The Pee Talk

I write this cautiously.

I don't really want to share this with you but since the boys keep telling the story and anyone who hears it doubles over in laughter and then says, "Now, there's a blog post for you!" I am typing this out to you.

Those of you with just daughters may not understand this blog post and should read with caution.

I am often asked for S3 updates.  There aren't nearly as many blog posts or facebook updates with him because he lives in a world all his own.  He's friends with everyone and most anything just rolls off his back.  He talks the least of all the boys and hugs the most.  He has, by far, learned how to annoy his brothers the best.

Well, here is a S3 story for you.

On a bright sunny day, my boys boarded the big yellow school bus and began the hour long ride home.  Because we live in the country, we have a lot of dirt roads around here.  Friends of ours recently returned from Africa, as in the wilds of Africa where they make a day long trip into a city to purchase groceries for the next weeks of living in the middle of nowhere they lived.  When they have traveled the dirt roads near our home they have declared them by far worse than the roads they traveled in Africa.

That is some bad rough pot holed roads.

My boys bounced around in this bus.  Often kids stand just to take the shock off their spines in bouncing on the bus.  My S3 kept asking Mandy, our friend as well as great bus driver, how much longer until they arrived home. Most kids DO ask "how much further?" but she was even surprised at him continually asking her.

As they pulled to a stop in front of the house, I watched from my kitchen window as my darling boys hopped off the bus and ran for the driveway.

Except S3 stopped soon after taking a few running steps into the yard.  He dropped his backpack, unzipped his zipper and let the pee flow.

Yes, my son, in the broad daylight, with the bus stopped at our driveway and a line of vehicles (oddly, even Mandy commented on that) waiting for the bus to move on, stood there peeing.

The other boys, laughing, ran from him.

S3 didn't care a bit.  Back arched, I could swear I could hear him saying "ahhhhhh" as he finally was able to pee after being jostled around on the bus for an hour.

Mandy tried to put the bus in gear as quickly as possible to drive away but she said she was laughing so hard and when the few kids on the bus did realize what they were doing, they all started laughing too.

I had a strict talking to with S3.  I informed him that if he had to pee so badly he couldn't make it into the house (boys...they feel the whole world is their urinal!) then at least wait until he made it to the pine trees so they were shielding him as he peed.

He agreed solemnly.

Yesterday, I picked the boys up from school.  S3 was the first to make it into the suburban and after he had climbed in his seat in the back, I hopped out to chat a quick second to a friend of mine two vehicles over.  When I got back in the suburban, S3 was gone.  His brothers were all climbing in and he wasn't there.

Suddenly, he was climbing back into the suburban, stepping on his brothers as he climbed over the seat again.  "Where were you?" I asked, shocked.

"I had to pee.  Don't worry.  I stood behind a snow bank this time."

So glad that "pee" talk really stuck with him.

A Call For Mrs. Dykstra

 

I don't get very many phone calls.  And, no, my phone doesn't look like this but wouldn't a phone like this be so cool?  Especially if it were turquoise.

Anyhow....

As I was saying, I don't get phone calls very often.  I'm just not much of a chat on the phone sort of gal. Unless I am chatting with the Farmer's Wife.  But lately, my phone rings in the morning and I know exactly who it is.

I get a sick feeling in my stomach.

I carefully pick up the phone, I cringe at the name, my face wrinkles in pain as I tentatively answer, "Hello?"

And it's the school, the office gals, whom I love.

These are the conversations I have had with them....

"Um, Denise, you need to come over to the school.  Your son's toe...yah, you just need to come over and see it."  S3 had kicked the soccer ball with his summer shoes on and literally tore the top layer of the bottom of his big toe right off.  It was just flapping in the wind.  I asked for bandages and got it taken care of in no time flat.  

"We're sorry to call," they said, "But we knew you were right across the road and would want to see it."

They are right, I did want to see it and I was glad they called me.

Another call...

"Denise? Your son just threw up."

S4 had a cough and I am quite certain that his cough that morning was the cause of his throw up because I ran to pick him up (this was the day I was unshowered and looking "rough" was a nice way to describe my appearance) and he then proceeded to eat a huge plate of macaroni and cheese and mashed potatoes.

Another call...

"This is the office.  Uh, your son has poison ivy all over his leg.  We just need to know if we can put something on it so it doesn't itch so much."

As it turned out, they didn't have calamine lotion so I ran to the store, got that and anti itch lotion and dropped it off at school.  I had a little ivy dry and we poured that over his leg, the leg that hadn't been mentioned at all all weekend.  The added bonus of the ivy dry?  It looked like his skin was peeling off his leg and it was So. Cool.  Or so I hear.

The craziest call was this...

"Denise? The school.  Somehow your son has had an accident.  He is going to need all new clothes."

I couldn't hardly believe this one.  And on this particular day, I was at work all alone so I couldn't just leave the library open and run home and get clothes and return.

