in the bag!

i. love. purses.

i have my bag picked out, do you!?

visit HandBag Planet...they are giving a bag away every hour for 24 hours!
they sure know the way to a woman's heart!

she is my mirror

i've been watching my words

choosing them carefully

doesn't take much thought

as it shouldn't

i'm just more aware

so tonight

before bedtime

we talked

i told her mommy is not perfect

that i have been paying more attention

talking carefully

and i feel better already

she said:

"maybe sometimes when you need to say something,

it can be a little bit mean and a little bit nice.

but i don't know how to do that"

guess we are all human honey!

she is my mirror

i hope that what reflects is something beautiful

what reflects in your mirror?

nobody said this job is easy!

my girl

love her to pieces

she is our oldest

big sister

'sissy' as he calls her

often times

especially lately

i ask myself if i am harder on her

than on him, the baby of the fam

i don't mean to be

don't want to be

it happens

makes me sad

if i feel it

she must

right?

i have been listening to myself

do i ask her to do something

the same way i ask him?

does my tone change?

does she hear that?

why do i expect so much more from her?

she is older/oldest

bigger than him

but not by much

but is that fair?

i am so aware of my words with her

i want her to hear

love

compassion

you're special

my girl

she deserves that

i don't want her to grow up

feeling she was treated different

they are different

yet the same

they are my kids

i love them

i know she knows that

i hope she feels it too

i will work on it

my voice will show her

i am her mom

not perfect

but learning

love you livs!

one man's trash...

is a teacher's treasure!

i was at our county office of education today, and the nice gals in the curriculum and materials dept were cleaning house! for those of you who are not aware, textbook publishing companies package their teacher's edition kits in some pretty creative, snazzy, colorful, yet wasteful, boxes. recently, i have noticed some publishers moving towards a dual purpose container...kudos!

so these nice ladies were lining MANY of these dual purpose, and not so dual purpose, boxes up in the hallway to be disposed of.

enter...teachers on a lunch break from a workshop. like moths to a flame, we flocked to the piles and this is what i got...

...two little rolling boxes, kid sized! olivia got the yellow one with the green pouch around it and mason got the school bus. perfect for toy clean up! since most all of their toys are in their rooms now, they can bring them out in these and return them in these!

of course, daddy has not seen them yet...he loves my teacher scavenger ways!

so that explains it...

my earlier post, the wedding picture by our resident artisit, is now a bit clearer to me.
I thought it was just a cute picture dreamed up in the mid of a girl who likes all things girly.
perhaps not...

here is our bedtime conversation:

olivia: i told jacob, (friend at school), that my mom and dad will never break up
me: well that was nice to say, because we don't ever plan on breaking up honey
olivia: well he told me that's not true, and you will one day

holy schmoly jacob! thanks for the confidence!

i explained to her that he does not know mommy and daddy, and that sadly, maybe he has had to deal with this in his own life.

aren't kids just grand reality checks sometimes!?

for those of you who were not there...

...here is a picture of what olivia said is her daddy and i getting married...

come to think of it, nobody was there! we got married at the courthouse many calendar years ago!

so romantic, i know!

(tiny man in between us is "the priest who gives out answers like you will treat her good if she is sick")

priceless...

we're off to see the wizard...

our very small local theater is showing free movies on the weekends this fall. this weekend was The Wizard of Oz. it's a good day when you can take the whole fam to the movies for 10 bucks, (snacks are a must!) mason sweated his way through the movie, as he had some tylenol for his fever just before the movie, but enjoyed it anyway!

so leaving the movie, hubby and i were in agreement that it is truly a work of art! i am sure i saw the movie no less than twice a year growing up, but seeing it as an adult...well, just a fun experience.

so...here are some famous one liners from the beloved Oz...which is your favorite?

• Auntie Em: Now you go feed those hogs before they worry themselves into anemia! (my fave)


• Wicked Witch of the West: I'll get you my pretty... and your little dog too! (olivia's fave)


• Glinda, the Good Witch of the North: Only bad witches are ugly. (kelly's fave)


• Tin Woodsman: Now I know I have a heart, because it's breaking (surely not mason's fave, but let's pretend it is)

now, for some Oz trivia: did you know...

• The "oil" that was used to lubricate the Tin Man was not really oil. It was discovered that oil would not photograph well, so they used chocolate syrup instead.
• Shirley Temple was first considered for the role of Dorothy.
• Buddy Ebsen had been cast as the Scarecrow, and now switched roles with Bolger. But the aluminum powder makeup for the Tin Woodsman was toxic and Ebsen apparently had an allergic reaction to it as well. He left the picture, but his voice can still be heard in "Off to see the Wizard".
• Judy Garland's dress and blouse were in reality not white but pale pink. True white did not photograph properly in Technicolor and made the blue of her checked dress seem too bright.
• Many of the Wicked Witch of the West's scenes were either trimmed or deleted entirely, as Margaret Hamilton's performance was thought too frightening for audiences.
• During the haunted forest scene, several actors playing the Winged Monkeys were injured when the piano wires suspending them snapped, dropping them several feet to the floor of the sound stage.
• According to lead Munchkin Jerry Maren, the "little people" on the set were paid $50 per week for a 6-day work week, while Toto received $125 per week.

