Traditions

I started a tradition of taking the kids out for ice cream after their first & last day of school. This year I started another great tradition that I will look forward to for many years to come - Margaritas for Mommies after the first day of school. Five of us gathered to celebrate - and gave the kids an opportunity to play and talk about how fun school is. After all - it's all about the kids, right? It was great fun for everyone!!!  I contemplated Mimosas for Mommies after we drop them off, but then I figured that would just lead to a very unproductive day.

They say every day isn't great....

Every day isn't great - but there is something great in every day.  This weekend was living proof of that.  To me, weekends start on Friday afternoon, and this week my Friday afternoon was ROUGH.  Despite it being the birthday of 2 wonderful people {Michael and Eleanor} it was also the day of the memorial service for my children's principal {Mr. C} and the day I found out about some complications that happened to my friend and her child during the babies delivery.  To say the least, that part of the weekend was not great. I sobbed the entire memorial service. I honestly couldn't control myself and walked away with a wal-mart bag full of used kleenex (I'm a smart thinker and brought in my own box of tissues). My mind was then busy praying for my friend and her baby. 

To help me snap out of my funk I decided to share the great things that did happen this weekend. Things I am very grateful for:

* My youngest decided that once the baby (mentioned above) was born - he would no longer use training wheels while bike riding.  By golly he stayed true to his word and on Friday he was riding without training wheels. The most amazing part is that I didn't have to help him AT ALL ~ he just took off riding and did it! (I did find out later that he had been practicing at day care.)

* I got to go shopping while camping. A girl's dream come true!  The hubby and kids when on a scheduled hike with a group of other people and I wanted to dash up to the hospital to check on friend/baby.  After finding out that they were improving wonderfully I had time to run to a few stores and stop at a few garage sales (that just happened to be en route to the stores). I got some screaming deals at the Real Deals store (that is only open two days a week), picked up some great sale items at JoAnn Fabric, and found some stuff for camping at the garage sales.  The hike was a success for the rest of my family and my outing was a success for me!

* During the camping trip I got to spend some quality times with the kids in the great outdoors. No bill paying, tv watching, house cleaning, or laundry washing to distract us.  (We also enjoyed more reeses peanut butter cup smores - YUM.)

* One day/night I got to read the first numbered book in the Janet Evanovich series about Stephanie Plum. I'd been wanting to find a good book that was an easy entertaining read and I got that with this book. I was actually bummed that I didn't have #2 with me so I could start reading it too.

* I got to enjoy a fun four wheeler ride with Jennifer (a different one) and our kids.  We first went on a nice mommies only ride and then picked up the youngsters. With them we stopped to take pictures by a waterfall and even let the kids pick out a rock to keep as a souvenir (because you know a kid can never have to many rocks).  I haven't been on a four wheeler for probably 7 years so it was nice to go on a relaxing ride with a friend and share it with a child too.

* After coming back home (and taking necessary showers) we headed back to town and enjoyed a dinner out at our favorite burrito restaurant and then peeked in on friend/baby to discover they were both doing AWESOME!!! Baby was making huge improvements and Mommy was recovering really well.  Talk about putting a smile on my face and warmth in my heart!

Here are a few other photos from the weekend.

All the kids and teachers were invited up on stage during the memorial service to sing the school motto in memory of their principal. Then everybody got together (arms linked) and sang 'take me out to the ball game' in his memory because he loved baseball. It was a really special moment where we were all able to come together in Mr C's honor.

The ONLY way to eat a smore from here on out!! How did I not think of this sooner?

I love how I'm not the only one who can just stare at a campfire. I'm not sure why it is so mesmerizing and requires people to stare at it for hours.

Sample of above mentioned fire.

There were a few minor injuries while camping.  Two bike wrecks and a woman (me) who thought she could chop wood - while wood decided it should fly off at warp speed and hit me in my shin.

The hole in my heart

There is a hole in my heart today, a hole in my boy's school, and a hole in our community.  I try to keep my blog posts whimsical and uplifting - unfortunately this post will not be like that. This post in in honor of my boy's principal who passed away this weekend (I think due to complications from a heart attack).  To respect his family, who doesn't know me from Eve, I will just call him Mr. C. 

Ever since Mr. C found my son standing by the side of the road waiting for his daycare to pick him up after school (they left without him)- and sent him back inside to the warmth and safety of the secretaries office so she could call me to come and get him - Mr. C has been a saint in my book.  He is the principal that knew every kids name and was constantly seen walking the halls/perimeter of the school interacting with the students/parents/teachers.  He was a very hands on principal who held little competitions over the school intercom and kept kids active.  To put it simply - he was a great man.