But I did have the suburban and we have been pretty much living in it with football season and all.  I quick climbed all over the seats (in a dress, mind you) and found enough half eaten food and half drinken water bottles to live on for a week as well as numerous shirts, a pair of clean folded socks (we don't even have those at home!) and, oddly enough, a pull up.

As it turns out, this son of mine had an apple and brought it in the bathroom when he had to go pee.  Why, I don't know.  He doesn't know.  Anyhow, he didn't want to put the apple down in the bathroom (thank goodness he thought that much through) but he couldn't just undo his pants so he just unzipped his pants like big boys do and pulled out his "pee-er thing" (as he calls it) but his pee-er thing didn't get out far enough and pee went  e v e r y w h e r e.  

I don't think that word "everywhere" is even strong enough.

Daddy happend to be getting out of work early so I frantically called him, grabbed my son from the school sick room, had him run for the suburban in his long tshirt he got from someone at school, got him into the library and a movie turned on for him with one minute to spare before opening time.

Daddy arrived a few minutes later and saved the day with new pants and underware.

I tell ya, I never know what the school is going to call for.

I am just thankful they always do call me, and I am so thankful I have those office women to help me out this school season. 

But just once, I'd love a call like this...

"Denise? It's the school.  You're boys have no injuries or sickness today.  We just thought you'd like to celebrate that."

Of course, then we would probably jinx ourselves. 

(Thank you Chris and Regina for taking such good care of us!)

Lost in Bugs

Today, on my buffet, next to an old photo of the boys and I on a long ago Mother's Day, sits a container of bugs.

Yes, bugs.

While this may be common place to my friend Mary who has a daughter who would be able to name all the bugs by their proper names and have an entire habitat set up for them in a blink, even with my boys this is not common.

Usually, the bugs and critters stay outside.  But some insane creative teacher has decided that the students should begin a bug collection.  S2 and his friends are taking this very seriously.

He assures me the bugs stay in the container and never ever could get out.  I have not dared to ask what the container holds.  But today, as we drove home in the suburban....I'll pause for you to realize how confined a suburban is....he opened the lid.  "The spider needs a little air," he explained to S4.

Spider?

Later, as I looked on my computer all curled up in our lazy boy chair luxiously drinking coffee, a large black spider scurried across our carpet.

My cat ate it.

I will not tell this to S2.  

I am not sure just what is expected of the kids in this project.  I know I keep getting asked, "Mama, what's this bug?' as he prepares to drop it in the container.  I never can concentrate on it long enough to tell him.  

"A bug....I don't know," is all I get out.

The song "My favorite kind of bugs are DEAD" by Buck Howdy is now running constantly through my head.

But this....this really has me worried.

As S2 ran off to class this morning - wait, he ran to the door, he wasn't actually running in school (in case any teacher may happen to read this) - I stopped to give S1 his hug and let him know we were having spaghetti for dinner tonight.

"Uh, Mama, I thought you should know...S2 is planning on bringing a snake to school."

"What? When?"

"He's going to check with his teacher today."

"He hasn't told me."

"I'm not sure he was going to."

"Ummm, uh, thanks for the heads up," I stammered.

"I figured you would want to know," he shrugged as he meticulously put away his homework and lunch.

What's worse - if there could be a worse - is that they caught ANOTHER snake today.  That makes TWO snakes living in the water tank turned natural habitat outside my dining room window.  One for them, one for the school.

Sigh.

If a snake gets a ride to school, I guarantee you, dear readers, I will be blogging about it.  But for my sake (and sanity) I truly hope it doesn't happen.

Don't I Know You?

An old woman, cheery in face and sweet in demeanor, shuffled into the library with her walker.

I greeted her from my seat behind the library counter. Her face lit up. "Oh, I haven't seen you in a long time!" she said.

I had  N O   I D E A  who she was.

She must have seen that on my face.  "What is your name, honey?"

I told her.

"Oh my oh my oh my, look at you all grown up! What a pretty girl you are! My, my how time flies."

Still,  N O  I D E A who this woman was.  So I asked, "And I know you how?"

She went on to put me in a class with her girls, and then remembered I was younger than that.

But I didn't go to school in the town I work in and when she realized I wasn't who she thought I was she saddened a bit and then instantly cheered, "Well, it is a pleasure to meet you!" she smiled.  She then made my day complimenting our wonderful town library.

She was such a dear.

She settled in to wait for her family who was using the computer while I went back to work.  But her sweetness stayed with me and brought to mind a conversation I had with my husband this week.

At the beginning of the school year, I saw a girl I had gone to school with.  For the life of me I could not remember her name.  Later, it hit me but I couldn't remember if it was pronounced Cas-ee or Cay-cee. So, I just have not said hello.

In my defense, she hasn't either.

But, the thing is, I DO know who she is even if she didn't recognize me.  And it is driving me crazy to not say hello.  And why don't I say hello?  Because I can't remember the correct enunciation of her name?

