I'm Ready for April Fool's Day

I've always been a big fan of April Fool's Day (as long as I'm the one playing the jokes)! Family Fun magazine had some great ideas this month and I'm using some of them this year. Here's what I have planned...

1. The kids will stuff socks or cotton balls or something into the toes of Mike's dress shoes. He won't be able to get his feet into them. The kids will think it's great! Does this mean I have to wake them up to see this happen or should I try to get Mike to stay at home later than normal in the morning?
2. I bought two little milk size cartons of Gold Fish Crackers. I very carefully opened the bottoms on the cartons, just enough to get the fish out, and filled them with macaroni noodles. I closed them up tight w/ some of my super strong scrapbook adhesive. I'm going to sneak the real Gold Fish to school before snack time and let the kid's teacher get involved. Maddy will think this is funny. I'm not sure about Micah. I may not send his to school. It might be better if we do his at home.
3. Most of you know that I rarely ever cook dinner. Mike enjoys it so much that I'm always more than happy to let him take charge in that arena. Well, for dinner on April Fool's Day I'm going all out.... Guess what we're having?????? Good old fish sticks and peas (no one in the family likes fish and only peas if they are fresh). The fish sticks are going to be those long skinny wafer type cookies covered in peanut butter and then rolled in crushed corn flakes. Yum!!!! The peas are going to be little pieces of green taffy rolled in balls. The kids will freak out...#1 I made a meal and #2 they will think it's the grossest combination ever. Mike won't like it either, but I bet he'll be polite about it. I am also willing to bet that once they realize that it's NOT fish sticks and peas, they'll be all over it!!
   

Wish me luck!!

PS Another good reason I need to get back into the classroom....April Fool's Day!!!!

Bacon and Eggs

Although I'm not real handy in the kitchen, I do enjoy making cute stuff for the kids once in awhile. I made bacon and egg candy a year or two ago and it was easy, so I thought I'd do it again this week for Micah's spring party. He will be able to help and that makes it even more exciting! Below are the instructions. I'll post a photo or two of our own.

What you need:

Pretzel sticks

12 oz pkg of vanilla or white chips (or a few squares of almond bark)

48 yellow M&M's

What you do: Place pretzel sticks on waxed paper in groups of two, leaving a small space between each. In a microwave-safe bowl, heat vanilla chips for 1 minute. Stir. If not completely melted, continue cooking in 15 second increments, until melted and able to be stirred smooth. Drop by teaspoonfuls over each pair of pretzel sticks. For "yolks", place one or two M&M's in the center of each "egg".

Mike Likes to Sing

Earlier in the week Maddy shared a tidbit of info at school that has everyone wondering...

Mike likes to sing song with the kids. Especially ones that he learned at Boy Scout camp when he was a kid. And he actually has a pretty good voice.

He must have sung with the kids this past week A LOT when I was gone at the conference because Maddy shared during "News Time" how much fun she's been having singing with her dad. Her teacher immediately told me how excited Maddy was about all the singing. She then asked if Dr. Garvey would come in and share his signing with the class. I chuckled and told her I'd talk to him. In my mind I'm thinking "There's no way Mike will do it."

I later find out that Maddy's teacher also went up to Micah to let him know that they would love having Dr. Garvey come sing to the class. I chuckled more and more each time I found out that the word was spreading.

When Mike got home that evening I approached him and wanted to let him know there were requests being made for his singing. Before I could even get a full sentence out, he interrupted me and said that he knows; Maddy's teacher cornered him earlier in the day about singing.

I guess the question everyone is waiting to have answered is...

Will Mike/Dr. Garvey go sing in the kindergarten classroom anytime soon???

I hope so....it would be a hoot!!

A Good Day

I volunteer at school on Thursday mornings. I spend an hour in Maddy's 5K classroom and an hour in 1st grade w/ my teacher friend, Julie, and all of her little rascals. One of the 6th grade teachers contacted me to see if I would be interested in helping a student with her writing one day a week. I met with this student for the first time today. We only spent about 40 minutes together, but I instantly felt right at home with this aged student (some things don't change). Don't get me wrong, I enjoy the little ones, but the older kids are who I'm use to and who I can relate to. I do need to get back into the classroom...my resume is ready and all I need now is for a vacancy to be posted. Time will tell...

Very odd...

I often find very odd and/or puzzling things around the house. Here's today's list...

1. Missing Socks - While folding laundry today and over the course of this past week, I managed to accumulate 12 socks without a match. Now, we're a family of four, so that's three missing socks per person, however, the ODD part about this was that ALL 12 socks without a match belonged to Maddy. Where do you suppose the other 12 are?
   
