Monday Monday

I am reflective on a few things and thought I'd put them down "on paper".

Jeff is traveling for work tonight. I'm use to him doing this. When we were first married I missed him terribly and couldn't (wouldn't) get to bed at a decent time....it felt like something was missing.

Then we had kids. One time Jeff was traveling for 2 full weeks to Malaysia. Joe was 4 and Jack was just over a year. We started traveling through WI - visiting family and friends. It is a tradition that continues with the kids and me still today. So, when Jeff would travel I'd be so exhausted from being up early with the kids that I'd go to bed easily! The mornings were always the roughest. Get the 3 kids up, dressed, fed (sometimes even nursed or bottle) - get myself dressed and off to day care / school. I was often late. (Ok, I was always late).

Now that the kids are older - they set alarms, get themselves up (except for Jenna), showered, dressed, and fed. I can get up a bit earlier to get Jenna up and going....but still have time to pull myself together. I can take the kids to school (Jeff usually does this when he's home) - and still get to work - only NOW I'm on time.

I like the change that has happened with how easy it is to take care of the kids (now that they can take care of themselves)....however, I'm still having difficulty in arranging all of our after school events with pick ups etc. For example: after school today I had to pick the kids up from school and return them to my school. We had a school event and I had to be there. The kids were able to be fed - and space and time was set for doing homework. (They chose to have fun and walk around) - so after the event was over - I had to return home and assist with homework - do tuck ins - and 'relax'. It is now 10:30 PM and I'm ready to head to bed. Thursday isn't much better. Track meet for Joe, Night class for Jeff, Jackson has a program at 7 PM and my students have their program at 6:30 (different schools). Makes me wonder if it would be a good idea to have my kids come to my school next year.

Monday Monday......

Beautiful Day

It was a beautiful day today. I had a great moment with my 4th graders today. During our planned science class I decided to do a contest. I had two large paper bags and told the class I had a contest and needed two teams. I said the boys would be one team and the girls would be the other. Since I only have 9 girls and 11 boys I said I would be on the girls team. Well, the contest was to collect the most garbage from around our school (today is Earth Day, after all). Well, all of the kids were so excited - especially about competing with each other. So after 15 minutes we were about 1/2 way done walking around the school grounds. Lunch recess was going on, so we couldn't even go near that area. I asked them if they wanted to be done and go back to our air conditioned classroom (it was about 77 degrees today)....or did they want to continue. They all wanted to keep picking up garbage. They were delighted with all of the weird items they picked up - some money, pokemon cards, misc junk. So we finished up with in 10 minutes and walked back to our room.

I asked the principal to come and see all of the JUNK we picked up and he stopped by and complemented my class on their great work.

So, who was the winner????? Our school was. It lucked out to get all of the junk picked up. So, to reward my class for their 20 minutes of garbage duty I allowed them 20 minutes of an extra recess.

It was a great learning moment. They felt good about what they did - helped their school - worked as a team - and enjoyed a fun recess. The interesting thing was that when we were coming back in from recess (on the playground that we missed cleaning) - that the kids had a few pieces of trash they picked up to throw away!

It really was a beautiful day!

Jackson turned DOUBLE DIGITS on April 14th.

Spring Break - making cookies at Grandma and Grandpa Primmer's new house. (FFF - Forced Family Fun)


(Easter Sunday - Jackson and Jenna looked so cute!)


Jackson and his very large marble cake


Jackson got his lap top for his birthday! Yes, it is very small!!!!


I can't believe Jackson is now 10. It's such a big step when you hit 'DOUBLE DIGITS'! We had a belated celebration with some friends from church. We took them to "The Amazing Pizza Machine". (It really is AMAZING!) Fun was had by ALL! (Even Jeff!)


Jackson and Jenna participated in the church's Easter Contata. Joe got slimed during the church Easter Egg Hunt. He was a good sport.



We are starting the countdown until Summer Vacation! We are wishing for some more Nebraska sun - looks like it will be here at the end of the week. We have just 26 school days left. There are lots of meetings, fieldtrips, programs, assignments. It is always a stressful time of year. Jeff is doing a lot of traveling for work during the next 3 weeks. It's a lot to stress for him, too. he's still taking classes - but I think he sees the light at the end of the tunnel with all of his hard work. He should have his MBA by December of THIS YEAR!!!!!

Wednesday

It has been a crazy busy week. Jeff was gone to New Jersey and I had lots of school commitments. Luckily I arrived on time for all of them. Monday I had a district meeting. I enjoyed hearing what some teachers were doing with literacy work stations, and I loved being able to share my ideas. I had to leave early to get Joe from track - then drop him at home before getting Jackson and Jenna. I took Jack and Jenna to my school for our science open house. It was just one hour from leaving my meeting to walking into my school with a pizza prior to our open house.

Tuesday was much the same. Picked up Jack and Jenna for piano. Jeff was home from New Jersey, so he picked up Joe.....run run run.

Tonight - got Joe from track, got the kids, fed them and rushed them to church. I went to the grocery store to get things for Jenna's birthday.....made 6 dozen cookies and a cake. Tomorrow my baby turns 8.

I'm excited for my parents to come out here. I miss them and wish they lived closer. They wanted to be here for Jenna's birthday, Joe's track meet, and Jackson's concert for the school district. Jeff has class tomorrow when all of these events happen. I'm glad my parents will be able to see them. They will stay through the weekend so we can celebrate Jenna's birthday, have our Easter dinner, and see Jackson and Jenna's Easter show at church.

Next week is spring break. We will follow my parents back to Wisconsin. I can't wait to have a week away from school work.

I've had a lot of compliments on my hair. It's hard to hear people to on and on about how different I look with it. I just say thanks and tell them that I was able to donate it to Locks of Love. I'm amazed that I actually did it! So many times I thought - "Just get it cut"....but I accomplished one goal I set my mind to.

Jeff works so hard on his classwork. I hope he is able to enjoy the peace and quiet while we are gone to Wisconsin next week. We'll be back on Good Friday, but Jeff will be on his way to Ellsworth. WI to see his family. The kids and I have commitments with church that we need to be here for. I wonder what I should do for an Easter Dinner on Easter...perhaps we will go out!!!!

Life is good!