Her husband dropped one of their boys off this week.  HIS name I remember.  Matt.  You can't really mess up the name MATT.  But, because I haven't talked to his wife yet...six months into the school year, how sad is THAT (and in my defense, I don't see her often)...I didn't say hello to him.

When I told my husband this, he called me out. "That was rude!" he chastised me.  My husband talks to everyone...me, not so much.  At all.

"But I couldn't be talking to him when I haven't talked to her.  That just looks so wrong!" I defended myself.

Still.

How much nice would I have been had I not said "Hey! We went to school together and now your kids go to this school? Good to see you!"  That's all I should have said because every time I think back to then, that's what I know I should have said.

I could have been nice.

Why do I have such a hard time talking with people I actually know?  A complete stranger of a woman mistook me for someone she knew and was still sweet to me.  I could learn a lot from her.

A whole lot.

How To Help Your Kids Do Well In School

This morning, my friend Sue spoke on How to Help Your Kids Do Well In School on the radio station Star 105.7 with Tommy and Brook.  She talks on a different subject every week in her radio spot of The Real Moms of West Michigan.  You can catch her on Tuesday mornings around 7am...right about the time that things are crazy in your house, I know.  But still, try to catch her if you can.

She and I had talked about this subject and I heard what she had to say and I thought she had some great points.  You can read her post she wrote on the subject HERE.

I have been going through this a lot lately with the boys.

S1 has had an overload of homework this year.  Seriously tough stuff, hours worth of homework.  As you are all well aware, we live in a small farmhouse with lots of "oddities" in it.  You know, that stuff that makes an old house unique but no way would you ever do it that way in a new house because WHAT WERE THEY THINKING?!

Yah, that.

Well, the boys rooms are just plain weird.  You walk into S3 and S4's room to get into S1 and S2's room.

S1 would shut the door to his room and then he would get cold because the wood heat vent wouldn't reach him.  He would come downstairs and get distracted at the dining room table - the hub of our family everythings - so we were sorta at a loss.

Then I thought of our landing upstairs.

S1 helped me and together we put together a little study for him.  Is the landing ideal?  Not really.  Does it work?  Oh yah!  It's his own little space that he can sit at and do his homework.  When his brothers go to sleep, they always keep the landing light on to see on their way down the steps so when S1 is sitting there working on homework, it doesn't bother them a bit.

He feels rather grown up of his little space that is all his own.  He's decorated it a bit and takes pride in the landing study.  It's never stayed so clean!

The other issue we have had in school this year is S3.

S3 keeps forgetting.

He forgets his glasses and then he can't see.  He forgets his homework, over and over and over again.  He forgets to bring home his reading.  He does his reading and forgets to take it to school.  He forgets his lunch.  He brings home a milk carton in his lunch on Friday and forgets it till Monday.  He remembers his lunch box and forgets he didn't pack anything in it.

I could keep going.

It literally makes me pull my hair out some mornings.  Okay, lots of mornings.  And evenings.

We took away tv.  We took away his leapster.  And when we did, he had no motivation to do well so believe it or not, he forgot even more!

I didn't think that was possible.

So, in order for us to keep our sanity - and get him out of the second grade - I bribed him.

Yes, I did.

I told him if he remembered his full lunch, his glasses, his homework, his book, etc, for FOUR weeks, he would get a new game for his leapster.

I have never seen a more motivated kid.  In fact, after agreeing to this arrangement, he immediately put on his glasses to make sure he didn't forget them for school the next day. With something to focus on and work for, the child is shining.  He scored five out of five on his reading test.  I literally did a dance of joy.

It's not perfect.  It's not the same for each boy.  I have just boys and they all learn so differently.  Where S1 needs silence and to be left alone to study, S3 can be in total chaos and stay on task.

I think that's the key.

Teaching each kid the way they are meant to be taught.

Is that easy?  No. Way.

It's time consuming and makes you go a little insane.

Especially if you have a S4 who asks allllllllllllllllllllll day long, "How do you spell 'hi'?  What is 1-1?  What is 7 times 20? Did I make this right? Are you sure you know the answer?"


All.  Day.  Long.

But if you find something that works for your kids, work it!  Keep in mind, however, that you need to be willing to change it.

And that is my two cents worth for the day.

Now, be sure to read Sue's blog on this.  And don't forget to tune in and hear her!  iHeart radio is a handy little link that keeps us all on the same page here.  Can't beat that!

A Basketball Story

The Basketball Story by S4

I was at preschool and I made a hoop in a big hoop.  And then everybody runned up to me and wanted me to make another hoop in the other hoop. But I didn't make any.

School this year...

I made another hoop in kindergarten.  And I was really e-s-sited.  And then nobody wanted me to make a hoop for them.  All of this was at gym class.

I like pretty much nothing at school but gym and recess.

Moma's Note:


S4 has been having a hard time adjusting to school this year.  This all day every day thing is getting a very  tiring for him.  When you think he has had Moma to himself for three years now it makes sense he would be struggling to adjust.


