Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Mother's Day

Today I got to spend the morning with Nick at school. Each October, his school hosts "Mother's Day." We spend the morning doing the activities they regularly do each day which is so fun to get to see what his day is like.
Reader's Theater: "Owen"

Nick's part was "Father"
At recess we played Monkey in the Middle with a couple of friends.  I got my first grass stain in years!

Each of the mom's names appeared in the math problems we worked on.  I loved helping him put his words in alphabetical order during Reading. And in art we made scary monster rocket ships! 

At lunch he said, "I wish you could stay longer!"  So sweet!

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

It was the Best of Times...

Today was going so great! 
Ran 3.5 miles, went to New Testament class, 
laundry was in the works, Courtney's senior photos came...


And then I got a great idea! 
Add Courtney's Senior photo (the one with the white background) 
to THIS wall!

And then in a FLASH, after the Great Idea, came the Great Remembering--
that she will be moving away... 
and the tears came as they so often do at the most unexpected times now. 
Sigh.



Monday, October 22, 2012

Perfect Fall Day

What a beautiful fall day!!  The wind was blowing hard and the trees and leaves were being blown all about. The temperature was perfect for being outside.

This afternoon Christopher and his two friends were jumping on the tramp and Nicholas and his friend were throwing the football. I went outside to start picking up chestnuts. A job I don't really mind when the weather is so nice and I'm wearing thick gloves to protect my hands from the spikes.

Then Christopher said he'd pick up chestnuts if I'd teach his friends how to do a back flip on the tramp. So I did. And when I demonstrated, one of the boys said,

"Wow! I wish my mom could do a Backflip!"

I felt about as proud as the time I did a double-flip. (Oh, yes I did -- when I was 10!)

And after working with them for 30 minutes, I taught both Matt and Zach how to do backflips by themselves. And then I taught Lucy and finally Nick. But Nick isn't ready to do it on his own yet.

The boys were actually excited when their moms said it was time to go home because they could go home and show their families how they learned how to do backflips!

Then I helped Chris learn how to use my camera on the tripod so he could light off firecrackers many times over and try to take a photo for his Reflections Entry, "The Magic of the Moment."

All this while dinner was cooking.  So today I was a pretty amazing mom.

Tonight for Family Home Evening we picked up more chestnuts and filled two curbside garbage cans. But then had to stop because we were out of room in the trash cans.  Everyone worked hard and happily because it felt so good to be outside -- even if it was work. 

Weather is forecasting a whole week like this.  Yay!




Monday, October 15, 2012

Mom of Boys

My sweet Christopher played the piano in church for the first time on Sunday. Marty was teasing him a little bit before he got up to play -- trying to psyche him out as older siblings are sometimes known to do...  But Christopher had really practiced and it showed! He played perfectly! 

As he walked down the aisle looking so handsome in his white shirt and tie, I was beaming.  He scooched into the pew next to me and I gave him a proud squeeze. Then he leaned over me to get closer to Marty and loudly whispered, "Suck it, Marty!" 

Yes, so very proud.