My Pledge

On our family blog I posted about how wonderful a dad Rob is, so on this blog I am going share the inspiration for my pledge to my husband. Feel free to share your thoughts on this one.

Go ahead and click on the picture to enlarge:

Swimming

Friday is a day off from swim lessons, so I took the kids to swim at our friends' house. Even though the lady of the house always assures me we can come "whenever", I always call ahead. I called around 10:15 this morning, and her teenage daughter was still sleeping and she didn't think they had any plans for the day.

I decided to get ready to leave ASAP so when the daughter got up and shared her plans with her mother, we would hopefully be out of the way by then. As it was close enough to lunch time that I didn't want to come home with cranky kids, I threw together a "snack lunch" of popcorn, pretzels, goldfish crackers, grapes, apples & peanut butter, cheese, and Gatorade. It was definitely a good plan because by the time we got suited and sunscreen covered, packed the food, put the dog out, dropped off some VBS materials at another friend's house, filled the van with gas (after having to turn the van because I pulled up on the wrong side of the pump?!), it was 11:15 when we got there. AND, just before we arrived the pool guys showed up. While they did their thing, the kids ate their lunch on the patio and patiently waited for the guys to be done. It didn't take long so with partially full tummies, the kids took off for the pool and we played for two hours.

We all had a great time and came home tired!

Jelly Jars

Just a word of advice: If you spill a little jelly on the outside of the jelly jar, make sure to clean it off before you put it back in the fridge.

You might think the worst thing that could happen if you did not follow this advice is that your hand might get a bit sticky the next time you pick up the jelly jar.

However, I had a "friend" who didn't quite get her jelly jar clean once and the next time she pulled it out of the door of her fridge, it actually stuck to the neighboring jar of jelly, pulled it up too (unbeknownst to said "friend"), and in transit from fridge to counter (still unknown to the "friend") the second, tag-along jelly jar dropped to the floor (now finally realized by the "friend"). Of course, the jar broke from the fall, and my "friend's" many small children were banned from her kitchen until she cleaned up the mess delaying the making of the PB/J sandwiches for which the many small children were waiting.

In conclusion, my "friend" recommends always, definitely clean up any dribbles of jelly on the outside of the jar!

New Job

I got the call today offering me the nursery coordinator position at church. I did actually have an interview for it (which made me chuckle a bit); as far as I know, they didn't actually call my references. I do have to fill out the paperwork for a background check, so I won't be officially hired until that all comes through. Then I will start working and getting my less than $200 month paycheck.

Upon accepting the job, I called Rob and told him come August, he was going to have play some catch up becase I would have two jobs to his one. Hee-hee! I THINK he will still be working more hours with his one job than my two combined, so I guess I will let him off the hook. And, to be fair, I have taken the better part of five years (the amount of time since we moved to Cape and Alexa was born) off from work, so maybe- just maybe, he's still ahead after all . . . that is if I actually kept track of those kinds of things! :)

My Little Brother

My little, okay, I should really say younger brother has been living in Europe for the last two years. He just got married this December to his Greek bride and I have shared pictures here (I hope they don't mind!). I am very proud of him. He is currently working on learning various coding languages for computer programming (although I probably didn't say that correctly), and his wife is in the market for a job. Unfortunately, they are not interested in moving to the US, so we will have to make good use of the internet to keep in touch and look forward to visits. We have yet to figure out how to afford the six of us traveling to Austria or how to afford me being gone for an entire week (really the only length of time to make the long trip worthwhile) to go visit on my own.

Just a note, his wedding was nothing like what is depicted in A Big Fat Greek Wedding, nor is his bride's family in any way/shape/form similar to the family in the film. Although I give my readers credit that you would be smart enough to know this, I feel obligated to make that statement.

Kids and Band-aids

The way I see it there are two kinds of kids.

1) The one who thinks a band-aid can cure any injury- no matter how big or small, no matter very real or quite imagined.

. . . and . . .

2) The one who can loose enough blood that they almost need a transfusion but doesn't notice or cry until you put a band-aid on it at which point the child thinks he/she must be permanently disabled and becomes paralyzed.

Way to Mom's Heart

Last night while reading books with Rachel and Cole, I had an "aaah moment". We were talking about the pictures on the page, and I asked about the flowers, "what do we do with flowers?" In asking this I was expecting the usual response of them leaning into the page like they were smelling the flowers. Instead, Cole turned on my lap, touched my chest, and said, "uh Mom" with a big smile.

Cole is not much of a talker; he says about 30-40 words -compared to Rachel who probably says over 150 and uses complete sentences. He doesn't combine words much either, but does verbalize some grunts and syllables here and there amongst his actual words. So . . . all this to really just to say his "uh Mom" really meant give them "to Mom"!

What a sweet (unexpected) answer from a very sweet boy!

Unsettling

I just wrote a resume, reference list, and cover letter. I haven't done that in years, and it felt very strange! I am not even applying for a "real" job, but it made me nervous just putting it all together as it led me to think of the day that I will go back to work at a "real" job. Yikes! I know stay-at-home-moms do it all the time so I am sure there will be a place for me somewhere, but whew!

So, if I am not applying for a real job, why am I doing this? you might be asking. The Nursery Coordinator position at our church is available. It is actually a paid position (I've never been at a church that pays for this spot), but it makes good enough money that I figure I can schedule workers on Sunday mornings as well as any other events that need childcare. It is a paid position but they don't have any formal application or anything (the previous person filling the position was also director of the early childhood center our church hosts and is retiring after 22 years), so I am doing the whole sha-bang of cover letter, resume, and references. These people know me, so it will be interesting to see if they actually get all official and call references, interview, etc. If they do, I guess I can chalk it up to good experience. What if I don't get the job though?! I guess I will have to come back here to share my misery with all my (three) loyal readers! You will help me feel better, right? :)

Whew!

First day of swim lessons was today. I was a little nervous for Alexa. Our parks and rec program offers lessons for 3-4 year olds in the kiddie pool, and then starts level 1 students in the big pool. Alexa (age 5) has done the kiddie pool thing the last two years, and really is beyond that, but I was concerned the jump to the big pool was going to be too much for her. Don't get me wrong, I know she CAN do it, it was just the matter of whether she was willing to try. She can get turned off by the littlest things sometimes and then just shut down (by the way, this is beyond frustrating for me). However, when I came to pick her up she was soaked head to toe and smiling! Whew!

The level 1 group had close to 20 kids and four instructors, so I asked her if they had split up. She said yes, the kids who knew how to (which I translated as were "willing to") put their heads in the water right away went to one group; the others in another group. She said by the end though she was putting her head in (not really a new thing for her, but she does have to be in the mood to do it) and trying to help another boy who didn't want to do it! YAY ALEXA! There are still many more days left, but I am much relieved that day one went so well for her.