My Little Friends.....

How do I explain my job as a special education teacher to my little girls? It's hard. Made harder since they attend my school and know all my little friends.

I am now picking up a classmate of Abby's three times a week for some one on one attention. Abby knows she needs help and will often assist her during class....with the teacher's blessing. Abby said to me today...."When you come pick up C, you need to get M and R too because they don't know their letters either."

I sure wish I could but.....I can't.

I am at a loss as to how to explain why some kids get to see me and some don't.

All children need help at some point.

All children could benefit from one on one attention.

But not all children can come see me.

Although, I've had some ask their moms to "sign them up" for my class!

I don't want my girls to think any less of a friend or think differently of a peer because that child is one of my little buddies.

On the other hand, my girls are learning compassion for others. Abby thrives on helping her peers who are struggling. Anna Grace has become the best pal for a non-verbal little girl in her class.

I love that!

But I still come back to.....how do I explain my job?

Sigh. I guess I'll figure it out one day.

Or maybe Katie will before me since she is heading down the same path....

Spring Break! Oh my....

Sixteen more hours! Two more days!

And….(drum roll)....spring break arrives. Just in time.

Whew.

And what, you ask, are our grand plans?

Absolutely nothing. I plan to stay in my jammies, read books, be lazy, and do as little as I can. As long as no one is going hungry, all will be fine in my little world.

My only firm plan is to get the rack and pinion replaced in my van. Whoo hoo. What excitement. I can feel the thrill in the air......(and see the money flying away).

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Dummy me mentioned our overwhelming spring break plans to my dad, the wanna be comedian.

His comment?

“Well, it finally happened too you also. After you turn 44, your rack and pinion begin to fray and warp. It's sad how that happens. That's why you need to replace them.”

Sad thing is…..I had to do the math to see if I was truly 44.

I couldn’t remember.

My poor van and I must be really over the hill.

Hope your spring break is much more entertaining.

The Sassy Child

I hope you are sitting down for what I am about to tell you will astound you.

Hold on to your seats.

Guess what?

This particular child cannot be quiet.


And she picks and chooses when to follow directions.

Are you shocked?

Today in her agenda from school was a note from her teacher:

"Anna lost two points for talking excessively and loudly in the hall and in class, and for being in the wrong place during class."

Now, we get these notes every other week or so.

But today's note had a bit extra.

The guilty child wrote mom a message just under the teacher's note:

"Please don't tell me. I know."

When I asked her about her message to me, she said....

"I know. I need to be quiet. I can't play in class. I need to listen to my teacher."

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Guess it's easier said then done, huh?

The Great Car Search

Here we go again. It’s time to find another kid car.

Another car to go from Point A to Point B.

Another car to get to and from school, to and from work. A simple request.

I don’t care what we get.

I don’t care if it’s cute.

I don’t care how cool or not cool it is.

After all, it will be cooler than the car I had in high school and college.

You know what I mean….the nonexistent car. Yep, I had nothing.

Thus began the search for the oh so wonderful, come to save us, kind of car.

And in my local area, this is what I found….













You have got to be kidding me. I mean, I know we live in Georgia, but.....seriously??

Isn’t anyone selling a boring old sedan or coupe anymore???

Mama is getting desperate.

(all photos truly are from vehicles for sale in our town....the motor home is one Katie found somewhere in the area via Craigslist....)

Adventures in Katie-Land

Have you ever been to Katie-Land? It’s an interesting place. Even she will admit to that. Life is pink, perky, and never quite normal. There’s always a glitch in the system somewhere.

We had an enchanting visit in Katie-Land yesterday. Let me set the stage…..

*Katie with a borrowed Suburban (thank you Tracy and Clay!!!) that likes to start when the mood is just right. And, the mood is not right very often.

*Katie coming home for a friend’s wedding shower….an hour drive…lots of gas needed.

*New kid car coming this week (please, oh please, let me find something!)

So……knowing we were hoping to find a new car, I told her we’d return the aforementioned truck to its very generous owners and send her back with one of ours for the week until we found something new.

Sounds simple, right? Uh huh. Keep reading.

After Katie attended the wedding shower, I met her at a local grocery store where she and her friends had left the truck in perfect “jumping” position just in case.

Guess what, it started. Whoo hoo!

