A Perfect Wednesday

Two of my friends loaned me their children for the day and what a joy it has been to watch 7 boys play not-so-quietly together. Video games, skateboards, bubbles, bunnies, mac and cheese, Thomas the Train, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop have kept them occupied and out of trouble. Yay for boys!

Middle School Registration

Today marked the end of summer for me. I had my opening teacher's meeting this morning and stepped into my classroom for the first time in 3 months. It was painful to get up with an alarm and even more painful to actually get dressed for the day, but I did it...for the love of teaching children (roll eyes now). It was also Rylan's first unofficial day of preschool for the year. It was a tease for him and I picked him up crying. I felt really bad because he was having so much fun. Now he has to wait a week to go back because I am going to avoid having to go to work until I get paid for it. His normal day at school is just as short as mine. 2.25 hours. Yes, I work a job for 2.25 hours. I don't even think that it qualifies as a job being that some people get lunch breaks that are longer.

Bryson had middle school registration after my meeting. We stood in a line to get his homeroom teacher's name, PE clothes, pay for stuff, and pay for more stuff. I can only describe my hour wait as a cross between Disneyland (the waiting part) and a sauna (the un-air conditioned room). We stood patiently in a sweatbox filled with middle school students, some of whom forgot to put their deodorant on this morning, take their weekly shower, or change their clothes over the entire summer. Had it been a cool day and the line short, I may have signed the PTO volunteer list, but I just wanted the heck out of there. Next year, I think I might just send him on his own. I'll just call it a test of responsibility and independence.

Happy Birthday Cayden

Yesterday was Cayden's birthday. He is a 9 year-old, stud muffin now. Although he is not my youngest, he is my "baby". I'm not sure if it's his health issues or that he just is the sweetest boy ever, but he has a very special place in my heart and I believe that even when he is full-grown, I'll still be checking in on him in the middle of the night and kissing him on the forehead (hope his wife doesn't mind). He still cries when he is overly tired and sometimes needs some additional TLC, but is the toughest kid I know. Someone mentioned to me that he's "that kid" who can dress in the dark and not do his hair and still look cool. He has this presence about him that says, "I'm too cool to care about what I look like." It is true because there have been many-a-day when he has tried to sneak out of the house with plaid shorts and a striped shirt. I just don't want the call from social services regarding child neglect.

So we went to eat at Red Robin, one of the few restaurants that Cayden can eat at. He has food allergies....blah! My prayer for him is that he doesn't miss out on anything, including great food, because of them. But because of him, I have come to appreciate: eating out, ice cream, cheese, scrambled eggs, cookies,.... They are limited in our household.

Summer is soooo good, but summer is also a little sad. The boys turn one year older each summer. Soon, they'll want to hang with their friends instead of their parents. Soon, we'll be an embarrassment instead of "cool".

Grocery Shopping

In preparation for Bryson's belated birthday party, I did some late-evening shopping at my local Ralph's. I love grocery shopping after the kids go to bed. The store is empty. They dim the lights, and the crazy people come out and enlighten my evening. Case in point: It started immediately as I entered Ralph's. 2 homeless men were standing around the sanitary wipe stand that the store leaves out so people can wipe down their carts. One of the men had pulled out a large amount of them as the other watched and then they started to discuss...."Oh, they are so soft. You should feel them." "Smell them. They smell so good." "I bet they taste good." (Huh?) "Yeah, you should take some for later." I was amused and thought about standing there longer to see where the conversation would go, but I didn't want to be rude. I am sure that homeless people get embarrassed too.
I made my way around the store and finally hit my favorite aisles. The frozen food section. If you are alone and the music is just right, you can feel like a rock star, or a model, or anyone super important. Tonight it was Journey's Don't Stop Believin'. As I slowly walked through my first aisle, the motion sensored lights began to come on one at a time. It's like having magical powers. Tonight, I got to do it twice. After my first aisle, I turned the corner, and the frozen snacks and ice aisle was empty. So I took my walk. It was beautiful.

Orthodontist

Today we went in for an evaluation with an orthodontist. Bryson was a little nervous....as expected. Who really wants to go through 2 + years of pain and then another who-knows-years of added responsibility with a retainer? To his relief, the doctor said that he didn't need them right away. So we wait......

Rylan has been working very hard on the potty training but had a few setbacks this week. One of those was a classic case of "the floating poo" in the tub. Only a mother would fish a poo out of the tub and laugh, right? My patience with this issue is really being stretched. It just seems that he will never get it. The other day he did make it to the toilet in time and "ploped it". He said that it looked like a "sausage" and that we couldn't flush it until Dad saw it. Thankfully, Dad was expected at any minute. A proud moment for any potty-training parent.

The Lakes

The last few days of our vacation were filled with trips to bodies of water. Our first being the famous Lake Shasta. Wouldn't you know, we hit the 1 day in the middle of August that was cooler than 80 degrees and raining. That didn't spoil our fun. The water was warm and the patio boat was very nice, although a warmer day would have made it a little more useful. The boys swam, fished, explored, and ate to their heart's content. It was a good day.

Friday, Aunt Crystal and Uncle John joined us. Grandpa Pat took us to Clear Creek to pan for gold. We didn't find much gold, but we lost a few flip flops. Some of us REALLY had a good time throwing rocks into the creek. I tried my best to re-enact my favorite scene from Dan in Real Life: taking out my frustration by throwing a huge rock into the water. It was still not your typical Redding summer weather, but it made for a good morning trip with 6 crazy kids.

Our last trip out was to Whiskeytown Lake. The water was cool and the weather was hot. We had a full day of tubing and swinging from the rope swing. Gavin and Bryson even caught fish.

So are you surprised that I actually had a fun time? I was too. But with every meeting with nature that I have, there has to be complaint. Here it is: I was done...DONE and ready to go and take a real shower back at the house. When we got back, the power was out.... To conserve the hot water, we all took 2 minute showers. Not my favorite, but enough to wash the lake grime off.

The Great Outdoors

We are currently on our annual summer trip to visit Grandma and Grandpa in Redding, CA. This year we stopped in the Sequoias and Sacramento to have a little fun. The day in the Sequoia National Park/Forest was great. The kids got to see some big trees and saw their first black bear cub. I have to say that it was the perfect day trip into nature for this "city girl." At the end, we drove into a city...which shall remain nameless mostly because I don't remember it's name, but there was internet access and a treadmill and most importantly, a hot shower. Sacramento was our next stop and we went to the train museum and Sutter's Fort. It was just enough excitement for everyone. We were all getting on each other's nerves so we called it a day and drove to Redding for the evening. Now the boys are having a blast just playing on the hill catching frogs and lizards, chasing chickens, and feeding horses. Other than the BB guns, they are safe and pretty much entertained on their own. Last night Bryson told me that he was "goin' huntin' for locusts with his dad tomorrow." He was working that accent pretty well. Tomorrow we'll be boarding a houseboat on Lake Shasta for some sunburning fun.

Other than the flat tire-2 hour wait at Walmart (which really wasn't so bad because I needed face lotion anyways) and the 5 mosquito bites that are killing me right now, we've been having a nice time. Jerrod even got in a ride this morning on his bike.