12 Days of Christmas for Preschool Teachers

On the 12th day of Christmas, my students left for me:
-12 juice boxes
-11 finger paintings
-10 puppet crafts
-9 runny noses
-8 Goldfish crackers
-7 sticker charts
-6 potty breaks
-5 lesson plans
-4 sticks of glue
-3 packs of crayons
-2 glitter pens
-and an hour for arts and crafts time!

Dear Santa

People have been asking me what I want for Christmas. Honestly, I hadn't given it much thought until now. So, for your enjoyment, I've put together a list of what I want for Christmas. I'll be waiting, Santa...

1. Peace. On Earth? How about peace in my house? 5 minutes without fighting? Please?

2. A new coffee pot. Mine croaked. Right now I'm using one that is completely useless. If liquid sits in the pot for more than 2 minutes, it starts to evaporate. So, either it evaporates until nothing is there, or I drink a half a pot of coffee in 6 minutes flat.

3. A visit from the laundry fairy. Seriously, where is she?? I swear, I think I'm caught up on laundry, then someone screams, "I have no more clean underwear!", "I need clean socks", or someone pees/pukes on their sheets. That's my cue to re-start the laundry cycle. How about the laundry fairy take over that role for a week?

4. Paint. My living room walls are atrocious. Yes, kids, it's cute when you draw me pictures. It's NOT cute to draw me pictures on the living room walls. We can't wipe the walls off; our living room is painted with flat paint, so if you wash the walls, it stains it. I'd love a total re-do of the walls, so upon entering my house, it doesn't scream out, "Why yes, I DO have kids".

That's all I can think of for now.

Safe Haven Law

Nebraska's Safe Haven law sounded like heaven to me tonight, after my daughter pitched a 45 minute fit over a damn bathrobe, and the "wrong" way I was tying it. I tied it 2 different ways. There are 2 ways to tie a bathrobe. How else, pray tell, could I have tied it? After the screaming and kicking and stomping, and a spanking from me, I dreamed of a day that was tantrum-free. Of course, I would never drop my kids off anywhere like that, but after a day like this, one can dream, no?

I suck at blogging!

Wow, I have not been keeping up with my blog like I had hoped to. For some reason, I'm really busy now. I dunno, it could have something to do with that job I have now. Crazy talk, I know!

Honestly, life for me hasn't been exciting in the least bit. It's been ordinary, but as Phil Vassar puts it, "It's ok. It's so nice, It's just another day in paradise.
Well, there's no place that I'd rather be." Life has actually been quite lovely (aside from the kids being at each other's throats).

Scott and I got to have a kid-free night the other weekend, which was great. We went to the Haunted Caverns at Dixie Caverns, and then went out with some friends to play pool. Then we went home and ate some mozzarella stix and chicken wings. Yum.

My daughter is becoming the biggest tomboy. Now, she still loves girly things, like dresses, and princess anything, and makeup, but at the same time, she burps the alphabet and proudly announces, "I cut the cheese!" I guess that's what happens when you have two older brothers...

Not too much is going on with the boys. Tyler just finished up soccer season, and Hunter is begging to join Boy Scouts. School is, well, school. Hunter is getting awesome grades, but he's not quite as enthusiastic about it as he use to be. He went on a field trip to the Symphony yesterday, and reiterated about 1,000 times how boring it was. (Can't say I blame him...I never was that excited to go to the symphony either!) Tyler's teacher just informed me that he's on a 5th grade reading level, which doesn't surprise me at all.

I'm teaching pres-school, and I absolutely love it to pieces! The kids are awesome, and the work is tiring but fun.

Deep thoughts from me

So, I admit that I'm on a few internet message boards (being a stay-at-home mom gets to be lonely sometimes...). I've done some reading, and it never occurred to me before I saw this topic, but it's something that makes me think. I've heard from some women that some groups of people, feminists in particular, feel like being a stay-at-home mom is the epitome of everything feminism is against. Really? How so? Wasn't the whole purpose of the feminist movement to give women a CHOICE? To let them have their own voice? The feminist movement(s) gave women a voice in things like the voting process, reproductive rights (I'm not a fan of abortion, and I would never do it, but who are we to tell women what to do with their bodies?), as well as equality between men and women in the work force and in more equal wage earnings (think the bra burners of the 60's). But, what I'm wondering is, how is becoming a stay-at-home mom against everything that feminism stands for? Most women who become stay-at-home moms do it by CHOICE. That choice that was given to us by the women who protested in the 1920's and 1960's. Before that, it pretty much was assumed that women would stay home with the kids, being the good little housewife (think June Cleaver in her pearls and heels~no wonder they were hopped up on Prozac). Now, women have the CHOICE to either work outside the home, which I have the highest respect for those who do, or to stay at home with the kids. Isn't that what feminism is all about? Allowing women to have a voice in what they want to do? Shouldn't women have the right to do WHATEVER they want to, without being put down over their choice?

