Brains Beauty and Brawn

I can't say she gets any of those attributes from me. Ciara is the spitting image of her dad. Last week she was inducted into the National Honors Society. It was only after she started the application process did I realize how much is involved in getting into the NHS. Not only do you have to maintain a high grade point average but they require you to have had numerous leadership roles and volunteer positions as well as recommendations from teachers. We are very proud of her!



While beauty and brains can get you pretty far in life, her dad wants to be sure that she is the type of girl that any guy would want to take home to mother. Because really, being too smart can get you into trouble, and beauty is only skin deep, but a girl that can change her own brake pads?? Well she is definitely a keeper!

Superman

When I was a little girl I used to think my dad could do anything. When he would let me sit on his lap and "drive" the car I just knew he was the most fun dad in the world,when he would take me to the store with him and buy me a comic book and some candy I was sure that he was the best dad ever and when he would carry me up to my bed and tuck me in after I had fallen asleep on the couch, I knew that nothing bad would ever happen to me as long as he was around. Like every little girl I grew up and realized my dad was just an average guy with flaws like everybody else, but the little girl in me still treasures the times when he was invincible to me.

My dad had a huge heart. He would give the shirt off of his back to help someone in need. Each year at Christmas he would find out about a family in need and anonymously make sure that they had an extra special Christmas. Even this year, although he was in the hospital, he gave me the money to purchase toys, gift cards and groceries for a single mother who is trying hard to make ends meet. He believed in working hard and instilled a strong work ethic into his children at an early age. He loved his country and his family and would have laid down his life for both. To him his grandchildren could do no wrong and he was never happier than when his kids and grandchildren were all gathered together. Since we all live in different parts of the U.S, this didn't happen as much as my dad would have liked, but he always made sure to plan a special trip every two years so that we could all be together. He loved his family more than anything.

A few years ago after he suffered a stroke, and out of frustration from his limited mobility my dad told me how it saddened him that he used to be superman to his kids but now he was nothing. He couldn't have been farther from the truth. The fictitious superman may have been judged by his physical strength but the real superman that I saw in my dad was found in his strength of character and dedication to his family. Those attributes won't fade like the physical ones, they will be passed on to future generations.

I remember when I was younger I naively thought that losing a parent would be easier when I was older and had a family of my own. I guess I thought that I wouldn't feel the loss as much but I was wrong. No matter how old you are when your parent dies it is never easy. Yes it helps that I have a wonderful immediate and extended family as well as terrific friends that have helped during this time, but that little girl who could see no wrong in her invincible dad has a hard time saying goodbye.

I love you dad!

Today Is Your Birthday!

Happy Twenty-Third Birthday Savannah!

Twenty-three years ago you were born very early, very little, and to parents that didn't have a clue as to what to do with a baby. Like most new mommies I was in awe of this bundle that I was now totally responsible for. But you made being a mom easy.

For the past twenty-three years you have filled our lives with joy. Your sweet spirit and gentle personality are such a blessing to us. You have surpassed all expectations that we ever had for you and we could not be more proud of the gracious,beautiful young woman you have become.

At twenty-three you have your whole life before you. I can't wait to see the wonderful things you do with it. I know you will make a huge impact on this world because you have already made such a difference in ours.

We love you Savannah! Happy Birthday!

The Ties That Bind

It's been a sad week for our family. We said goodbye to my mother-in-law as she entered into eternal rest on Thanksgiving morning. Her passing was unexpected and there are many things that she brought to this earth that will be missed but there are many things that she left behind that will forever make a difference in peoples lives. Probably the most important being her love of family and the strong familial bond that she instilled in her children.

No one can grow up in a family and leave home after eighteen years and not take some "stuff" when they go. Both tangible stuff and the proverbial "baggage" that we acquire while growing up. Stuff like unmet expectations, sibling rivalry, etc. etc. We can all fill in the etc. part with our own junk. I know this first hand because I am a regular old bag lady when it comes to carrying around stuff from my past! But I learned this week that baggage can be "checked" and hopefully stay forever in the unclaimed baggage area.

When my husband and his family knew that my mother-in-laws time was growing small, he called me and asked if I would like to come and visit her one last time in the hospital. I knew she was hooked up to machines and that seeing her that way would be difficult so I declined at first, but God really put it on my heart that I needed to visit her. Little did I know that in doing so he would bless me with the beauty of one of his finest creations - the love of family. The hours I spent in that hospital room were difficult but hidden in the ashes of impending loss was the beauty of family. There was no space in the small hospital room for baggage of any sort only room for the love of a family as they said goodbye to their mother and helped her transition from this world into the next. She left this earth knowing that she was loved, that her children loved one another, and that the family bond that she had sewn through the years was stronger than any past transgressions and too big to fit into any sort of baggage.


Sandie was very talented in many art forms but by far her greatest masterpiece was her family. I see it in the way my husband loves his family and works hard to provide for us. I see it in my sister-in-laws as they love their families and delight in their grandchildren, and I see it in her grandchildren as they love and care for their own young families. That love doesn't just happen. It has to start somewhere.

Thank you Mimi for loving your family!

