Life as a Leach

Caleb is officially a preschooler!  He is attending a program called Mom's Morning Out at our church on Fridays and is loving it.  He adores his teacher and my sister is the assistant, so he is in very good hands! The anti-social boy has been a little slow to join the group and actively participate, but he did join everyone else during Circle Time last week.  He didn't actually participate , but we're doing baby steps! Apparently, he didn't care for the lunch I packed him on his first day.  He kept trying to steal the other kids' chips.  That next week, Caleb and I went to the grocery store and picked out some lunch choices for him.  He now has a basket of healthy (but tasty!) snacks from which he can choose!

I admit it.  I absolutely LOVE this new show Glee on Fox.  It is hysterical, and I'm not one to laugh out loud at television. The most I normally do is chuckle a bit, but I can either identify with or connect someone I know to every character on that show.  If you haven't become a Gleek yet, take the plunge!

Yes, I am listening to the Alan Jackson concert going on a mile from my house. No, it doesn't annoy me that I can hear the music loud and clear from inside my house with the TV on and the dog whining. Yes, I have been singing along. No, Matt has not been! ___________________________________________________________________________________ Yes, I went to a concert tonight to raise money for the Calvert Community Churches Food Pantry. No, I did not find it entertaining. Yes, I love my dad very much and wanted to support him, even if the concert really wasn't my style. No, Caleb did not behave overly well (but what two year old would when he's listening to church choir music for an hour and a half?!) ___________________________________________________________________________________ Yes, I have exactly ONE paper, TWO group presentations, and TWELVE hours of class left before I am done with my master's program! No, I will not miss taking graduate classes....

Let me know what you think!

Yes, I know my blog is a disaster right now.  A hideous, striped, obnoxious disaster!  I'll keep working on it, but I'm tired tonight!

I am exactly three Saturdays away from finishing the last class in my master's program.  Excited?  THAT DOESN'T BEGIN TO DESCRIBE IT!!!!!!   I am ridiculously thrilled to be so close to the end.  Thankfully, the class I am taking doesn't seem to be too horrible.  The work is pretty minimal and the class is pretty interesting. I'm just really tired all of the time and missing the restfulness that Saturdays can bring.  It's pretty rough having to get up at the same time every day of the week!  I'm nearly halfway there though.... I think I can I know I can!

Ready for two cute (although one slightly disturbing) stories???? Story #1 Caleb:  (randomly while eating dinner) I don't want to be put in the oven and come out a snowman. Me:  I'm pretty sure you're safe on that one. Caleb:  Oh good! Story #2 Me:  (as Caleb is enjoying his veggie chips that he doesn't realize are good for him) Caleb, why are you crunching up chips on the table? Caleb:  (very matter of factly ) I'm killing them.  They're going to see Saint Peter. Makes perfect sense to me!  Do I have any idea where he learned about Saint Peter?  NOPE!  I don't think we've ever even mentioned the name Peter, much less explained his role in Heaven!  Hmmm...

When you work at a camp for three summers and volunteer for several more years during the off-season, you can get a little bit attached!  So was I a little distraught when we bought a house too far away to reasonably drive to Wabanna to continue working Day Camp or run Low Elements?  Um, yeah.  BUT, adultism set in and I began to realize that it just wasn't feasible--especially when we were living on an...ahem... extremely tight budget! Anyway, I still have a special place in my heart for this wonderful camp that taught me so much about myself and helped me build wonderful lasting relationships.  I guess the fact that I met rediscovered my future husband there isn't too bad either! If you're looking for a fabulous camp to send your kids, look no further. Caleb will definitely be going there one day!  They have a ton of great off-season activities too.  It really is amazing. Check out this video I found.  I love how it goes back to Wabanna ro...

I have my most delightful conversations with Caleb in the car.  He's as undistracted as a two-year-old can be, and I don't really have anything else to do....except drive!  Check out this conversation we had last week on the way to church: Caleb:  Look at that boat! Me:  I see it!  Cool, huh? Caleb:  I'm going to drive that boat when I get little.  I'm going to delivery chocolate.  I'm not going to eat any though! Me:  Oh really?  Do they normally deliver chocolate by boat? Caleb:   Yep.  And you, and Daddy, and Becky can ride it.  But you can only eat one piece of chocoate, Momma! Me:  Okay, that sounds good. Who is going to buy you the boat? Caleb:  Mommom.  She's gonna get it from the boat shop. Me:  Hmmm.  I see.  Mommom's going to buy you lots of things, it seems. Caleb:  Yep.  A boat, a bus, a car, another bus, a train...and I'm going to go fishing for ...

Let's start with this.  Caleb has a few a plethera of stuffed toys.  Somehow, they seem to be multiplying.  We got a shelf that my grandmother gave to us that we put up tonight and got two of the stuffed toys up on it.  There were many more on the floor though!  Caleb loves every toy he owns and has a lot of difficulty throws massive tantrums at the thought of parting with them. In an effort to get a baby doll out of Caleb's bedroom and back downstairs, Matt decided to be sly.  When I was talking to Caleb during his bedtime routine, Matt chucked the baby doll behind him.  While this was supposed to go out the door and into the hallway not to be seen by our son, Baby Rachel actually hit the door and bounced off with a resounding thud.  Caleb bolts out of bed and screams, "MY BAAAAAABY!" like a terrified mother pointing to her sweet child in a burning building.  Did he cry?  Why, yes he did! What did we do during this tantrum?...

*  I did not have a kid use his tongue to push his pencil across his desk this week.  That would be absolutely disgusting and not becoming of 4th graders.  I have not taken to referring to this kid as the desk licker.  I do not also have a chair chewer and a potty dancer in the same class.  I have certainly taught my students appropriate fourth grade behavior and instilled in them the importance of healthy habits.  Naturally, I incorporate all of these life lessons into our Voluntary  State Curriculum. *  I did not have Matt start a camp fire only to have it start raining on us.  Of course, when Matt asked me about the ominous weather before he started the fire, I didn't check the forecast and see that it said it would be totally clear all night!!!   I wasn't at all disappointed in this change or events.  I certainly didn't put two marshmallows on my fork and head out to our sputtering fire pit in the pouring down rain refr...

Today was an interesting day.  In the span of 5 minutes, three things happened: *  I stopped in the middle of teaching to watch in horrified awe as a student used his tongue to push his pencil across his desk.  His reply to my disgust?  "It's my pencil!"  We now call him Desk Licker. *  Another student randomly jumps up just a few minutes later right after I started teaching again and begins jumping around and "dancing."  I recognize this immediately as the potty dance, but ask calmly, "May I help you?"  He loudly announced, "I gotta PEE!!!!"  I made him aware that Caleb and my dog do the potty dance.  Since he is neither two or a dog, he needs to sit quietly and raise his hand to go to the bathroom.  We now call him Potty Dancer.  (Cue the tune, "Tiny Dancer...") *  A third child begins noisily gnawing on the back of her chair as she strattles it backwards in the middle of the lesson I am so desperately trying to f...

I can't seem to get in the habit of doing this every week, but I've finally come to grips with it.  Afterall, I'm back to my "school life" now and can't do everything!  Sooooooo, I'll do Wordless Wednesday whenever I can!  (Have I actually ever made it a true Wordless Wednesday??)  :)