Slarty on!

Tonight G is at Grayson's house- having a sleepover. Yesterday I told him that he'd see Grayson today. He said, "For a playdate?!?!"

Me: Nope, even better. It starts with 'S'.

Him: Ssssssssss

Me: Then "L'

He and I together: SSsssslllllllll

Him, with total confidence: SsslllARTY!

Slarty? Really? Yes, Garrett, you get to go to Grayson's for a slarty.

Weekly Update

Wow, for such an addicted blogger, I am sure letting things go lately!
I can't even remember much of what has been going on here in the past 10 days. I emptied my camera today so here is a picture review of our life lately . . .


Last Wednesday, November 15 was super nice. The sun was out, and we all took advantage. The kids jumped on the trampoline, I hung clothes out to dry, every window in the house was open, and Joel worked outside. November 15! Unreal!
Carter has begun an obsession with 'toloring'. He 'tolors' all the time. I think he has done 5 color books in their entirety in the past two weeks. Have you ever even SEEN a full color book? In this picture he is coloring outside. It was so nice that I sent all the kids out, but he hauled the markers and colorbooks outside.


We had ice cream for dessert the other night. There was just enough in the carton that we all could have a little. Not good enough for Mr. Carter. He grabbed the empty container off the counter and drank it up. Yum!

This is Carter. In the coat/game closet. In these pictures he is crying in the closet. When he gets in trouble, that's where he goes to be dramatic and sob his little eyes out. It usually goes something like this:
Me: Carter! Why did you scribble on the coffee table.
Carter: Sorry Mama! Sorrysorrysorrysorry!
Me: Carter. It's naughty to scribble on furniture. We ONLY write on PAPER.
Carter's lip quivers and he runs to the closet, throws himself down and sobs. Sometimes he sits on the floor first, and then remembers about the closet and then throws himself down.

Carter is still a big fan of the frog costume. Thankfully he's forgotten about the pink dragon for the time being.

For more on Carter's activities during the week you should really read my friend Allison's blog. (You'll laugh a lot, truly.)

More Garrett

Yesterday morning I woke up The Bigs before I left for work. I clicked on G's light and gave him some kisses. (That warm little neck- just can't resist!)

He rolls over, eyes squished shut, and says in that gravely little voice, "I think I might need a eye patch today."

This took me a little by surprise, because, you know, we don't usually (ever) wear eye patches around here, but whatever. "Really? An eye patch? What makes you think you need an eye patch today?"

One eye still squinted shut he answered, "This eye here?" (Pointing.) "It's not feeling so good."

Right. Considering that up until a few months ago he'd scream "TOOOO BRIIIIIGHT!" Whenever a light anywhere in the house would be turned on, I decided to give it some time. When I checked on him later in the day in his class his eye seemed to be doing much better. (And no, it wasn't pink eye or anything like that. It was just, well, morning eye I guess.)

The other thing I want to say about Garrett is this. I've been trying to pop in his classroom in the mornings when I drop my students off at music or wherever. The look on his face when I walk in the room always makes my day. He looks so genuinely thrilled, so sincerely happy to see me. His face lights up, he smiles, and he hugs me so tightly. I am mostly sharing this because I know that there will be a day when he is embarrassed of me, or too busy for me, or whatever and I will really want to remember this.

Bringing Sexy Back.

Ok, not 'sexy' so much as plain ol' blogging.

Yes, this is me posting 6ish blogs at once.

I wanted to get caught up. Remember, this blog is for me as much (or more) than it is for you.

I won't blame you if you don't read them all . . . tonight.

Ha.

You can choose from:
Trick or Treat!
Final Soccer Match
First Day of School!
Family Project
History
Beach Weekend

P.S. Yes, I totally post dated all my entries. Hey if I can't change that small part of my reality to make me look organized and 'with it', then what can I do?

Beach Weekend

My dad is gearing up to head to warmer parts of the world and we thought we'd better spend a weekend together before he heads out. Off to Gleneden then for a weekend of relaxing, movie watching, and game playing.

I think the Bigs made it to the beach each day, but Joel, Carter, and I weren't quite as brave. So windy and rainy- no thanks. We just went down once.

That's FOAM! Isn't that crazy?

History

It's been said so many times already. "We watched History take place. We saw it." I have been thinking for days how to talk about what took place in our country on November 4th, and I still don't know how to do it. It is tough, knowing the bulk of the audience that reads this probably isn't all that thrilled with how history was made last week. I have to put that aside for a moment, and share our story.

I sat on the couch with my family, my children, and we watched it happen. I cooked dinner while Madeline ran into the kitchen every few minutes reporting, "52 minutes until the Arizona polls close, Mom!" and then, "One hour until our polls close!"

Earlier in the day I sat her down and told her that she needed to pay attention. I said, "Today, something will happen that you will remember for the rest of your life. Something will happen today that will be written about for generations to come. Someday you'll tell your kids about the night when you were 8 years old and you sat on the red couch with your mom, your dad, your wild little brothers and your papa, and you watched it." The kids watched us vote. We talked about 8 years ago how we went to bed thinking we had one president elect, and woke up with another, and for weeks didn't know for sure.

And then we watched. And we knew. For sure. And we watched grown men cry, who, in their lifetime had seen a time where they were not allowed to vote. We watched as part of our country, who had never felt they had a voice to contribute found their voice unite with ours.