2. It's not unusual for the upstairs bedroom doors to be closed during the day. We close them to keep the dog from getting too comfy on our beds - he has two of his own! When I went to put laundry away today, all the closed doors upstairs were locked. I find this very ODD and am curious as to who would do such a thing and why??
   
3. Seems like laundry is the theme today...It's interesting that I found a muddy coat and snow pants in the laundry this morning. I thought Maddy said she and her friends would find something else to do at recess this week.
   

Life is good! And sometimes a little bit ODD.

What About Micah?

I don't have nearly as many funny stories about Micah as I do Maddy, but even so, there's plenty to tell about my almost 8, yes, 8 year old. First of all, I can't believe he will be 8 this summer! Where has the time gone!?!

Micah is a hard working student and a friend to all - straight from the mouth of his 2nd grade teacher. He is a leader in his class and has a great sense of humor.

At home I don't see these characteristics as much as I'd like to. Micah loves to whine when he's at home. In fact, when he was "Special Person of the Week" in his class earlier this year, he wrote that "pretend whining" is one the the things he does best. Go figure!

Micah loves playing soccer, basketball, baseball, and swimming. He is in an indoor soccer league in Fort Atkinson right now and will play again in JC this spring. Micah is an excellent reader and also enjoys time on the computer playing with his Webkinz, checking the weather, and emailing family members.

He completed his state quarter collection and started collecting the Presidential coins. His rock collection keeps expanding and we've had to buy several new storage containers for them.

Micah and Mike do a lot of neat things with Cub Scouts. It's a great father/son bonding time for them both!

I'm Still Shaking My Head

Monday, March 9 was a rather mixed up day. Daylight savings and the anticipation of my cancer scan really did me in. It was one of those days when I think to myself...Wow, I have a pretty good head on my shoulders, I'm educated, and I'm in touch with what's going on around me. But given all that, I barely made it through the day? Here's how the day went...

• The kids spent the weekend at grandma and grandpa's while we enjoyed time with friends. We went out to dinner, went to a Buck's game (I won four tickets in the third row). It was fun!

• Mike and Micah unexpectedly went to the men's Badger basketball game Sunday night. They didn't get home until 10 p.m. Way past Micah's bedtime.

• Maddy and I went to Patti's house Sunday night. Maddy dawdled with her shower when we got home and didn't get to bed until 8:45 p.m. Yikes, I'm asking for trouble.
  

• Mike got up to check the roads on Monday at about 5:00 a.m.

• I fell back asleep and never heard him come home to shower and leave for school.

• Maddy came stumbling into the bedroom Monday morning at 7:08 a.m. Holy crap, we overslept!! I get Micah up, both kids get dressed, brush teeth, pack their school bags, etc

• Micah had math homework that wasn't complete. I told him I'd rather he do it after school than rush and do a sloppy job in the morning. I'm thinking to myself...great, the Garveys are slackin' off again. But then again, we're just like any other "normal" family and these things happen. I try to convince myself of this all morning long.
  

• Because we're short on time, both kids grab a granola bar (or so I think) and we head out the door.

• We're not late to school and the kids actually have a little time on the playground. Whew!!
  

• I head back home to get ready for my Dr. appt. I no more than walk in the door and see the two granola bars sitting on the counter. Crap, the kids set their measly breakfast down and went to school with nothing to eat! Micah didn't have his homework done! I immediately go into panic mode, which I would not have typically done, but I was a bit stressed at this point. I call Mike. He's as calm as calm can be and simply asks, "What would you like me to do?" I reply, "I don't know! But kids need to eat breakfast before they go to school. And I'll be dammed if I'm going to take them anything. They had the granola bars in their hands. Why did they set them down!?! They need to remember stuff like this on their own!" He then tells me he's in a meeting and needs to go. Opps!
  

• We leave town at 10 a.m. and head to Madison for my appt. While driving, it dawns on me that the kids have Mad Science for the first time today after school. I hadn't gotten any confirmation on it, so it had slipped my mind. I didn't mention it to either one of them, nor did snacks get packed for the 15 minutes between after school and when Mad Science begins. At this point all I can do is shake my head...

• After we get back to town I run snacks up to school. Micah's teacher mentions that he did ask when lunch was a couple times in the morning. Poor guy going off to school without breakfast! At least they both had a snack to munch on.

• Needless to say, we all survived the day. The kids had fun at Mad Science. No one starved. I went off to class that evening and kept myself busy and distracted while learning about Dewey and MARC records. Wowzaa!
  

They're Not Just for Girls Anymore

I subbed in Maddy's class today. It's a team-taught class and the teacher I worked with is awesome! Regardless, it's 3:32 p.m. and I'm exhausted! Those 5k'ers keep you running. And I need to get ready for class and be on the road by 4:00. Arghhhh...

