First Softball Game

Madison had her first softball game tonight. She was so excited! Grady and I had to miss it-he was home with a 102 fever. :( But, Todd said she played awesome. She got a hit, and caught a ball for an out. Yay softball!

Pictures to come soon. :)

Raindrops on Roses...

We had an awesome rainbow in our backyard last night. Rainbows are REALLY hard to photograph, but this is what I captured. Todd had them all packing their hiking gear to get to the pot of gold. Crazy kids.

Museum School

This is a big year for Grady. I guess he's graduating from the "toddlerworld," and moved into "kidworld." Along with soccer, we enrolled him in Museum School, which is maybe my favorite preschool activity of all. I stumbled upon it when Madison was three, and it was the perfect fit. We were on a very strict budget, so I hadn't enrolled her in any kind of Mother's Day Out program, and I had anxiety about that (of course, just chalk it up to Mother's Guilt). It was January before a spot opened for her, so we only had to pay half a year's tuition, but she was "dropped off" for "school" once a week for a few hours. It really was a brilliant plan, and satisfied all our needs. The fun science-based curriculum excited all of us, and I think really built a good foundation for school being fun. Tanner and I would play at the Museum or run errands around Fort Worth while she was in class, and when we picked her up, we would have a picnic outside by the dinosaurs and water fountains. I loved Museum School days.

Madison graduated, and Tanner attended during his preschool years; the fun was constant, and never seemed to get old for me or them. Grady's watched me drop off Tanner, Sam, and Isaac, always asking when it would be his turn. Now it is. Today, he told me all about rabbits, and how his teacher even brought a REAL LIVE one to class. I'm so excited for him, even though it means that he's just that much closer to being bigger-for real.

I ran out of fast...

Tonight, Grady went to his third soccer practice. He loves that he's big enough to have his own practice of some sort, and so very much wants to make a GOAL. Todd said he was really frustrated because he can't keep up with the "pack," and of course, in Grady's world that means the pack isn't sharing. We told him to run his fastest, try his hardest and he would get better and maybe make a goal.

In the most pitiful voice, all he said was, "I ran out of fast. I don't know how to get more." I know the feeling. I ran out of fast today too. I guess we'll both get some more vegetables in our dinners, and maybe that will help.

I'll drink to that....

Shelly brought over this bottle of wine last night to share for my Birthday. Being her, she had a card to match the label. That Shelly. :) But, she picked this wine for the story. Apparently, Kate and Cassie were BFFs that went into wine-making together. One liked Merlot, and one liked Cabernet Savignon. They combined their tastes into this wine. It was FABULOUS. A 5 on our scale, and now Shelly and I are wondering if we could pull off the same endeavor! Wine making sounds like an AWESOME job to us!

As if that wasn't enough, Todd commissioned a cake from his mom. A very healthy carrot cake. :) He even made me blow out candles after I got home from my meeting at 9:30 last night. It made me laugh, especially since he also insisted on taking pictures of the whole extravaganza. So now another year until an "all about me day." But then I'll be 35...I'm not sure I'm looking forward to many more of those kinds of days. :)

Birthday Dinner

Me: "Hey guys, go take a shower, we're going out to dinner for my birthday."

Tanner: "Are we going to SONIC???!!!!!"

Me: "Umm, hadn't planned on it. Why, is that my favorite place?"

Tanner: "You sure do like their Diet Cokes."



Guess I better lay off the Sonic Happy Hour for a while. :)

What a difference a classroom makes...

Today was my birthday and Christmas all rolled into one. My school did some "figuring" and found me a classroom to share with another teacher. Up until this point, I've been one of those traveling teachers with everything on a cart. I've tried really hard to be organized, and think I've done an ok job, but for the most part felt like a complete spaz. I spent a large amount of time organizing myself, logging out of computers, and finding supplies to get through whatever lesson I had planned for the day. I felt like a step-child of sorts being a half time "additional" (overflow isn't a happy enough word) teacher. I've hit a few brick walls getting settled, but as of today think I may have busted free.

Oh the wonderfulness of a classroom. I got more done today than all the other days of school rolled into one. Just the ability to keep my programs open on the computer all day saved me hours of inefficiency. I have hope that I can now be the teacher I want to be, the teacher I need to be.

And as if that wasn't enough perfection in one day, Sharyn and Natalie took me to an early bday dinner at Go Go Gumbo tonight. It really doesn't get any better than this.