It's not just the political side that has me thoughtful. It's not simply the youth or the race. All those variables work together to make me feel hope. But it's more than that. It's the fact that people who have never cared before, because 'it doesn't really matter anyway', cared. They were inspired enough, worked up enough, SICK AND TIRED enough to care. And to believe that citizens of this country can make a difference.

No, it won't be perfect. He is human. And happens to be president during the worst crisis the country and world has faced. So it probably won't be smooth sailing. For now though, I am encouraged, and yes, I am hopeful.

Not Gone for Good.

Wow. I don't think I've ever gone this long with out posting. Lately my 'must do' list has been so much longer than my 'want to do' list. Not fun. I have a few posts waiting in the wings.

I'll be back soon. I hope.

Family Project

I always used to send home family projects when I was a teacher. "Decorate this snowman together as a family!" Fun! Family bonding!

And the idea really is. But dang. Sometimes it's all I can do to make sure my kids are clean and at school on time.

So G brings home this tagboard turkey feather a few weeks ago to decorate. As a family. I thought, "Oh fun! We'll all help! Family time!"

And then, the feather got buried under mountains of who knows what. Thank goodness for Guilt though. It piled on top of me every time I walked past G's classroom (which is several times a day now since I am working at his school) and saw 'Mr. Turkey' acquiring more macaroni and cotton ball laced feathers each day. They were so cute. And I knew it was killing G that his wasn't there yet. G-U-I-L-T. My old friend.

Finally I got my proverbial act together and we got down to business. Garrett wanted to use fabric to decorate it, and Nana Pam has lots of fabric scraps from various quilting projects. My job was to cut the fabric into little squares. Garrett had a vision of what it would look like, and Maddy and Carter were to follow his lead. Joel was the resident glue-guy.

You know what? It was really fun. And it turned out really cute. Garrett was beyond thrilled with the whole thing, since you know, he's a middle child and all.

This expression means, "Thumbs up!" or "Quick Dad, we've gotta go!"

Phew. Bring it on, Family Project Time!

First Day of School!

What? First Day of School? Wasn't that 2 months ago, Sarri?

Well, yes, it was for my kids, my mom, and my friends. But for me, the first day of school was November 3. My friend Paige, asked me to work part time with her as she transitions from full time maternity leave, to part time teaching (currently), to full time again (after the holidays). I agreed- thought it would be a good way to make some Christmas moola and see if I am ready to get back into teaching. I have been observing student teachers for Linfield this fall and have loved being back in the classroom a little with that.

So far, it's been great. The kids are great. The parents are excited to have us there. It has felt so good to be thinking on my feet about subjects my brains hasn't accessed for nearly three years. When I am there, in front of the kids, I am so content.

It's also been a little crazy for me and my family getting used to me working again. I am pretty sure that I am not, in fact, ready to really get back into teaching at this point. I don't really know how to explain it. So, I guess that's all I have to say about that for the moment.

I wish I had a fun picture to go with this post. I got some new school outfits. And SHOES! But honestly, I have been too freaking tired to take a picture.

Final Soccer Match

That's G playing Goalie. He had 2 awesome saves and was quite proud!

Early Saturday morning (trust me, 9 am is early the day after Halloween!), we had our last soccer match. At halftime it started POURING. It was kind of a bummer since we'd had such perfect weather for the entire season, but at the same time, what more fitting way to wrap up a PacNW soccer season? The boys were mostly in great form. They were thrilled with the rain and excited about their last game. I wish I would have had 4 more halves because none of them were ready to be done. We had such a great group of kids and adults to work with.

Garrett LOVES playing soccer. He can't wait for it to start up again. He wasn't the star of the team, but dang, he's a decent little player. He surprised us with how aggressive he is, and has pretty great stamina. Of course, being our Garrett, he also produced a few belly laughs through out the season. Like when his supercool Umbros (soccer shorts for those of you not in the know), were somehow pulled up SO far that I was all of the sudden paniced that he had on Carter's. Or, on this very last game when the last quarter of the game he all of the sudden decided to be a total goof off while playing defense. He wasn't watching, wasn't playing, and was generally just not being himself. His competitive parents *coughJOELcough* were getting a little frustrated and thought of pulling him off the field, but then were reminded by some of our friends that getting wet is one of the things that may set Garrett completely over the edge, and really we were beyond lucky that he was out there ON the field and not curled up under the team bench in hysterics. So we, Joel, relaxed and were able to enjoy the rest of the game. (And of course, a few minutes later, when it was G's turn to come out, I caught him curled up on his Daddy's lap, while Daddy congratulated him on a great season.)

Things had gone south by here. That's the ball in the net. That's Garrett next to the goalie, looking off into the trees, not the least bit concerned that his team had just been scored on.

Of course, no season would be complete without medals and cupcakes and CB saved the day with awesome engraved medals and yummy cupcakes. In the rain, but still totally fun.

Lucky for us, Jeff and CB have a tent for the team. That will probably come in handy a few times in the next several years!

I totally stole this picture from Judy's blog! You can check it out for more soccer action shots.

Thank goodness for friends and relatives with cameras. I left mine in the car that day.

Thanks for a fun season Cougars! See you in the spring. Right?? RIGHT?!?!?!?