He has a great teacher who seems to think a lot of our little guy.  It's odd to have a teacher who hasn't been introduced to our boys before.  We are sorta rememberable.


Oh as S4 would say, "You can't first-a-get us."


When S4 gets out of school, he does NOT quit talking.  At.  All.  I know who got in trouble and who didn't and who said what and what page he did and if Mrs. J was happy or if she had to be a mean teacher face to someone.  


I sometimes wonder what he tells everyone at school about US since he seems so willing to spill his guts on all the school goings on.


And he still the comedian he always has been.


When he got out of school Friday last week we weren't pulled out of the parking lot when he declared loudly, "I kept allllll my farts in me today! I would feel one coming and I would just squeeze it back in. Not one fart all day. It was NOT relaxing."


Yup, school sure is hard on the boy.

Why I LOVE Our School

After my soap box yesterday, I figured I should really write a few things I LOVE about our little school.

And it was a great excuse to get out of the nearly 90 heat that I was picking tomatoes in.

(Thank you!)

I love our little itty bitty school.  My boys get to have lunch together, they have recess together, they pass each other in the halls, they have reading buddies in classes.  The older kids are so used to the little kids that they all sort of treat each other like their own sibling...well, you know, the good manners kind.

At such a small school (the elementary, middle school and high school are all in the same building) I feel that we truly are a close knit community.  I hear a lot of people throw that term around, but here in our little town it's really truly a close knit community.  I see this even more working at the library.  Us moms, we have each others back and I would be lost without them, they are precious to me and I hope they know how much the circle of friends I have in the school mean to me.

Some of the teachers we have are top notch.  As in, I'll love them forever and forever because they teach for the love of teaching.  You know the ones I am talking about, they are the teachers you remember fondly all your life.  Our school has them.  I am blessed to have a few of those teachers this year.

Our principal is devoted to her "kids" at our school.  I feel my boys are being fought for to get the best learning environment because of her.  And, honestly, if she said "Hey, can I take your kids for the weekend so you and your hubby can go out?" I'd hand them over.  Those who know me know I don't do that much....but that's how highly I think of our principal.  (No, K, I'm not asking you to be a babysitter!)

But here is the other thing I love about school.

I love seeing the boys personalities come out away from their brothers.

The best fun I  have is when I have to stop into the school for something or another and can "spy" into a boys classroom and see them for an instant in an environment other than home.

As much as it breaks my heart when someone is mean to the boys, it's a great learning experience.  "This is how it may be in the real world, and this is how you deal with it and work it out...."

My older boys have some truly great friends, they are boys I love to have at our house and feed them all sorts of foods and watch them play or hear them talk...about farming and engines and football and go carts and chores and brothers and school and country music...

So while I despise seeing my boys go off to school, this school I am so blessed to have our boys attend, is one huge reason why I can give them hugs outside the door and let them go explore the world a bit.

This Moma has a hard time watching her little boys grow up.  Because I love them so much....it's my heart that I leave behind when I leave them there at school...and I am thankful to have a school that understands that and does their best for the boys - and all the kids - because they "get" it.

And that is why I love our school.

But now I feel like not talking about school for a long time.....camping posts to follow soon!

My First 5K

Some time ago, my super groovy wonderful creative friend Kor said, "Hey, let's do a 5k and raise money for our school."

And Rosemary agreed.

So, with the two of them working together, I was more than happy to sign on.

Then I wondered what on earth I was thinking.

The Allegan County Great Start Collaborative (who also gave us the great bag we took Superman chickie to school in) had a brilliant idea. They would have a competition amoungst the schools to see who could get the most people out for a 5K. The school with the most registered participents would get half the money of all the registrants fees.

Now, our little school is just that. Little. Our elementary, middle school and highschool are all in one school building, that is one floor high.

I sent in my $20 dollars to register myself and not any for the boys because

A. I hoped to go alone

B. 20 times five is more money than I want to (or can) spend

The day of the 5K - the first ever, I might add - was lovely. And my hard working husband was doing just that - working. So I loaded all the boys up in the suburban packed with water bottles and we headed off to my first ever 5K.

Because it was my first 5K, because I had forgotten about it (after panicking when I first sent the money in that I had COMMITTED TO DO THIS), I was a true fashionista in my strawberry shortcake socks (all my others are wool winter socks, who wears shoes when you can wear flip flops in the summer?), ripped in the butt (so I had to keep my shirt pulled down so one couldn't see the color of my panties) jean shorts, a school themed shirt I used as pj's, and my boys all time favorite thing for me to wear - a camo hat (that also sports butterflies) that I got at Cabela's.

Jake laughed at me. He is cruel.

See, fashionista I am not.

(but my strawberry shortcake socks were a hit ;) )

We had no idea what to expect. I had never partaken in such an event. And other than picking asparagus and using the push mower to mow the lawn, I have not walked since the snow got too deep.

And now I had four boys with me to worry over too.

They sounded the horn and we were off.

At a walk.