Within the first 5 minutes of being home, there was a screaming scuffle downstairs. Micah was hollering, "Yes I can!" and Maddy was screaming, "No, no you can't!" I continued changing my clothes and hoped that they would resolve the conflict on their own.

No such luck...

Maddy came running up to the bedroom in tears with two of the "Thanks A Lot" Girl Scout cookies in her hands (nice nutritious after-school-snack). I calmed her down enough for her to get out the following words..."He can't have those...sob, sob, sob. I told Micah he couldn't have those, they're only for girls...sob, sob." I foolishly asked, "What's only for girls?" Maddy replied through her tears, "The Girl Scout cookies, they're only for girls, not for boys. Girls, mom, girls! They are cookies for girls!"

I tried not to laugh and then explained that the cookies were sold by the Girl Scouts just like Micah and the Boy Scouts sold popcorn last fall. The popcorn we bought and eat while we watch movies is for everyone, not just boys and the cookies are for everyone, also.

Another important life lesson has been learned...

Now it's time for me to have a drink and maybe a cookie, too...

The end is near...

The sun is shining and it's 50 degrees outside. The end is near and soon the kids won't need to bundle up in snow pants, boots, and hats! Winters in WI can be brutal when it comes to dressing kids for the weather. However, on the flip side, these items do protect their regular clothes from the mud. But really, who goes in the mud these days anyway, that's so "not cool"!

My parting words to Maddy this morning before school were, "Maddy, please stay out of the mud today. Love you!" She stopped before jumping out of the car, smiled and said, "Yeah ma, maybe we'll find something else to do today at recess." For a split second I thought to myself, "Oh, what a sweet girl." Then reality hit and I thought, "Oh shit, I wonder what she'll get into today!"

Mud.. and lots of it!

I was at school today, which is a pretty regular thing since I sub and/or volunteer at least a couple times each week. While talking to Micah's teacher at recess, one of Maddy's teachers came to ask what I'd like her to do with Maddy's muddy clothes - should she bag them up or would I like to just take them out to the car? The first thing I asked was, "How did you know I was here?" I had just gotten to school and was waiting for our parent teacher conferences. Silly me to ask such a question... So-and-so had told so-and-so that she saw me down in a 2nd grade classroom. And I guess word travels fast when the Superintendent's kid is covered in mud from head to toe. Anyway, I chuckled a bit and went with Maddy's teacher down the hall to where a small crowd had gathered. I wish I would have had my camera... Maddy and another little girl are sitting in the middle of the hallway on one of those industrial type rugs that they have by the doors in the winter. The girls are covered in thick mud and they are trying to wipe if off with paper towels. Maddy's pink jacket, snow pants, boots, hat, and mittens are now a dirty brown in color. There were actually clumps of mud hanging off of her boots.

Maddy's teacher whispered to me that when she asked the girls what had happened, they simply replied, "We got dirty when we were playing in the mud." The teacher said their expressions said even more... "Hellooo, we're standing here in front of you covered in mud and you ask us what happened. You teach us all kinds of neat stuff every day and you can't figure out why we look like this? What's wrong with you?"

Needless to say, we bagged up all the muddy stuff, and everyone had a little chuckle. I sooo wanted to "accidentally" forget the bags of muddy clothes in Maddy's classroom after her conference, but I really like her teachers too much to do that!

Mom Knows Best

Back in 2006, I started sending out emails and then created a Blog that consisted mainly of me telling stories of the day-to-day events in my life as a mom of a 2 and a 4 year old. These daily happenings were pretty "normal"...the kids covering themselves in mud on a cool spring day, Maddy and a friend getting "naked" in the sandbox, the kids sledding down the big hill in our front yard and the dog crapping right on their fast-as-lightening path, etc, etc. They were funny, somewhat demented, and 100% accurate and true. One day my mom suggested that maybe some of these stories not be shared - that not everyone may understand my sense of humor about life. Was she serious!?! I guess at the time, YES she was! So, following the "Mom knows best" theory, my posts slowly came to a halt (the link to that old Blog is over to the left).

The kids were still the kids, and I still had funny stories to tell. And tell them I did! I just wasn't getting them down in writing.

Last night, Monday, March 2, 2009, totally out of the blue, my mom rescinded her previous suggestion.

I guess "Moms know best!" and sometimes it just takes them a few years to figure it all out! Love you mom!

So, here I sit, ready to share bits of wisdom and all kinds of funny stuff...

I'm still sitting....

and sitting...

The kids are both at school. The dog is snoring. The washer machine is running.

Well, maybe things will pick up later in the day : )