Happy Birthday Dad

In honor of my Dad's birthday we will be placing our annual seed order to Jung's. Happy Birthday, Dad.  We miss you.

Why I Love Fridays

A few days ago, Cassie asked me if I really enjoyed my job.  I asked what made her think that I might not.  Cassie said, "Well, you are always so happy on Friday."  Oh, where do I begin?  Although I truly love my job, I am always happy to see Friday come.  Seriously, I love my job more than I ever imagined I could enjoy working.  But, for all of us, Friday is the signal of the weekend and a little down time.


Because I still don't have the time or money for professional therapy, I will vent by sharing the events of just 2 days of my life.  We are in the midst of federally mandated testing at work. We are testing the "Limited English Proficient" students and because I'm the Department Chair, it's pretty much my responsibility to make sure the testing gets done.  Most of you know that, although I'm extremely creative and innovative, being organized isn't necessarily one of my strengths.  But, I've been working like a maniac to assemble a testing roster, maintain security of the testing books, schedule the various sessions, etc.  So, I'm barely pausing to breathe at work.


On Wednesday, I left for home around 3:45.  Cassie had ballet at 4:30.  I had told Les that if he dropped her off, I'd bring her home.  I got to the dance studio by 4:50.  Les and Lacey were there.  We spent a couple minutes together, smiling and happy.  Then, they headed for home.  I ran to the beauty salon next door to get my eyebrows waxed - a small concession to myself.  Then, I ran to the supermarket to order Les' birthday cake.  I raced back to the dance studio and collected Cassie.  We got home around 5:45.  I forgot to mention that Cassie had a 6:45 Taekwondo Graduation Ceremony.  When we got home, Les was preparing to heat up some leftover pizza that was only about 10 days old.  I suggested that it might be more appropriate to feed that to the opossums.  I dug through the freezer and we ended up sharing some spicy taquitos (!), a bit of leftover spaghetti and some leftover green bean soup.  At 6:20, we were on our way to the Taekwondo graduation.  We all had to remove our shoes to enter the studio.  Wouldn't you know it - I was wearing my Halloween socks again!  By the way, we are extremely proud of Cassie for earning her purple belt.


We got home around 8:15 and hustled Lacey off to bed.  I remembered to check voice mail and discovered that Les had made a Friday afternoon dental appointment for the girls.  And he was planning to tell me this when?   I spent the next two hours working on lesson plans, etc.  I shut down the computer and decided to enjoy a few minutes of Law and Order.  At 10:45, Les said that, oh, by the way, he didn't have to leave until 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning and suggested that I let the sitter know she could sleep in.  And the reason he waited until 10:45 p.m. to share this with me was?


Got up at 4:30 a.m. on Thursday and dragged my tired body into the shower.   Threw on some clothes, went downstairs, threw the dishes in the dishwasher and fed the pets.  I packed the girls' lunches, made coffee, said goodbye to Les (who was still in bed) and left the house mumbling, "I hate you!"  Why don't I ever get to be the one to sleep in?


I had a late meeting and didn't leave for home until 5:30 p.m.  Stopped at the supermarket, in response to a call about Les' cake.  It seems the cake decorator doesn't work on Fridays and would not be able to fulfill the order for the awesome Bass Pro Shop cake that I had ordered for Les  So, I had to reorder.  As I dashed through the store, I remembered that the girls needed toothpaste and juice boxes.  And, we could probably use some fruit for breakfast and some fresh bread.  Why didn't I grab a cart on the way in?


I walked in the door at 6:45.  Les and the girls were engrossed in a movie and had kindly left dinner and all the dishes on the counter for me.  Lacey looked up and informed  me that "noodles all gone, Mommy."  I managed to get the dishes done without any breakage and then remembered that I was out of clean socks.  As I dragged a basket of laundry down the stairs, I yelled back to Cassie that Yes, I know that Goofy is a dog and I was very sorry that her friend doesn't like ballet.


So, yes, I love Fridays.  I'd probably love having a housekeeper even more!



Lacey with her "100 Day" Poster




Cassie Testing for her Purple Belt



Cassie Preparing to Break a Board

Les' Birthday - The girls sang him a song they composed titled, "My Family."