Obsessed?

My sister-in-law practically forced me to read a book, and now I'm enamored with it. What is it about a really good love story, intertwined with some good action, that captures a girl's attention? I suppose it's the fact that most women my age have been in relationships for some time, and the newness, the rush of that love, is usually gone by then. Reading about it, and the hero of the book, who is incredibly romantic, would do anything for the heroine, and wants her for all time, takes our breath away.

Anyway, the book has all that romance in it, but it has some hilarious scenes and lines in it, too. I'm dying for the movie to come out...although I bet I'll have to go to the movies by myself.

A new stage for me

Arissa is in a new stage... one I have not experienced before as a mom. It's the "I love this dress so much that I want to wear it every day" stage. Yeah, even when it smells bad. I don't know why, but she adores her pink sundress from The Children's Place. She's never been too intent on wearing dresses, but for some reason, this one she never wants to take off. I've already handwashed it twice this week (once after she got marker on it...washable, thank goodness!) I think she'd sleep in it if we let her. Well, at least her laundry isn't piling up as fast...

How can you not love t-ball?

Little boys (and girls) playing t-ball has to be the cutest thing ever! Seeing the kids in their cute little matching uniforms, batting helmets, which are waaaaay too big, scurrying from base to base, scuttling to catch the ball (sometimes it makes it to the outfield), and drawing in the dirt when the game has gone on for too long...And let's not forget those rare events that make the game more interesting. Like the kid in the outfield who screams, "I HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM!" Or the player who catches the ball in mid-field, and everyone cheers for him. Or the kids getting on the field together, slapping hands and saying, "Good game!" Watching the kids leave the field happy, after having fun with other kids their age, not worrying about who won or lost, who scored the most, who is or isn't a good player...the excitement of just playing is still there, before Little League turns it into one big competition.

The birds!

So, I drive a really lame car. Very lame, indeed. A minivan. I was pretty excited about it at first, but now, the fact that my mommy-ness follows me around everywhere I go, kids or no kids, is a bit irritating. I should have gone with the Suburban.

Anyway, since Spring has rolled around, I've had problems with birds using my car as their, um, restroom facilities. Not my neighbor's cars. Not my husband's car. My car. Why my car? Is there something special about my car that attracts birds? Is my car not lame enough? Do the birds convene with each other, trying to make my car lamer than it already is? Yeah, let's poop bomb the minivan! One on the windshield! A little on the side! Some on the bumper! (Yes, the BUMPER). That should make that lame minivan lamer! Washing it, yeah, that works...until the next bird comes along...

Adventures in Baking

I learned something this weekend. Something very valuable. The recipes in those glossy parenting magazines are usually ten times more complicated then they make them out to be. And I'm almost convinced that it's a conspiracy deal between the magazines and the grocery stores, so we, the readers, will feel like dumbasses and will buy anything at the grocery store to make up for our incompetent cooking skills.

I saw a recipe for some deee-licious chocolate caramel cupcakes, and thought, "Those would kick butt at my bake sale!" (Never mind the 80-degree sun beating down on me) I decided to make them, but after looking at the recipe, I decided to go the Pillsbury way with the cupcakes instead of making the batter from scratch. You'd think I would have done a more simplified icing. (Although I never, ever use icing out of the can. I always make the Wilton buttercream icing. It's really easy, too). No, not me. I was bound and determined to make the chocolate icing myself, including, yes, ladies and gents, the caramel, so I could be like Paula Dean or someone...

I made the icing with squares of chocolate (Ghiradelli, thank you very much!), butter, milk and confectioner's sugar. The time came to make the caramel. The recipe made it look oh SO easy peasy. 1 1/2 cups of sugar, with 1/4 cup of water in a small saucepan on the stove until it turns a dark amber color. Not too hard. The time came to slowly add the other 1/2 cup of water in 3 increments to the mixture. I added the first small bit, and...HISSSSSSS! The mixture started hissing at me, steamed up, and immediately hardened. Crap! It looked like something they made in Potions class in a Harry Potter movie. I went ahead and added water a second time, and it hissed again, and got even harder (insert sex joke here). I kept stirring, but the caramel crystallized and hardened to the bottom of my saucepan. Well, what the crap good is it going to do me hardened to my saucepan? So I stirred it the best I could, and tried to scrape my caramel out of my pan, but it looked more like rock salt with a little sauce at this point. And I didn't think people would like small crystallized pieces of sugar in their icing. So I made a nice batch of double chocolate cupcakes.

Next time, I'm buying the jarred stuff.