Amazing Kids

This time, I'm not talking about my own kids! We are in the midst of the budget cycle for our school district, and tonight is the first of three nights of public hearings. Last Friday morning and again this morning I worked with two girls who are getting up at tonight's meeting, and in front of an auditorium full of parents and other assorted folks, are speaking.

First off the idea that they were not only willing, but that they wanted to get up and speak is impressive. And secondly, the speeches they wrote, well, let's just say that they hit the nail on the head. I couldn't have asked for better speeches from adults. So often adults get lost in the intricacies of the language and in our attempts to be concise or accurate, or whatever, we lose our message and our emotion. These two girls really hit home runs with their speeches. One even walked in with her speech complete, and after a few very minor edits, she is good to go. I am so proud of these two girls I can't even begin to express it. I fully expect at the meeting tonight a raucous crowd full of folks listening for exactly what these little girls are saying, and they'll definitely be happy when they hear these two speeches! So, to M and B, congrats on speeches well done ladies. You two are going a long way in life!

Kids behaving badly...sort of.

I HATE when the boys get up in the middle of the night and cause trouble, sneak stuff, whatever. It's the middle of the night and while some folks work at those terrible hours, for the rest of us the middle of the night is meant for sleeping.

Apparently my boys didn't get that memo from the home office. They were up at 5am night before last...playing Monopoly. Monopoly, really? Sneaking candy, reading dirty magazines, but Monopoly? I wonder if this is a sign of things to come. Needless to say we sent them to bed early that night.

Wordle

Here's the scoop on us in a cure little word cloud:

Apparently I know kids, I'm sleeping often, and I like work. Then again I'm particularly romantic, I have a nekkid cat, and a journey to Disney is wanted. Yep, that's me in a nutshell...at least this week!

Haiti

To all of those

we have lost

over the past few days,

may you

find peace

in the remainder

of your journey.

And to all of those

who have lost

everything,

you are in our thoughts

and prayers.

Pearls of Wisdom

Also know as - answers MOM has to come up with on the spot in the car (of course)!

Ian: Mom, where do you get money for your bank account? Uhhh....

and then a few minutes later:

Max: Why do you sing so soft when you sing in the car? Yeah....

Both took me completely by surprise and we ended up with a request for me to sing louder (agreed to as long as I know some of the words), and a long discussion about work and how we divide assets, etc, when the mom doesn't work outside the home and the dad does. The questions just kept coming. But hey, they told me that they wanted to hear me sing, not to be quiet, so I'll count this particular car trip as a win.

Are we missing out on vacations?

I often wonder if I'm missing the boat here by not taking more vacations. Granted, we generally sneak away once a year to Disney, but we don't go on all of those other fun trips that I so often read about on friends' blogs, in their holiday letters, or even on Facebook. One friend was even trying to decide this afternoon if she was taking her kids skiing tomorrow. And there's not nearly enough snow on the ground here to go skiing, so I assume that she's hauling them off somewhere.

So are we missing out by NOT taking vacations more often? I certainly don't feel like it all. I'm sort of a homebody these days, and would rather hang out here with the family than pack it in and trek across the state/county/world to see some sight. And doesn't everyone (well, except the kids) know that vacations are ten times the work for moms? It's not only getting ready for the vacation, but it's wrangling the little kids the entire time - being hyper vigilant because you never know what they'll get into in new surroundings - and thus it's ten times more stressful than a romantic getaway for two. Can't even remember what those things are like though - it's been years.

So I guess I'm looking over that fence, and while the grass is greener, it's still not enough to get me off the couch. Then again maybe when the kids are older it won't seem like such a daunting task.

Sound asleep

If I could, I'd sneak into my kids rooms every naptime and at night and take pictures of them sleeping - watching them grow and change over the years. I have pics of Max as a baby cuddled up next to the cat (rather, the cat cuddled up next to Max). I have pics of Ian and Sam, buck nekkid, sleeping UNDER their beds as toddlers. And now I have a pic of darling Lucy cuddled up with her favorite cuddles and hanging her feet out of the crib:

Go Muppets!

I absolutely LOVE this (and I think you will too!):

Ten Reasons Why it Sucks to Be the Parent

Definitely agree with these. As if I had written it myself.

Thanks Stimey!

My 2009 According to Facebook

Late in 2009 I jumped on in and joined the Facebook wave. Yeah, even though I swore it off before, I realized that there were a lot of connections that I wanted to make with folks and this was the easiest way to do it. And then this nifty little thing popped up - a brief summary of sorts of my year. But for me, apparently it's all about the back injury...and courtrooms...and a lack of delinquent kids (yeah, it was me in traffic court):

Funny, my 2009 was so much more busy than that. Guess I'm still not 100% plugged into Facebook!