for much more Oz trivie, click here.

and finally, before the movie, olivia wanted to be the wicked witch, now she wants to be dorothy. mason still wants to be the lion. should be a fun halloween!

go away

you are not welcome here

they might be back

i can't stand it

can't he just be well?

mommy's turn

you surely didn't think i would wait until next week to attempt my phone call...

so today, feeling like i could use some extra time at work without my dear first grade daughter lurking and saying, " mommy look" every 10 seconds, i did it. i know, it wasn't dinner and margaritas with the gals, but it is a start!

i simply said:
"the son needs to be picked up by 4 and then come get the daughter."
and of course he said, "okay, no problem!"
WHAT!?!?!? so i could/should have been doing this sooner?

anyhoo, i sense that he was making up for the other night...
when i got home:
kids fed: check
kitchen cleaned up: check
homework started: check

now, plan B, work this in more often! but next time, i promise myself a more social outing, not standing at the copy machine at school!

is that a shoe print on your face?

picture day...

tomorrow...

and this is what he comes home with today

"i got stepped on! we were playing cops and robbers, i fell down like i got hit, and *sam* didn't stop, he kept running and ran over me"

* name changed to protect said cop/robber identity

but he did get a sticker for nice hands!

wednesday woes

just a few observations thus far this week
excuse my complaining in any of them
i rarely do that on here
but it is my blog
i'm entitled if i want

• and yes, this is first because it is heaviest on my mind...WHY is it that, in general, mommies do not have the luxury of calling home at 4:59 PM and saying, "Hey, bossman x asked y, z, and me out to dinner. I told him I'd talk to you first." Okay...first, he knows i am not going to say no...i'm not that wife. but it comes down to this...i could NEVER call from my place of work and say, "Hey, teacher gal x asked teachers y, z, and me out to dinner." that is too much for a daddy to handle. but you know what...i think i am going to pull one of these real soon...and y'all will be the first to know how it goes! did i mention i was putting a pot of chili on the stove when he called? (fyi...there will be no rebuttal here from the man of the house, just so you know!)
• mason, God love him. he has been struggling with nice hands at preschool in the last two weeks. he gets a sticker at school on a chart for using nice hands. when he gets all 5 in one week, he gets a prize. week 1, four stickers; week 2, (this week), no sticker today. on the way home, i asked him to tell me why he didn't get a sticker. he would not. but he did inform me that he wanted to watch a cartoon when he got home. i said, "sorry son, no sticker at school, no cartoon when you get home, that is how it works." to which he replied, "well, if you say that to me, i will not be your cuddle bug anymore." i'm not worried though, he can't resist a good cuddle!
• and lastly...olivia started CCD at church today after school. (every weds) (for those of you wondering what that is...christian education basically) so she tells me they were working on their pictures and the girl sitting across from them tells she and her friend to shut up and that their pictures are ugly. oh, and did i mention this is the teacher's daughter? details, details. hopefully they will learn more christianly behaviors than that!

well, that's all folks

my mind feels better

the scoop of chocolate ice cream i ate while posting didn't hurt either...

maybe that's why my pants ripped the other day!

wwyd? (what would you do?)

so today, i took the little man to the movie theater to see a free showing of shrek.
before that we went to the post office.
back at home, i notice...
A GINORMOUS hole in the A** of my PANTS!
ok, these pants, a fave of mine, were washed to death
that is what i tell myself, instead of thinking me rear is growing!

i have NO idea if it happened when i was at home
or if i exited the theater flashing the folks behind my
with my bright white undies!

the tear started along the seam of the pocket
and went south from there
frighteningly large.
how the hell did i not feel a draft?

so here is my question...
if you saw some poor woman
walking out of the post office
or out of the movie theater,
would you tell her she is flashing the world?

PS no picture with this post folks!

weekend recap...

this is what's not to like about sunday...

the next day is monday

and we are thrown back into the ebb and flow of the daily grind we call school and work

we had a very low key, laid back weekend

bike riding to the park...although 100 degrees is not enjoyable...

a father daughter dance on the living room floor, requested by olivia, to a rather funny song choice on the radio, but sweet nonetheless!

some apple dippin'...

lots of game playing

a whole lot of laundry

oh yeah, and haircuts, where, um, mason got a crew cut

...not intended...she missed the instructions to scissor cut the top...buzzzzzzzzzzz...


good weekend, aren't they all!? we love weekends!

you guessed it!

no fooling my family members!

monkey bread!

it was a sight...the four of us around the kitchen table, we started with plates, but that was no fun...we picked that sucker apart...yum...

what's in the oven?

what yummy treat is in my oven right now?
any guesses?

weekend wrap up, part II

lazy river
mason...could be found chucking rocks all day, or 'rescuing' people in his yellow rescue boat!
float much?
did you say we can go eat a cupcake now?
come on man, leaving so soon?

weekend wrap up, part I

this is all they want to do at the park these days...
she finally gets it to herself...
...well, for a minute anyway!
a game of hide-and-seek...and mason outsmarted big sister! he was so happy!
miss photogenic!