Middle School Jitters

So much has happened in the last 2 weeks that I don't even know where to begin. I think the biggest thing is the fact that Jordyn is starting Middle School next week. Did you all hear me? MIDDLE SCHOOL!

Last Tuesday, when I was out of town on business, Kevin took Jordyn to registration night slash picture day. Being the over bearing wife that I am, I left very DETAILED instructions on what forms needed to go to which stations and what things to be sure to look out for while AT registration. I was also nervous that in my absence, Jordyn wouldn't be picture day ready. Who would do her hair and apply some lip gloss and ensure that her outfit was put on the right way? Surely not Kevin! But, she's getting older and can do much of this herself now, (plus we sent her over to Nee Nee's first to have her hair smoothed out and lip gloss applied for good measure). Pictures (oh, and registration) went off with out a hitch.....Isn't she a BEAUTY?

Later that week, on Friday, I took Jordyn and some friends up to the Middle School to practice their locker combinations and to walk through their class schedules. HOLY MOLY! It took each girl at least 5 minutes to master the locker combinations, and it took Jordyn, oh about TWENTY minutes (and a LOT of tears) to get it down pat. I couldn't imagine what her first day would have been like had I not gone up there with her to practice this all important task (twice to the right, once to the left, back to the right).

I thought it would be nice for all of these friends to see where each other's lockers are before the first day of school since 4 elementaries are merging into 1 scary MIDDLE SCHOOL. And the fact that Jordyn has very few friends (that she knows of) in her classes doesn't have me worried in the least (lie lie lie). Will she make new friends as nice as the ones she has now????

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Then, on Sunday, I threw Jordyn a Back to School Beach Bash. And considering she's about to start MIDDLE SCHOOL (have I mentioned that yet?), we invited a handful of BOOOOYYYYZZZZ to the party along with the regular group of girls. I was a bit nervous about the boys, I must admit. I had horrible visions of out of control spin the bottle games and randy renditions of 3 minutes in the closet. But, since Kevin and I chaperoned so closely (it was a BEACH party after all), there really was no need for me to have worried. At one point, the kids insisted they play musical chairs. YES, musical chairs!!

That's me, the lifeguard! ..... Don't grow up too fast!

They had fun having swimming relay races from the beach to the paddle boat (stationed not too far from the beach). The winning team got to take the first turn on the paddle boat with me.

The kids were ALL very well behaved, the boys AND the girls. It was 3 hours of FUN FUN FUN. And after a couple of rainy, tornadoe-y, stormy days in a row, the weather couldn't have been more perfect. But, boy was I happy to see the last kid leave, and *bonus*, they took Jordyn with them when they left! :-) Thanks Tina!

THANKFULLY, I did NOT have to travel this week for work. Which is a good thing because being at home has allowed me to spend, hmmm, about 10 hours or so putting together Jordyn's school supplies. (She's missing the organization chip, or maybe that skill is a bit delayed in her development. I just hope that EVENTUALLY some of my ultra organized ways will rub off on her. She's actually come along way from how disorganized she used to be.) Anyway, I digress. So, I've been helping her organize her binder and printing off curriculum lists and assignments from teacher websites (and you thought elementary school's every day math was bad!?! School hasn't even started yet and she has assignments already!!)

So, I've got the jitters that I won't be able to keep up with Middle School.

Let's just hope Jordyn can!!

Bananas Haiku

One of my favorite blogs has a Haiku contest going on...hurry it ends tomorrow!

http://www.absolutelybananas.com/2007/08/giveaway-for-two-lucky-haiku-mamas.html

Aww Shucks

I received a phone call from a friend on Saturday morning who told me how much reading my blog has had an impact in her life, and she just thought I should know. WOW! Really? I had no idea she was even reading the blog (I mean, I know that I sent her the link, but I've sent the link to a TON of people who probably aren't reading it.)

When I asked her what about it was making an impact she just said that it has made her realize that she needs to live more in the moment and have a better outlook on her life, and most importantly it has inspired her to find herself again. You see, after 3 kids as a stay-at-home mom, she feels like she has lost touch with who she is as a person.

I think that many moms are in her shoes, whether they have one kid or seven, and whether they work outside the home or stay at home. When you have kids, it's SO easy to put them and your husband, and your house, and your yard, and your church, etc. first, ALL before yourself. And when you do that, there's nothing left for mom.

I for one, have never had this problem. I often put MYSELF first. Some people might say it's because I'm selfish. Others (like me) might say it's because I recognize that a happy and fulfilled self makes for a happy and fulfilled mommy, resulting in a happy and fulfilled home.

Don't get me wrong. I have my less than happy moments. I have said to my kids (more than once), "I used to be a very nice person....BEFORE I had kids". (childish, I know) But, I can honestly say, I've never lost sight of who I am. For that, I am grateful.

And to my friend, who inspired this self reflection, I say thanks. And in response to MY being an inspiration to HER, all I can say, is Aww Shucks.

Common Courtesy

As I boarded my plane Monday morning, with 15 minutes to spare, I was a little stressed at the whole rush rush rush that I had dealt with that morning (par for the course for my recent Monday mornings). Relieved to have made my flight, but still stressed about getting settled into my seat before take off, I rearranged the overhead bins so that I could cram my carry on into one of them to avoid checking any bags (baggage claim must be avoided at all costs).