A big thanks to Julio and his brother for the work they are doing in our house.  They are making our kitchen look so happy!

Happy Valentine's Day

We're sending love to our family and friends!!

A Visit to the Sheep Farm

Today we had the great fortune of visiting Mark's sheep farm.  It was a new experience for all of us.  Cassie said she felt like she had stepped into a Boxcar Kid's novel!

"Dacks" the llama guard

Our host

Here are some words that describe the lambs:  adorable; bawling for their moms; cuddly; darling; energetic; frolicking; growing; hungry; innocent; joyful; kicking; lambs (of course!); memorable; noisy; organic (Oh, that would be what comes out of them!); playful; quick; restless; secret-telling; tottering; unbelievable; vocal; wonderful and wooly; extraordinary (Come on!  You didn't really think we could find a word that begins with "x," did you?); young; zig-zagging!


Too cute for words!



Sibling love

Curious eyes

Mother and Baby

Sassy Triplets

Stand by Me

One Black Sheep Out of 99!

Whispering Secrets

Running Back to the Barn

Lacey Learning About Farm Life, Including "Organic Fertilizer"

The Sheep in the Pasture

Cassie Meeting Dacks

Lovely Llamas

Seeing Double

Just have to post some surprising photos we got last night from our "spy cam."  (No, we didn't capture any of the neighbors running around nude!)

Les' Lucky Day

It's Les lucky day! The basement flooded last night and he's the one who gets to stay home!!!

Snow Days

We are in the midst of winter and the never-ending "snow days."  I'm going to highlight just a couple.  Wednesday, January 19th, the girls had a one-hour delay.  That means that school was starting an hour late.  I'm not really sure what difference an hour would really make if the roads were truly in bad shape.  It's not likely that an army of plows could clear all the side roads in the county in an hour.  It's even less likely that serious ice or snow would melt in an hour.  By the time the one-hour delay was announced, Les had already left for work. Our baby sitter is a college student and has to leave by 8:30 a.m.   I left the sitter with the kids and raced into work, arriving by 6:45 a.m.  As I was fumbling in my purse for my building pass, I pulled out one of Cassie's socks!  I got my class materials together and found someone to cover my first class.  I got back in the car and made it home by 8:00.  The girls were surprised to see me.  Cassie said that I looked "weird" because she wasn't used to seeing me before all my makeup was "rubbed off!"  I put the girls on the bus at 9:15 and made it back to school by 10:00.  I was really happy to go through these maneuvers.  Did I mention that this was an early release for the girls?  They ended up attending school from 10:45 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.  Les left early to pick them up.

Wednesday, January 26th, was a two-hour delay for me.  Of course, the girl's school was closed.  And, of course Les had already left for work when they announced the closure.  It's not that I wouldn't love to spend a day at home with the girls.  But, I burned a lot of leave when I was sick in December.  Les said that if I could bring the girls to work with me, he could work for a couple hours and then come by my school and collect the girls around 8:00 a.m.  I woke the girls and gave them breakfast.  They packed crayons and coloring books, reading books, stuffed animals, dolls, and lunch boxes.  As we were dragging everything out to the car, they decided to run back in the house for their blankets.  We finally hit the road and ended up in terrible traffic.  The girls slept for awhile, then woke up and ate their lunches.  En route, I discovered the mate to Cassie's sock on the seat next to me.  That's one mystery I'll never solve.  We finally pulled up to my building around 9:15, more than two hours after we left home.  Our one concession to the girls was to let them stretch their legs as they ran the 10 feet from my car to Les'.  At least he got to spend the rest of the day at home!

The weather forecasters are teasing us with the threat of an ice storm tonight.  And do you know what?  Les and I are actually praying that tomorrow will be a snow day.  I was summoned to the girl's school today to pick up Lacey after she had gotten sick all over the finger paintings.  That story, by the way, earned a rousing cheer from Cassie.  Well done, Lacey!  Anyway, Lacey can't return to school for 24 hours.  So, Les and I will be arm wrestling over who gets to stay home tomorrow.

Two Princesses