But it was a good quick walk, I felt. S4 HAD to beat his Moma so he was up ahead of me with Alicia and (could be his future mother in law) Mandy. I was walking with Kor and Tammy. S1 took off with Tammy's older daughter and a group of his friends along with S3. But S2? He and Alicia's son didn't wait for anyone. They took off running - fast.

At the halfway point, we were sweaty. And I could see S4 up ahead of me having a harder time keeping up. We also came across S1, his whole group had left him behind because he couldn't keep up. I felt bad for him, and worse when I realized he was wearing steel toed boots because they are the only shoes that fit him anymore.

I didn't know that.

About a mile and half from the ending, S4 was sure he was going to die. His tummy hurt. His feet hurt. His head was hot.

A mile from the finishing line, S4 couldn't go on. So I hitched him up on my back. S1 offered to carry his brother for me, how sweet is that? We plodded on.

Slowly.

Near the end of the line, Kor and Tammy along with Rosemary and her daughters finished with us so we I wouldn't have to finish alone.

So very kind of them.

And S4 ran and leaped and played football for the rest of the afternoon after he slid off my back as I fell to the ground in a heap.

S2 greeted me. He had come in EIGHTH of ALL the participants. Eighth. And he can't wait to do a 5k again. S3 ran up and greeted me with a kiss, he was still with the group he had started with, he had kept up with all the 5th grade and older kids.

S1 felt like a failure. I reminded him he can fix tractors while others can't. We all have our strengths - along with our weaknesses.

And when the numbers were tallied (I was sweating it - literally, of course, too - because if we lost the most participants number by one or four I'd forever kick myself in the butt for having four unregistered kiddos with me...), our itty bitty smallest by far school HAD WON.

We were cheering and jumping and shocked all at once.

I'm the 5th one in on the right of the standing moms in the back. S3 is in the John Deere hat first on the ground on the right. S4 is in red and seventh in on from the right. S3 is two over in an orange Dukes hat (he had "01 Dukes of Hazzard" written on a piece of paper he clipped to his back). S1 is the first on the left on the ground by the stroller.

We grinned huge for our picture, thankful we would look small and therefore not as sweaty and exhausted for our sure to run in the paper pic.

After the 5K, we went to Rosemary's and caught chickens she was getting rid of, picked rhubarb and chatted while the kids ran around like hooligans. When we got home we scarfed down hot dogs and chips like we had never seen food before in our entire lives. Then we went and picked asparagus - in the hot hot sun - followed by eating ice cream.

Then we fell exhausted in a heap.

It was a good time.

My husband was super proud of us. He hopes to see me keep it up, he hopes that S2 and I can bond over runs this summer. I hope he's right.

I did a lot of reflecting on the 5K. I know I may look too much into it, and it may have a lot to do with my new love of the show Army Wives, but I looked over all these women who came together to make our school shine and I was so proud of them. To know them. To be one of them. To have bonded over this with them.

I am blessed by my friends.

I am a mom who keeps my boys close to me. I don't like letting them out of my sight when we are out and about. But having all these friends with me at all stages of the route made me relax (helps that there were police officers helping us all along the way too). I had no qualms about who the boys were running with. I was so proud of Kor and Rosemary and all the hard work they had done. I was proud of Katy, Alicia, Mandy and Tammy for making it there on a super busy weekend. I was happy to finally talk to Kim, who I have admired as the runner and mom she is but have never had a chance to talk to her.

I am blessed to have this circle of friends - truly blessed. And when I reflected on it, I actually got all teary eyed.

I can't wait for next year! Maybe we'll even run!

But I really can't wait to join all my mom friends and KICK THE OTHER SCHOOLS BUTTS AGAIN!!! ;)

The Impossible Case of S3 and His Missing Homework

S3.

Everyone loves him because he is so loveable. He hugs and kisses and back rubs and snuggles and smiles and is so darn adorable.

He is also our antagonist. Our sneaky boy. The one that is always in the middle of the "WHAT is going on in here?"

And since school has started up since Christmas, he is our homework skipper.

I ask him if he has homework, he assures me he has none. This weekend, he shoved his back pack under the seat of the suburban so we didn't find it till Monday morning.

This is also the same boy who is not getting dressed, not getting his lunch made and loosing everything he needs for school every. single. morning. Even if it was all at his chair waiting for him the night before.

I keep waiting for his great teacher to send home a note where he has been warned or punished or something for not bringing home his homework.

And honestly, she could have all along but I would have never known.

So I sent her an email begging the sweet, kind, fun teacher who I think the world of to be as mean and strict as she needed to be to S3 to get his homework done. She and I worked up a plan, because, she totally rocks and we work well together like this.

I worked late at the library. When I got home, I had a brief moment with hubby and I asked him how it had gone with the boys. "GREAT, we even got all our homework done."

"That IS great!" I exclaimed. "Even with Eli?"

