She's A Winner!

Sometime last week I received a call from the kids' elementary school saying that MED had won an award for their Writing Masters Program. To give you a little background, the Writing Masters Program is held every year and every student in the school has to participate. Various teachers from the school score the students' writing and they choose honorable mentions, and first, second, and third place. For the last two years, we've been invited for CED. This year it was MEDs turn. K was able to go to the school to watch her receive her award and, to our surprised pleasure, MED won first place for all four classes of kindergarten!!! K said she was so surprised and didn't realize that she had won first place until he was able to tell her after the presentations. She was so modest throughout the whole thing. That is until Thursday when she wanted to wear her first place medal around her neck. That's gotta make you smile.

MED had to write about what it would be like if she was a princess. Her story begins "I love that I have a boutlofl (beautiful) castle. I am so prity. I would trn (turn) my flamilmy (family) in to a prince or a prinss (princess)..." She continued on with an additional seven sentences. Her teacher told us a few weeks back that when the kinder students had to write three sentences, MED would always write 6 or more. She just loves to write. We're so proud of you MED!

The Graduations Are Going To Kill Us

This year we have three kids all having promotions or graduations pretty much at the same time. MED is being 'promoted' to 1st grade (a very big deal for kindergarteners!) and her ceremony is next Thursday morning at 9:00. CED is graduating from 5th grade, with her program next Wednesday evening. And JAD is graduating from 8th grade - 8th grade, folks! And, of course, every child needs something nice to wear. Fortunately, our next door neighbor keeps giving us the clothes that her daughter has outgrown and we have inherited some beautiful dresses. CED needed something nice to wear, so she picked out a dress at Kohl's last weekend. JAD's ceremony requires a suit. I guess that's what we get when your child goes to a prestigious charter school. All the girls have to wear a nice light colored dress (no skirts!) which must be pre-approved and the boys must wear a suit (no sportcoats) with a faculty approved tie. Craziness, but I know that it will be a really nice ceremony with all those kids all dressed up. It's a busy time of year!

Two Decades

Twenty years ago today K and I were sitting in the car at Illinois Beach State Park and he asked me, officially, to be his girlfriend. That day has segued into sixteen (almost) years of marriage, five kids, and three states. I am so happy that we met all those many years ago. We have gone through many happy moments and some difficult, as many marriages do. However, I am the luckiest girl alive for having snagged the man I have.

I love you more than you'll ever know, K I can't wait to see what the next twenty years will bring!

Mother's Day

I hope that all the mothers out there had a great day yesterday. The weather here was ideal - sunny, warm with temps in the low 80s - and I spent the day inside. If you remember, on Soccerday I got fried. Yes, fried. Today my students were amazed at how red my legs are (it's Skirt Monday - something my teammate and I instituted about a month ago, so I was in a skirt where all could see the lobster-like legs I'm currently sporting). So, K wouldn't let me go outside even though it was a beautiful day. As I walked out of my bedroom yesterday morning, these are the signs that greeted me as I walked around:


K made breakfast - homemade waffles with blueberries and a potato/onion/pepper/sausage skillet creation - and then the kids gave me their gifts. I received beautiful hand-drawn pictures, a letter written by MED, and a paragraph written by JED. It was all very beautiful and thoughtful. We pretty much just relaxed around the house, except for a short stint out to Kohl's where I spent some gift cards I had. All in all, it was a very relaxing laid-back day. A huge thank you to my husband who walks side by side with me in this whole parenting deal!

Soccerday Wrap-up

Today we had three games (what else is new?) that, fortunately, kept us close to home. The day started off with JADs 8:00 game (which meant we were up by six - ack!). The boys handily won the game 6-1. We even put a boy in at keeper for the entire second half that NEVER plays this position EVER. That's how much the boys dominated the game. After the last couple of rough weeks, it was good to see them win a game. CEDs game followed later at 12:30. The girls played a lot of the game on our side of the field (that's never reassuring), but they scored just before the half and managed to hang on until the end. The other team was subbing girls 5 at a time... we had one sub. The sun was shining, the temperature was warm and all of the girls - both teams included - were hot and tired by the end. They've gotten used to playing in the cold weather we've been having, ironically, on weekends. Playing with the temps in the upper 70s threw them all for a loop. I, on the other hand, was thoroughly enjoying my time in the warm weather and sun. Well, that is until I realized my legs were completely fried. They are now a very bright, bright red. It's not so pleasant and enjoyable now.
JEDs game was five minutes down the road from CEDs game, but started at 1:00, so I couldn't be there. JEDs team won their game as well with a score of 5-2. JED scored every. single. goal. His coach, if you remember, wants him to score and apparently that's just what he did today. K kept sending me texts updating me on the score at JEDs game. The first goal came in the first minute. What a way to set a precedent for the game!
I hope you all had an equally pleasant Soccerday. We are still outside enjoying the warm weather. I, however, am wrapped in blankets and all other sorts of cold weather gear because my nearly blistered skin is making the night air (which is currently at 69 degrees) feel positively frigid. Lesson learned - skin not exposed all winter needs to be covered the first warm and sunny day so as not to become lobster-like. But it was a great Soccerday. :)

Nice Night

Tonight was our first 'real' nice night of the Spring season. It was 80 degrees here in the southern Springs (and will be all weekend - yay!), which made for a very pleasant evening outside. The kids were playing out in the cul-de-sac when I got home from school and they came in only for a brief stint to eat dinner. As soon as they were done, they all bolted out the door to enjoy the evening. MAD spent a lot of time tearing up the place on her bike (she may look wobbly, but she can steer around now and pedals fiercely as she goes) while the others ran around with a soccer ball or on their bikes. K and I spent a good hour and a half talking with our next door neighbors (NOT the crazy ones) while our seven kids plus another neighbor's daughter ran pell-mell in the dark. It was nice to be able to sit outside without freezing our kiesters off and talk and laugh about anything and everything. If only our other neighbors still lived here... it would have been an ideal night then.

Tomorrow is Soccerday. I'll have updates for you later. Lucky us - all games are in the Springs tomorrow! The only downside is JADs game is at 8 am. No sleeping in for us. Darn.

A Short Time

I realized yesterday, as I began to think about the fact that oh-my-gosh! it's May!, that K and I have been together for 20 years. 20 years, folks! We'll celebrate 16 years of marriage this summer, but we dated for four years prior to that. It's amazing how time flies. When you're young, twenty years seems like an interminable amount of time. However, as you experience life with work and kids and day-to-day activities, twenty years goes by in the blink of an eye. I love you, K. Hopefully our next twenty years will go by a little bit slower so we can actually relish the time together (rather than rush off to the next soccer game :) ).