“Mom, I really need to put more gas in it.”

“Okay, it’s one mile to the gas station.”

And off we trucked…literally.

As we traveled along a two lane road with very little shoulder room, I kept an eye on her.

An ambulance flew by us so everyone pulled off the shoulder as much as possible.

We then started going again……well, all but Katie.

She had pulled off onto the shoulder and came to a dead stop.

You know why?

Evidently E really does mean empty.

Oh. Good. Grief.

Toss in mom borrowing a gas can at the gas station to replenish the tank, forgetting cars won’t start when still in drive, and having to jump the truck on the side of the road, and that would complete our adventures.

Just use your imagination. I promise you the reality was much more interesting.

Twenty Years Ago....

Twenty years ago, Dave returned from the Gulf War.

Twenty years ago, I was 38 weeks pregnant.

Twenty years ago, we spent the day in Savannah at the St. Patrick’s Day festivities.

Twenty years ago, I went into labor (after spending the day in Savannah!).

Twenty years ago, I woke up Dave and said the ominous words…..”Come on, let’s go.”

Twenty years ago, he was so tired that he asked, “Go where?’

(I told him Burger King……and he has not lived that down.)

Twenty years ago, we welcomed our first born into the world.

I am shocked and amazed that so much time has passed. How can she be 20? I flash back through the years and remember…

….an irritable baby who only wanted to be held

….a busy, cantankerous toddler who pushed mommy over the edge

…a shy, unsure preschooler

…a brave first grader making three school changes in one year

…a little ballet dancer

…an energetic Irish dancer

…a focused soccer player

…a studious student (always)

…an outgoing teen, forever talking

…an awesome big sister

…a friend to all

How can twenty years already have passed?

How can my baby be in college?

How can she no longer declare herself a teen but a young adult?

How can I be old enough to have a twenty year old? (don't go there!)

Happy birthday to my sweet baby girl, my Irish Princess, my first born, and my guinea pig.

I love you.

A Horribly Bad Day

Just imagine if your day went so horribly wrong that you ended up in a police car.

You sit there shaking your head in bewilderment wondering how on earth you ended up in the back seat of this vehicle.

You twiddle your thumbs as best you can and wait for the officers to finish their business and join you.

And as you wait ever so patiently, for after all, what other choice do you have.....you look straight ahead and on the seat in front of you, you see.....

Now, I'm thinking if you are sitting in the backseat of a police car, you can probably state with confidence that "Life is NOT Good."

And before you ask, NO, I was not in a police car. But I did see one today parked at a local store, saw this sticker on the back of the passenger's seat, and started laughing.

Some poor, unsuspecting law breaker will be arrested soon, tossed into the backseat, look up, and see this wonderful tidbit of news.

And all the way to jail, I feel certain the aforementioned outlaw will not find this quite as amusing as I do right now.

Social Networking.....

Dork that I am, I spent the past two nights rereading my blog. Yep, I did. It brought back lots of memories. Memories that made me laugh and made me cry. More crying than not....

And made me realize that I am so off the blogging chart right now, it's not even funny. I think all my creative juices have left the building. I just don't take the time to sit down and write. I may in my brain, but not on paper......so to speak.

All my funnies appear quickly on Facebook. Maybe that is my downfall. Quick and easy access to a blurb makes me less likely to write about it. Less likely to take the time to tell the whole story in more than twenty words. After all, when you spend your day thinking in "Facebook status", most comments are kept short.

So I am rethinking this whole social networking thing. As much as I love it, is it a detriment to people? Are we getting used to short blurbs about life? A few words seem to tell a whole story. How?

What happened to the emails of yesteryear, blog posts about life, or better yet, the handwritten letters to others? Does anyone write letters anymore? Not just the obligatory thank yous for gifts, but real letters?

Are we short changing ourselves with the quick texts, twitters, facebook status updates, and more? Is this why we have a hard time composing thoughts?

Our teens have grown up with the social networking. My little ones talk about facebook, email, and texting. The convenience is awesome but what about the long run? Are we killing our writing, our composing, our creativity, our work ethic?

I refer back to my dorkness when I say, perhaps we should return to the letter writing days of the dark ages. Even a phone call to Grandma would avoid the casualness and ease of "Social Networking".

What do you think?