It's pouring!

You know that old saying, "When it rains, it pours." Well, this week, it has been pouring. And I have tried hard to keep my usual positive attitude working for me, but friends, it has been tough.

I know that you do not want to hear me drone on about the details of the wild and crazy week we had. We are all here, on the other side. And nothing too terrible happened! But in the interest of getting it off my chest before I move forward and try to get back in the blog habit again, I am going to rattle off a list, OK?

Week of the Military child was a huge success at Jessa's school, but it required that I (and some days both kids) be up and dressed at school before 7:30 to help out. Yikes. There were also some lunches - yep, the PTO handed out 720 Popsicles, 720 cupcakes, and 720 bags of popcorn for every kid at the school. Whew!

Awesome Bay came to hand out candy for Army Day

I am so lucky to have a pediatrician here that I love because we spent time there this week. Twice. With 2 sinus infections for each baby. Yep. Lots of late nights alternating Tylenol and Motrin to try to bring down scary high fevers (both were generic, so no recall worries, I just did not want to spell out the active ingredients). And now we are choking down a course of antibiotics. But they are both doing so much better. Yay!

I had to make another long, long drive to the University of Missouri this week. But it was all good because this time it was to pick up my sweet kitty instead of dropping him off. He was wet from his post radiation isolation bath, but he was thrilled to be going home. He spent the trip yelling at me for leaving him and recounting the horrors that he suffered.

He alternated between trying to lick himself and repair the damage that had been done to his coat with meowing loudly, letting me know just what he had been through!

It was a LONG day that started at 7:30 at school, involved rushing to meet my Momma at the pediatrician's office with Spencer, and ended with everyone home again and on the mend. (Well, Stewart is locked in the guest room for 3 weeks to avoid direct contact with small children. We we only have 17 days left, but who's counting!?)

I got to go and see Oceans with Jessa's school. So. Much. Fun. On the bus ride, I got schooled on how to play Star Wars on Wii by one her little friends. If I understood correctly, C3PO has the secret codes, in case you were wondering. Oh, and we also decided after the movie that we were glad we lived in Illinois. The sweet boy said, "You know, Jessa's Mom, because no Great White Sharks." Point taken.

It was parent watch week at ballet. Jessa is a ham and is very excited about the recital, where she will be a butterfly. WITH wings.

AND she is not too shy to ask Bay for a hanky in the middle of class to blow her nose.

My Awana Cubbies practiced to sing in church this week.

Spencer, at Cubbies - the arm is his future wife, who is always sitting next to him!

And today (Sunday), they did it! I was so proud of them. Even Spencer, who had vowed to not sing, ever(!) went on the alter with his class. And well, he was up there.

I agreed to let him hold the "Cubbie Bear" that Bay painted for the class.

You can see his fingers!

Oh, and I backed into the garage door on Wednesday just before leaving for church and ballet. I thought I cleared it when I was backing in to load all the stuff I needed to take with me. I cried. David was not thrilled. BUT my crafty husband FIXED it. OK, he may have almost lost all of his fingers, but he fixed it! And with Bay's help, they even got the darn thing in working order again.

Jessa spilled GREEN fingernail polish on the carpet. It was only a few drops. And she was REALLY sorry. And when I was fussing at her for playing with nail polish without permission, she looked at me and said, "Well, Mom, at least I did tell you the truth." Yes, dear child, but the truth does not get the green polish out of the light gray carpet.

There was a PTO lunch meeting to plan next year's activities, etc. I went. It was potluck. I made potato salad. I met some new people. It was lovely. Oh, and before I left, they wrote out the slate of officers for next year. It will be voted on at the meeting on Monday. Am I forgetting something? Oh yes, now I remember. My name will be listed next to the office of "President." Oh. My. Word.

David. It was a crazy week preparing for a big trip (he left Saturday). Oh, and he had dinner with Bono. Well, he was in the same room where there was a dinner in Bono's honor. And the keynote speaker was Bill Clinton. Not to shabby. And Bono even wore purple shades! He is so cool.

