I is for I

1. I think it would be fun if like five Wysocki puzzles fell to the ground, and they all got mixed together, and I had to restore them to their proper box.

Even better if it was raining or snowing outside, and some family was here visiting.

This actually kind of happened this summer. Remember at the house in Tahoe? It was raining outside, and we got out puzzles and realized that some of the pieces were mixed together. We took it upon ourselves to put things in order.

 

2. I don't mind watching Caillou. I can't believe I am admitting this. More so because it's a banal and boring thing to talk about than that I'm embarrassed by it. But I will soldier on in my banalities...

I always assume that Caillou is annoying, but when it's on in the background, I find myself wondering what mundane preschool lesson he's gonna unravel today.

 

 3. I like to watch windshield wipers at work. When I'm stopped at a red light, I turn them off and let the water accumulate as much as possible before the light turns green. It's so satisfying to turn them back on and wipe the window clean.

Jim once observed, "the person who made wipers probably also made the spatula".

**at this point in this post, I realize what an exciting person I am. go back and reread entries 1-3.
I bet you want to come hang out with me.**

 

4. I fear mob mentality way more than I fear a scary monster or alien. For instance, once we were watching The War of the Worlds and the giant aliens were supposed to be scary, but they didn't inflict any kind of fear within me. In fact, they bored me ("here we go...enter the redundant fight scene"), but the scenes that truly made me sweat where when the mob of people fought over a car that could lead them to safety. It made me claustrophobic.

Now, stay with me while I tangent to another kind of mob mentality that I fear...the mob mentality found in facebook and other social medias.

People are so quick to make up their mind about a topic without researching it, or processing the information, or even questioning the validity of a source. They have to "pick a side" right that hot second, and since they've declared an allegiance toward one side or another, they must facelessly argue to the death about something they just became passionate about two seconds ago.

Furthermore, how do we decide what tragedies we decorate our profile pictures for, and what tragedies we ignore?

It literally scares me how much of a "mob" we have become on ye olde Facebook. "Get yer pitchforks ready! The Mormons are at it again!"

 

5. I was having a particularly "thankless" day a little while back, you know when you're taking orders from every kid and trying your best to fulfill their demands, all the while they continue to express their unhappiness with how you are doing your mom duties? And I realized that I needed to, in that exact moment, TELL them to thank me. I said, "I am working hard to make you food and make you happy, so you need to thank me for doing all of these things for you."

And, ta da! they softened their tones and thanked me for doing x, y, and z. Evan even came and gave me a hug.

So the moral to this mom lightbulb moment is that - just like all behaviors I correct and teach my kids, I need to correct and teach them to THANK me when a thank you is due (instead of doing my usual "ugg being a mom is so thankless, why don't they acknowledge me? waa waa waa").

 

6. My struggle with decorating continues. I want to like the crap I put on my walls. I really do. 

So, the other day I did this wall, and I genuinely love it.

So, yeah.

7. I subbed for Evan's class today and it was so fun. I can't believe what a great student he is. He is not the same child as the one that roams the halls of this home. He's so focused and on task and polite and quiet. It makes me happy.
I thought he would have a hard time with me being his mom/teacher, but he just acted like everything was normal.
PS the night before he gave me a play by play of how the day goes. "first we do the days of the week, then we do weather, then we sing Ali Bubba,..."

 



G is for Good Day

7:00 

Up and at em! Time for school.

Evan pretty much doesn't stop talking from the moment his feet his the ground until I wave goodbye at the bus stop.

He keeps demonstrating that he can count to 100.

Over and over.

7:15

Breakfast. Get shoes on. Read your homework that you were supposed to read last night.

Fight over the "seahawks cup".

7:25

Out the door to the bus stop.

Poor Jinx.

Evan really wants a cat of his own.

It's cold this morning. 

I wave good bye and hurry home.

8:00

Warm house. Andrew is awake.

8:30

Laundry day.

Get dressed.

Andrew lines up his Backyardigans.

I love these laundry pods. 

It's so beautiful out there this morning. Clear, cold, and low morning fog.

9:00

Make oatmeal bran mufffins before the buttermilk goes bad. 

It's actually two days expired, but it smells like it should, so I use it. 

9:30

Play.

10:00

Today's chore: clean my bathroom. Hi.

This is the worst chore to do, but my favorite when it's all done. I love a clean, shiny bathroom. 

11:00

Bike ride. Brrr. My face, ears, and toes are cold. Everything else is toasty. 

It's pretty out here, but too cold to ride for long. I only go about 13 miles. 

My phone dies right about here.

1:30

Andrew goes down for a nap.

Jim goes on a ride.

 He's back in the saddle.

I would have also accepted: he's back in black.

1:31

The kids are just getting off the bus, and are so excited to see him at the corner.

Today is an early out for parent/teacher conferences.

I love this - all four feet are off the ground.

Welcome home!

They empty their backpacks all over the house and have a muffin. 

I love that instead of coloring in the newspaper, he drew pictures. 

2:00

Chores. 

Avery really wants this one dolphin book from the book order, so she wipes down the baseboards to earn money. 

2:17

I fold all that dang laundry. 

3:00

This half day business is throwing us off. The kids are a bit cagey, but find a way to entertain themselves while I take a little nap. 

I love a good 3:00 nap.

Eventually I throw them outside and tell them to go find some friends to play with.

No friends are home. (turns out they all went to the new park after school. we should have gone.)

3:30

Andrew awakes. 

Jim gets home. 

Jinx hangs out at our house for a while. 

4:00

Put laundry away.

4:30

Start dinner.

Tacos.

The crunchy shelled kind that kids like.

5:00

Dinner.

Avery eats like, five tacos. She declares this is her favorite dinner.

5:30

Jim downloads the movie The Chipmunk's Adventure.

I used to watch this when I was a kid. It is such a fun one, good music and all that. 

After the movie is over, Avery pretends to be asleep.

Jim carries her up to bed.

7:30

Bedtime!

Jim roars like a monster and sends the boys into a tizzy.

Avery is still on my bed pretending to be asleep.

Read a book.

Avery still pretending.

8:00

Teeth brushed, stickers got, prayers said, boys in bed... time to read some Harry Potter.

I didn't mean to pick the most boring day ever to catalogue. But it was perfectly boring.

It was also kind of weird. The half day schedule threw us off or something. 

With all that's going on in the world right now, I realize what a treasure this day is - completely carefree. 

My kids have no idea the storm brewing "over there". No idea that so many people are literally running for their lives. No idea of the complications of the whole thing. How do we even begin to fix this crazy world? 

I don't even know. 

S is for South Surrey Rec Center

 

I would also have accepted "S is for Soccer".

 

Wednesday afternoons we head up to Surrey for Evan's soccer class.

First they have team meeting,

then they dribble around for a while,

then they kick the ball.

Evan is at least three feet taller than everyone around him. It cracks me up.

This little guy in grey is our friend Emmett. He's kinda short, and Evan is kinda tall, so their height difference is exaggerated, and it cracks me up.

 

On the other side of the gym curtain is "stay and play" where Andrew is let loose on all these fun rec center toys.

 I would have also accepted "S is for Stay and Play".

 

It's the perfect set up because both boys are entertained and I can stand in the middle and chit chat with Emmett's mom for an hour.

 

 

Then when soccer is over, the big boys come to stay and play.

And we stay and play until they close up shop and our kids help clean up all the toys for fun.