I had a family tragedy of my own a few years ago so I am all to familiar to the damn grief cycle and right now I am MAD. Real MAD. Not at Mr. C - heck no - I could never be mad at him - I am mad that such a wonderful man who touched so many lives and affected the future of our children was taken away at such a young age.  He was only 53.   I'm mad at myself for never thinking about the fact that he also had a family of his own - because to me that school was his family.  I am mad that despite him living a healthy life and being a runner - that it wasn't enough.  I am mad for many other selfish reasons.  I am also sad - so very sad because I know he still had a long fulfilling life ahead of him and it was taken away from him to soon. 

I hope this blog post helps me find some peace because damn it - I don't want to put on my big girl panties and deal with the reality that this is life - that it happens every day to loved one. I know that first hand from my own tragedy and it just reminds me that I don't deal well with death.  Friends I know have lost parents, siblings, and even spouses and I haven't dealt well with those losses either. I have a hard time comforting them properly perhaps because I know first hand the pain they are feeling - and it adds and extra hole to my heart to know I can't help them - I can't take away their pain - I can't change the outcome - and that quite possibly the only way the pain softens a little is with time and the only way they will know that is with time.  There is no use telling them that 'time heals' because it takes a long - long time.  You will never fully get over the heartache, but the ache will eventually soften.

I am currently reading a book called Miler Markers by Kristin Armstrong and just yesterday I read a paragraph that seems truer today than yesterday. "When people are hurting we want to reach out, help, solve, assist, support, love and comfort.  Yet our desires are often thwarted by futility. We can't cure cancer. We can't heal a child.  For as much as we wish we could, we can't always make things okay." I think that sums up pretty well how helpless and mad I currently feel.

I hate the saying 'everything happens for a reason', because I see no reason for the loss of my loved one, my friend's brother, my friend's husband, or Mr. C.  They were all good people - and instead bad people still get to live on this earth. 

Right now I think the best thing I can do is to continue to remind my children that they need to properly honor Mr. C by doing what I can only assume he would have wanted them to do - and that is to live their life to the fullest, always try their hardest and do their best, never take life for granted, and to always be respectful, responsible, and ready to learn. 

I'll end this post in tears and by trying to remind all of us to practice some of the words in the country song "live like you were dying".  Hug your kids longer tonight, give them extra kisses, and hope that the hundreds of kids that had Mr. C as a principal are dealing with this better than I am.

Sweet Summertime

I love summer. I mean really LOVE summer. I grew up in the south where we had 9 months of summer and now I live in the northwest where we have 9 months of winter. I hate snow - therefore I hate winter. I mean HATE winter.  When summer finally arrives here - its days are always numbered.  Only a few short weeks left and then poof - it will be gone.  Gone will be the days of capris and no coat.  Gone will be sandals and sunscreen. Boo hoo. I had a panic last weekend when I saw this:

Hay bales in a field. You may ask why hay bales would make me panic.  Hay bales = fall (which is not summer). I like fall, it's enjoyable....it reminds me of pumpkin pie and chili.  But it also brings snow - evil, horrible, cold snow. Bleh...I feel sick already. 
The only good thing that came out of this photo above is that it made me want to do a photo homage to summer.


Summer,

I love your... fresh fruit,

vegetable gardens,

campfires that roast marshmallows and make smores,

flowers,

farm fun,

green grass,

Family hikes,

bike rides, camping trips, swimming, runs without layers, nights that stay light past 5 pm, and hot days that provide a fabulous excuse for ice cream.  I will miss you when fall comes - hurry back!!!





School supply shopping - a mother/child bonding moment

I am so excited. I just discovered that at least one of my kids has a similar interest as me -back to school shopping!!! He actually wanted to go along and enjoyed every last minute of it.

(At least that's the memory I will hold on to forever.) 

I remember when I was younger I loved to get new school supplies. I swear that even the smell was alluring (pencils? erasers?).  A brand new trapper keeper, lunch box, and spiral notebooks with unicorns - what more could a girl want???

Driving home the unthinkable happened. My son said he wished school would start tomorrow. I asked why and his answer was "so I can start using my new supplies".  My heart swooned.

I was quickly brought back to reality when my youngest (who didn't want to shop with us) was severely disappointed at his lack of a new sharpie marker for kindergarten.   He couldn't understand why kindergartners don't get sharpie markers.  I'll let you ponder the top 100 reasons yourself.

Welcome

Last night I stayed up late reading other blogs {thanks Andrea for showing me a few}. Now I am hooked and decided to give it a try.  I figure I usually don't have a problem sharing my opinion with others {my mom said I should have gone in to debate} so here you go.  My motto is "it is what it is" because after all, it is.  I'm not sure what I'll write about yet, but hopefully you will enjoy what I share, if not, I understand. No biggie.  I'll probably talk about running {my current passion}, baking, reading, movies, hiking, recipes, things I am thankful for, and other 'stuff'' that interests me.  Enjoy!