylan anything. Yes, the cars won on this day. Congratulations!

Jerrod's Surprise Party

This weekend I did an amazing thing. I was able to keep my mouth shut long enough to throw my husband a surprise party. I don't keep surprises well, especially if I am excited about them. It was a low-key party for family friends at his favorite pizza place, Round Table. We reserved the banquet room, decorated it with embarrassing blown-up pictures and balloons, ordered an Indiana Jones cake, and tah-dah!!! Instant party. The boys were good at holding their tongues too. We decided not to let Rylan in on the secret because, as you may know, a 3 year-old has that constant diarrhea of the mouth....it just comes out and there's no stopping it. Jerrod WAS surprised and everyone had a good time. I know that he feels a little awkward when he is the center of attention....and that is why this party was so fantastic!!! He deserves to feel special because he is a very special guy.


Happy Birthday Honeybee!

Family Time

Today was a great day! It didn't necessarily start out as a family day, but it ended as one. I hit the beach early for an 8-miler with my friend Stephanie. Running with Stephanie can only be described as getting to see a family therapist for free. I love it! We talk and council each other on issues and I always feel better at the end of our run. It may not be the same case for Stephanie, but I hope so. I hope that she doesn't take on my emotional baggage and become bitter towards me. I'd lose a running partner....there are very few who run at my pace.
After the run it was time for church, and wouldn't it be that it was "Family Day". The irony is that Bryson went to church with the neighbors. Cayden went with Jerrod to his church, and I took Rylan. It just happened that a good family friend, Scott, and his daughter came minus 2 members of their family and we meshed into a psudo family just for "Family Day".
At lunch back at home, four-out-of-five of us dined on leftovers and fish sticks then went to Home Depot and the nursery to get some plants. We returned home and Bryson was there to greet us. As a family, we planted our new foliage in order to beautify our front yard. We did a pretty good job. As a family we had a picnic dinner and played at the local park until it got cold. Like I said, it was a great day.

School Days

So here we are.....beginning a new school year. 7th grade, 4th grade, and preppy-K. I am amazed at how smooth the transition was. It may be due to the fact that the kids had a day-and-a-half of school before a 3-day weekend. I propose that every school week be like that.
Bryson was fixated on wearing his new fashionable skinny jeans to school everyday with the new jacket. Hello? It was over 90 degrees last week. Cayden is still waiting to do his school clothes shopping, but he's cake....I just pick something off the rack and ask, "How about this?" and he says "OK."
Rylan has picture day today. He's been practicing his smile. He calls it "crazy eyes" to which they are....and that famous "Shrek smile". It's partly my fault because we love to share "crazy eyes" from across the table at dinner and laugh, but I am praying that the highly-trained picture people at Life-Touch can coax him out of using his signature smile and just settle for a nice one. If not, maybe they can just re-touch his whole face.