He paused a moment to think on S3. "No, he said he had homework but he couldn't find it." He began chuckling. "The funny thing is that he said that he has to have it done by Friday or he has to stay in for recess. But he is not worried about that since he is sure Friday is SIX days away."

Yah, his math figuring may be part of his homework he has been hiding.

So, his teacher and I will be scheming again........

Making Ginger Bread Houses with S3

Yesterday I mentioned that I had gone to school to make Ginger Bread houses with S3. It occurred to me that I had not told you about this experience.

I think I only have one more "Christmasy" post after this. Then I think we are caught up. But since Christmas is a busy time of the year and I did not blog much then....I hope you all don't mind.

On the day of my hubby's birthday and the glorious cake, when I was still trying to figure out how to get the said cake, I went to the school to make ginger bread houses with S3.

Amy, over at Our Sassy Family, was laughing. Because she had made a ginger bread creation just before this day and it had been.....blogworthy. You can read about it all HERE, make sure you check her youtubes too that relate to the story. I could hear her laughter and "good luck" and "I WANT PICTURES" ringing in my head as I walked in the school door.

Late.

Because of the cake planning.

But I arrived and Eli shot me a huge smile so all was well.

Using empty milk cartons (remember this, it's key) we frosted them, put on graham crackers and decorated them. Sounds (and messy) enough....

Except that frosting was super yummy and hard to resist.

S3 had an idea how he wanted this to look and I was not going to get in his way. He had a lot of fun and was deep in though with his tongue sticking out a bit of the side of his mouth in deep concentration - or licking the remnants of the frosting.

Notice the "E" for Eli.

He was VERY proud of that!

We brought it home and displayed it on the shelf in the dining room. I noticed S1 keeping an unusually close eye on it. Finally he asked "When are we going to eat that?"

In his mind, there is no point in having good food go to waste! ;)

Moma May Look Pretty, but She Sure Felt Like She Failed

How's that for a title?

We have been down with the flu this week. It hit us all the sudden and it hit us HARD. Yuck.

Yesterday, I laid in bed and could hardly move. S4 laid in front of the heater vent all day and wailed that he would surely die because he would never be able to eat, drink, play football or talk normally again. S1 was thrilled that a whole day marathon of Swamp People was on the History Channel. All. Day. Marathon. Of. Swamp. People.

But today the boys assured me they were well enough for school and I woke up feeling human again too (coffee greatly helped this human feeling along). So....I made plans to pick S4 up from school early and told S1 that I would check on him too and if he wanted to go home at eleven, too, he could.

S4 was mad when I arrived to pick him up. He had been hoping to eat the school's hot lunch, he wanted to stay with his school buddies, he felt fine, no one else had to leave...I bribed him with a cheeseburger. I did. I said, "I'll take you to McDonald's if you leave now...."

So he did.

He then informed me that when he grows up he would like to be a cowboy first and work in a cheeseburger shop after that. Such high hopes!

I checked on S1, he seemed fine. Our school is in the midst of MEAP tests (and I just have to say, purely from a mothers heart, I detest MEAP test time).

I felt all must be perfectly fine when 1:30 rolled around, and I went in to get my hair trimmed for the first time in....well, we figured about three months. How does that happen? How do you just "forget" to care for yourself?

Sigh.

But Darcy does wondrous things with my hair and I am so trying to grow it out and I pointed out to her some model with hair I love...and she informed me it was time for me to learn to curl my hair and if I master it now, I will love it when it gets even longer. It'll give me a bit of oomph.

It sounded wonderful, she made it look wonderful. I haven't used a curling iron since..........a long long long time ago.

I am not sure my hair will ever look like this again......

It was tons of fun chatting away in the beauty salon and I said my goodbyes, had enough time to go to the grocery story before the boys got home from school, feeling pretty and cute when I noticed the blinking light on my cell phone.

It was the school.

S1 was sick. Could I come get him?

He had sat there for one full hour, waiting for me to come get him.

I drove over the speed limit to get him.

I gave him the biggest hug. I apologized profusely. He told me it was okay and "Hey, your hair looks really nice, Moma."

I love that boy!

Since the day was 15 minutes from ending, I decided to take all the boys home. They were thrilled, well, except for S1 who wrapped up in a blanket on the couch and pulled his hat over his eyes. My poor boy.

Ug, Moma fail today........thank goodness they still like me. And that they like spaghetti because I didn't get to the store to get the buttermilk to make the Pioneer Woman's fried chicken. Again.

Another day, another try (and a new talent to perfect...the curling iron).

Grand Rapids Popcorn Company ROCKS

It occurred to me, as I carried the big basket down the campfire last night, that I have never shared this story with you and it is too wonderful to not share.

On the very last day of school, I loaded up my teary eyed sons and tearily drove them to the nearby town for a tradition of ice cream and then some time at the park. A good kick off to summer. We have done this for years, eat ice cream for lunch on the last day of school. And we were exceptionally sad this year, we were loosing one of our favorite teachers, a few of our friends and the WHOLE school was being torn down and rebuilt. That's a tough day, even for summer vacation to begin.