Effective Embarrassment

Everybody knows that teachers of young children have certain inalienable rights. Such as the right to sing off key without judgement, the right to use a whole bottle of hand sanitizer in one day during flu season, and my all time favorite teacher perk: the right to wear goofy shirts that you would otherwise never dream of wearing. You know what I'm talking about.... everybody has picked up a shirt while shopping and thought to themselves " Who wears a shirt like this?". Chances are a preschool teacher does.

I have a shirt like that. Okay I probably have a couple of shirts like that, but my all time favorite hideous shirt is my turkey shirt that I only get to wear once a year on our school Thanksgiving Feast day. It has a giant multi-colored turkey embroidered across the entire front of the shirt and every year when I wear it my five-year-old students think I'm the coolest thing since Scooby-Doo fruit snacks.

Yesterday was our Feast day so it was time to break out the good-ole turkey shirt. It's getting a little thread bare since I have had it over 10 years and I swear each year it shrinks a little more(!) but I will keep it around until it falls apart.

After school I went to pick up Trey from school since he is still on strict parental control and will be until his History teacher emails dad and tells him he is the model student. Here is how our conversation went when he got into the car:

Me: Hey Trey, how was school?
Trey: Good ( yep he is a natural born conversationalist)
Me: Hey guess what? You get to go to Hobby Lobby with me!
Trey: (Heavy Sigh) Great. (Then he looks over at me) Ugh! and you have that turkey shirt on too!

Double Whammy of embarrassment! Not only did he have to go to Hobby Lobby with his mom who was wearing a crazy turkey shirt, he had to stand in line behind me and buy a cake pan so I could use both of my 40% off coupons!

I'm thinking we will be hearing from his History teacher soon on how much his behavior has improved in her class.

Never underestimate the power of public humiliation!

Cheers to Experienced Teachers

Sometimes you can just tell when a teacher has been "around the block" a time or two. I love enthusiastic new teachers with grand plans and fabulous ideas, but there is nothing better than a seasoned teacher that knows some good tricks.

Case in point: Trey's history teacher.

It seems my son was acting up and being disruptive with his buddy at the end of class yesterday. Somehow that doesn't come as a surprise to me. Anyway in her infinite wisdom ( and much experience teaching Jr. High) she explained to Trey and his partner in crime that she would be making a call to their parents and asked them which parent she should call. Of course Trey said his mother... and so the teacher knew to call dad.

Kudos to you Mrs. American History teacher!

There is nothing like a call to dad, at work to ensure that the discipline problem will be addressed.

Addressed it was!

In addition to having to apologize to his teacher ( e-mail will verify that it has been done),and being grounded for an undetermined amount of time, Trey is now on strict parental control. He gets a ride in moms loser cruiser each morning right up to the front of the school so I can watch him go straight into the building ( I stopped short of making him give me a kiss goodbye... but I considered it) and he gets to see me waiting to drive him home each day after school. Plus he is sentenced to a weekend of hard labor with his dad. He doesn't have to tell us how happy he is with this arraignment... we can see it in his body language.

So here's to wise secondary teachers everywhere who know how to use reverse psychology on teenagers! May you continue the good work!

Still Alive and Well

Wow it's hard to believe that it has been almost a whole month since I have posted! I guess there has not been anything blog worthy to post about.... but come to think of it, that has never stopped me from posting before, so I guess there is really no explainable reason for my absence except for the usual work,family, school reasons.

This semester I am only taking one class but... Horrors!!!.... It's a fitness class! OMG! I have to work out at least five times a week! Yes five times a week and strolling through the mall does not count as a work out! It's probably one of the hardest classes I have ever taken.
Okay I'm being dramatic I admit but really those people that say they love their workouts have got to be lying. I signed up for the class shortly after my break-up with Twinkie and the gang so I thought there would be some noticeable differences in my physique. HA! The workouts have made me hungrier than a horse, and well a woman on the rebound after a painful breakup doesn't always think clearly.



I have a new BFF:





I think it is ironic that it is dressed in what appears to be workout clothes. I don't know if that is to subliminally trick people into thinking Oreos are healthy, or if it is to remind you that you will have to work your butt off once you eat one. Nonetheless, they are yummy and I love them.

Since I'm starting to come down from my Halloween sugar high, I will end this post by sharing some Halloween memories. When we first moved to our block ten years ago, the dad's on the block were in charge of taking the kids trick-or-treating while the moms gathered together outside to hand out candy - and possibly indulged in a few adult type beverages. Oh those were the days when I had three little beggars out there bringing home sacks of candy! But seasons change and while we still gather outside to hand out candy, the dads no longer have to pull their beverages in a rolling cooler and instead they get to sit with the moms, and our grown children to hand out candy. Trey and his buddies are still hanging onto that one little bit of childhood and they decided to go out and see how fast, how far, and how much candy they could get. Here is a before picture of them:




I sometimes miss the days when these boys would come and play transformers or climb the tree outside for fun. Now they are into girls and trying to act cool.

Here is a picture of them ready to go hunting for candy. You can see they don't have that cool thing down yet!



Those little boogers crack me up sometimes!

Well my body tells me that this time change stuff is for the birds and even though the clock says it is only 8:30, I'm going to bed anyway! Till next time!