And my Momma. Our May. She saved the day like a thousand times. Had she not been here, I could have made most things work. I could have dragged sick children with me to the University of Missouri. I could have packed coloring books for them to work on while I was busy at meetings. But nothing could replace my sweet babies being able to sleep as late as they needed to and lay around in their jommies all day when they were sick. And they had way more fun snuggling with May and watching Spongebob, than they would have being dragged all over town while I took care of everything that needed to be taken care of. She even drove Stewart home when I met her and Spencer at the doctor's office! She is so awesome and she was such a blessing and a Godsend this week. AND Bay even shared her and let her spend the night with us a couple times to help out! Yes, it caused them both to ask the tongue in cheek question, "Now tell me again, why did we have children???" They are so funny. I think. That question was tongue in cheek, right guys? Momma? Daddy? Guys??

So that was our week. I did get to spend a crazy amount of time with my Jessa, which was really nice. And Spencer spent lots of time with his May, just the way he likes it! We have all spent most of the weekend relaxing and getting over all the craziness. There were many naps taken. I am starting to feel human again, and you know, ready to tackle another week. . .

Now that I have all of that off of my chest, I promise to be a better blogger. You know, for the handful of you who stop by every now and again. . .

I get so emotional

My Mom was like a PTA superhero. Seriously. She was all over it. She was always at our schools. She was even the President of several PTAs/ PTSAs through the years. Growing up, Lucas and I were always around as she prepared for meetings and decorated bulletin boards and volunteered anytime there was an opportunity. She even enlisted Daddy's help constantly. He was even the Co-President once, I think. So to me, being involved in the PTA is sort of not optional. That is just what parents do, you know?

I distinctly remember sitting in the lobby of my dorm with David when we were first dating. I asked him if he planned to be a member of the PTA when he had kids. He already knew I was pretty nuts, so he did not skip a beat and said that he did plan to be involved in his children's education. This made it OK to keep dating him. I am not kidding; it has always been that important to me.

I was so pumped at the new family orientation as Jessa's school that I was given the chance to join their PTO (slightly different from a PTA, but the same general idea). I was thrilled beyond words. This sort of made it "official." And I was also fired up for my first meeting as a real parent who was a real member of a real PTO and a real school. Real, I tell you.

I volunteered to help out with several committees. I was so happy to be able to help out and be present at Jessa's school. I handed out my info and waited. Well, last week, I got an e-mail asking for volunteers to hand out Spirit Wear. The last Friday of each month, the kiddos are supposed to wear their school shirt, and the newly ordered ones were in. I immediately agreed to help.

So the day came. Spencer and I went to the office and got our visitor's pass and proceeded to the cafeteria. We got to spread out all the shirts and fill all the orders and get them all bundled up to deliver to the classrooms. I enjoyed making small talk with the other moms. Filling the orders wasn't tough because the t-shirt committee was very organized. I liked the feeling that I was being helpful. It was not a big time committment, either. But I was mainly just happy to be there. Happy to be in Jessa's first public school. I know I probably had a silly grin on my face the whole time! Spencer was such a good boy, too. He sat quietly at a table and colored and played with a train or two.

Then the time came to deliver the shirts to all the classrooms. I got to take a few to the Kindergarten rooms. I was about to burst with excitement as I headed down to her hall. But then I realized that they were not even in there. Bummer! I did get to look at her little spot at the table, though. And every classroom that Spencer passed, he would ask, "Is that Jessa's?"

Then Spencer and I delivered some more to other grades and other hallways. And I was all choked up the whole time. I mean, it smelled like a school. Like construction paper and glue and erasers and pencils. There was student artwork all over the walls. There were classes lined up heading in one direction or another. There were baskets full of lunch boxes outside all the classrooms. When I went into the rooms to make my deliveries, I got to hear snippets of lessons and look at all the brightly decorated classrooms. It is all so awesome. I can remember being in elementary school when everything was so exciting and new. And my heart was bursting with pride because my baby is now a part of all of this. The computer labs and the library and the gym. The cafeteria and the playground and the desks. I walked slowly (because Spencer is rarely in a hurry) and just took it all in. I had to get a hold of myself before we got back to the cafeteria with all the other, more emotionally stable mothers. Hopefully it was just the first of many days that I will spend in any number of schools for both of my children. I know it was an hour and a half of t-shirt sorting, but it felt huge for me.

Then this morning, I dragged my little student out of her bed on a dark and rainy morning. And I slipped her into her brand new school spirit shirt to send her off to the bus stop. I was so proud of my girl!!



And I would also like to point out that the entire family will be sporting shirts throughout the year. . .