When we got to town, they were starving. We headed to the library first, just to begin our summer reading (its more fun when it's not due the next morning) and then went to get ice cream.

apparently the ice cream shop had not thought about how there might be some of us out there who like to have ice cream for lunch.

The boys were starving, I felt like a terrible mother and after a quick stop at the park (we were starving, there wasn't much energy for running if you're hungry) we headed back home to the little grocery store to load up on ice cream.

Nothing grand, but still, it was ice cream for lunch.

We pulled into our driveway at home, me feeling like this was the worst last day of school ever, and noticed a HUGE box on our doorstep. I checked out who it was addressed to, thinking it was the wrong house. It read....

"Fox 17 Morning Mom Denise D-"

That's me.

It was from The Grand Rapids Popcorn Company. I had never heard of them.

The boys crowded around me as we looked at the gigantic box, I was literally shaking with excitement. But I really wanted Hubby to be home to share in whatever treasures the BIG BOX held, so we ate our melting ice cream and waited...and waited...and waited....

When Hubby got home, we were more than exuberant and tore into the box to see.....

We hauled it outside, this beautifully wrapped, filled and overflowing basket to the yard for Hubs to video us opening all the goodies......

We had cheesy popcorn, butter popcorn, caramel popcorn, gourmet popcorn, mixed popcorn, candied popcorn, candied nuts, cookies and chocolate.

But maybe by this smile from S4 you will see how happy they were......

This, this THIS is the ultimate in yummy. Soooooooooooooooooooooooo good.

I cried. I did. I felt overwhelmed with the blessing of it all on the day that our family needed a special surprise the most. It has been the most fun eating popcorn, sharing popcorn, seeing the big beautiful basket on the table......

Grand Rapids Popcorn Company, you have the most thankful family over here on our little farm. We are your biggest fans. And I just can't thank you enough.

You can fan them on Facebook, please do. You can order packages from them and have them sent anywhere....even to yourself. Please do that too. Thank them for being so wonderful to us! I guarentee you will love their selection, the popcorn is soooo yummy. Don't pass up on that caramel chocolate drizzled popcorn, oh, it melts in your mouth and is just soooooo yummy!

We Were Attacked by Bats (sorta)

Today we had a field trip with S3's class. We were headed out to an outdoor nature center. And S3 has had a countdown for DAYS.

Today it rained. Well, poured really. And there was much thunder and flashes of lightening. Did I mention the OUTDOOR part of this nature center?

There was an indoor part and it was cool, the kids could pet snakes and really, how cool is that? But after eating lunch on the floor of the center, the sun made an appearance and so we headed out the "the barn".

Upon traisping thru the tall grass past gardens that would have been fun to explore, we arrived at a barn. When we got into the barn we heard a weird chirping sound. And there was, in this immaculately clean barn, poop stains on the floor. So us moms, wondering what it was we should be avoiding, looked up. And there we seen a large writhing mess of BATS.

Bats that were squeaking.

Moms plastered themselves to the far walls. Dads laughed and started telling bat stories of their youth. Kids sat down on carpet squares to hear stories about a Farmer (when most of them are on a farm or near a farm already) and the nature center workers in charge gave us moms the stink eye for making a big deal over the bats. "They stay up there all the time, they aren't a problem at all" the girl informed us.

So, moms did what moms do in such situations. We took pictures with the zoom of our camera. KE, the kids wonderful teacher and my beach bum friend, kept a sharp eye on the bats and another on the kids. We teased her they could fly for her and she informed us that if they flew at her she would be out of there.

Two more friends I was there with thought it would be funny that as KE was leaving the barn, we would tell her they were flying around. They laughed at their brilliance of the schemed plan.

Until the squeaking got louder and suddenly a bat really did start flying...and heading right in our direction.

Moms were screaming and plastered to the wall. Dads were on the other side of the barn nearly doubled over with laughter. Kids turned with wide eyes toward their mothers who protect them at all times as we hit the deck.

The bus driver has it all on camera. If it shows up on youtube, you will be sure I will be uploading it.

The young nature center employee girl was dumbfounded, we could tell, and scared, and she was the one who had to take care of it since it had just landed with a plop on the poop stained floor. She left to get a towel so all of us moms headed over to snap more pictures. The kids could not concentrate on the story and while they did settle down to hear the rest, they kept looking back at us.

A dad ended up getting the baby bat scooped up in a towel and putting it on the side of the barn beam so it could begin crawling back to the writhing mess of them.

All settled down. Until the bats started this screeching and squeaking thing again. Every mom's eyes looked up. We watched above our heads as the guide assured it was just a fluke and that they never flew around like that when...

One let go and started flying around the barn.

You have never seen a barn move and empty out so fast ever!

So S3 and I celebrated our field trip survival with coffee. Yum yum and fun fun!