Once that was done successfully, (Phew!), I squeezed into my middle seat and dropped my laptop bag (my heavy laptop bag) at my feet to squish it underneath the seat in front of me. One little problem, the woman in the window seat next to me had her foot in the drop zone of my laptop bag, in my section of the feet area. My laptop bag landed right on her foot. Right on her sprained foot.

"Oh my gosh, I am SOOOO sorry."
"My foot is sprained." was her annoyed reply
"From that? Just now? I'm so sorry"

Now, I knew full well that my laptop bag dropping on her toe didn't sprain her foot, but it was the only thought I could verbalize after being completely miffed by her failure to accept or acknowledge my sincere apology. She didn't even crack a smile. Her abrupt manner caused me to conclude that she must not be from here (Michigan). She must be from there (New York).

Sure enough, when we landed at LaGaurdia airport, she jumped on her BlackBerry to announce "Hi, I'm back from vacation, I just landed."

Surely not all New Yorkers are as rude as she was. But, I've run into a LOT who are.

I wonder how long it would take for me to harden against this unreciprocated courtesy? I try to be polite. I smile and say please and thank you., excuse me and after you. If I'm lucky, I'll get a grunt or a nod in reply. Will I soon be grunting instead of saying Good Morning or Hi, how are you? Maybe, if I kill 'em with kindness, there will be a change in NY manners, maybe THEY will start to be more like me, and soften against my example of common courtesy...I'm not holding my breath.

Things that make you go hmmmm

Just some things I saw at LaGuarida airport this afternoon that made me go hmmmm....

• A very nice looking, well dressed, well groomed man with the pinkest bubble gum pink socks you have ever seen
• A tattoo clad grandma (Ok, so she only had 2 tattoos that I could see) dressed in a tank top, daisy dukes, flip flops, and a BODY BY JAKE (I'm telling you, she was rock solid!)
• A young father traveling with a very cute baby - I'd guess 8 months old (so, why do I wonder where the mama is but when I see a mama and baby sans daddy, it doesn't even faze me)
• LOTS of yamikas (was it a Jewish holiday today or something?)
• A young girl (twenty ish) with a shirt on...that's it, a shirt, at least that's all it looked like she was wearing

I should add "people watching" as one of my favorite things to do in my profile...

Just ME and DAD!

This coming Friday is going to be relatively busy for our family...

Jordyn is going to a High School Musical 2 sleepover party at her friend Shelby's house.
Liam is going to a sleepover beach party at his friend Mitchell's house.
And I'm hosting the Glenmoor Gals book club for a discussion of "The Kite Runner" (along with the usual topics of our kids, husbands, neighbors, mothers, in-laws, and various other random topics having nothing to do with the book.)

So, that means that Kevin and Owen will have to find something to do on Friday night and make themselves scarce from the house.

Discussing this over dinner the other night, Liam graciously and sincerely told Owen that he could come to Mitchell's beach party with him if he wanted. Defiantly and with a winning grin, Owen replied, "NO! I'm not going to Mitchell's party with you. I'm going out with Dad. Just ME and DAD." OK, so in his foreign Owenish that few can understand, he might not have said this exactly verbatim, but that was definitely the gist of it.

Being the youngest, Owen rarely gets daddy to himself. And considering he is SUCH a daddy's boy, it will be a real treat to spend time together, just Owen and Dad.

Party Weekend

After being gone Mon-Thur in New Jersey for work last week, it was SOOO good to be back home with my family. The weekend went by all too quickly before I had to head back to Jersey EARLY Monday morning. But let me recap all of the fun that we had...

The weekend started off great when I arrived home from the airport an hour earlier than expected, before the boys went to bed. We spent a relaxing couple of hours on the deck. Kev taught Liam how to open a bottle of beer (something every six year old should know, notice the bottle opener in Liam's hand...)


and I taught Liam how to use the camera so he could take this picture of me & Kev (I think it turned out pretty well...)

On Friday evening Kevin and I went to the Tigers game and they were getting beaten horribly (8-2) by the A's, so we left the game in the 5th inning. The score ended up being 16-10, so it's a good thing we left. Kev went night fishing while I cleaned up the toy room. How do we let the boys turn the toy room into this disaster zone...

And then not make them help us turn it back into this place of serenity and calm...

On Saturday morning, I met some girlfriends for brunch, and again Liam tried out his photography skills taking a picture of me, Laura, and Cindy (who I used to work with at Delphi). This one was a little blurry, but still pretty darn good for a 6 year old.

In the afternoon, the Sprys (and my mom) came over to celebrate Liam's birthday since they weren't going to be around for his birthday party on Sunday. They brought their kayaks and we enjoyed a beautiful day in the lake. Liam caught an enormous perch. We grilled brats and later roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. It was such a fun day! Some of my favorite photos of the day:

Bailey & Jordyn in the kayaks

Kissing Cousins (these 2 can't get any cuter!)

Grandma & Liam

Owen holding up Liam's big perch

Aaron, Liam, & Owen around the campfire

Then, on Sunday, we had Liam's birthday party. What another gorgeous day. We were blessed with great weather, great company, and great times all weekend long.

Pics from the birthday party...

Liam and some buddies in the lake

Liam and some buddies opening presents

Mom, Liam, and Dad

Looking forward to another 3 days at home (and enjoying the lake) when I return again from Jersey this Thursday night. Too bad most of this weekend will be spent landscaping instead of relaxing!! I'll take pictures of that, too, and post next week.