S3's Reward

At the boys school, they have this special award called Student of the Month. Every month, the teacher chooses one of their students to congratulate. Letters are sent home to the parents asking it to remain a secret that your child has been chosen as Student of the Month. Then, the parents arrive to the school as the classes are brought in so that when the child's name is called they can have their picture taken when they are given a t shirt congratulating them.

It's a huge deal.

The problem is that Husband likes to tease the boys about this. They are good in school, we hear how great they are, but you can only get Student of the Month once the whole school year. S1 has only gotten it once the whole time he has been in school. Once. The shirt does not even begin to fit him anymore. S2 has gotten it every year he has been in school. And today was the very first time S3 got a Student of the Month. The boys wait with baited breath when Student of the Month assembly comes up. And the deal is, when they see us in school, they all get excited. This could be THEIR day, it never occurs to them that it could be their brother. And so we cheer one on and devastate the other two. Yet, even in that, they quickly get over the disappointment in joy for their brother.

I love our boys.

On this particular top special secret day, we overslept.

By a lot.

We rushed out of the house with coffee, headed out all together with four boys, Jr, Husband and me. When we arrived at school in the very nick of time, we realized then that S3 had forgotten his glasses, his back pack, and the lunch he brought was the same one from the day before, not a new anything in that. Gross.

Upon realizing he had forgotten literally everything but himself and his coat, he began to cry. When S3 cries it's just pitiful. He has this creaky voice that always sounds like he is getting over a cold. And when he cries, well, it's this weird whine that just breaks everyone's heart. So here he is, about to have the best school day ever, standing in the middle of his classroom, having arrived late to realize he is not prepared for school and unable to see a thing in his class because he forgot his glasses to boot.

Pitiful.

His teacher, our dear K.E., pulls me aside to ask “what issues do I need to know about with S3?”
You know, that's just not the way to begin the celebration of the day.

Husband was certain he had grabbed these things for S3 before we left, but after searching the suburban we realized he hadn't so we quickly drove home, searched the very messy house because we hadn't been home in two full days to find the back pack under Jr's swing. Then we raced back to school to get there in time for the surprise.

We weren't late. Amazing.

It's so fun to watch all the kids file in. They instantly search the crowd to see if their parents are in the crowd. If they are, well, they can't stop beaming.

S2 was in one of the first groups to come in. His whole entire face lit up and he waved shyly to us. I couldn't stand have him be so disappointed so I told Hubby to call him over and let him know that S3 had gotten student of the month and not him. He took it in stride.

S3 was one of the last bunches of kids to come in. He didn't see us (being nearly blind without his glasses), we had to call him over, and then I told him the reason we were there was so that we could give him his glasses. I put his glasses on his face and then told him the teacher had told us that we could find him there. He sat with his class, looking a bit lost and wondering why he was there at all.

When his teacher stood up to introduce her student of the month, she began to describe a student who always smiles and is helpful and kind to everyone...and the whole kindergarten class pointed at S3. They just knew it was him. She called his name and he went up to collect his special t-shirt, beaming. I don't think a boy could smile much bigger than that! It warmed our hearts, it literally brought tears to my eyes. Here is my little guy, a big kindergartner, who is so sweet the whole class knew he should get the special reward.

It was a moment I will remember for a long time, worth everything that had gone wrong that day!

The Chicken in the School Hall

What I am about to tell you is completely true...and it happened this morning and I can tell I am going to be repeating myself all weekend about it so I might as well tell ya'll about it.

There was a chicken in our school hallway this morning.

Please keep in mind...my boys know chickens. Yesterday we just finally picked out all our chicks to be delivered to our house later this year. We know our chickens. We have pet chickens. We sing about chickens around here!

And today, we seen one in our school hallway.

It was our oldest son's teacher dressed as a chicken.

I have no idea why she was dressed that way at all. I would have never known it was her if I hadn't seen her walk out the classroom and son 1 and his buddy said "oh, that's just our teacher."

But sons 3 and 4, they didn't know what to think. 4's eyes were as big as saucers and he was NOT moving from my side. 3 has to touch things, people...everything. He sees the big chicken and he has to touch the feathers, the wings, look at the feet. The big chicken then made a HUGE mistake...

...she bent down to say hello to 3.

Well, he had her then. I mean, this is your one chance to catch the biggest chicken he has ever seen and he is not letting this chance pass him by.

He grabbed a hold of that plastic beak and spread it as far as he could, yanked and pulled it to try to see if it would get off.

I would have been a little faster pulling my son off the chicken, but I was in shock. And when I snapped to, 4 was clinging to me. I think he was sure 3 was a total goner!

Well, 3 let her go, chuckling because he realized it was really a person, and giant chicken continued down the hallway. I seen a little girl, about two, dunk behind her brother and then look back up to him as if to say "did I just see what I just saw?"

I turned to my oldest son and said "Better not be squawkin' all day". He looked at me, shock registering on his face that his mother had just made a joke. AND that it was kinda funny.

And that, everyone, was my drop off story for today.

You just never know when you are going to see a chicken in the hallway at school!