Thank You God

Caden's prayer tonight:

Thank you God. Mama, you're not saying it. Say it
(He repeats) Thank you God. (I solemnly echoed)
Indivisible with liberty and justice for all. (I repeated, albeit a little less solemnly)
Thank you for turning the TV on. (me lauging uncontrollably, barely able to get the words out)
And for not wasting any power. Amen

I'm going to be away this week at a teacher conference. Oh the things I will miss:
1) Caden helping me walk down my dark school hallway because he "has big eyes and he will use them to help Mama."
2) Caden asking me to read him a book and then tell him a story. Now, Caden gives me the basic plotline, characters, & setting so all I need to do is draw them together.
3) Stan giving me a blow-by-blow account of the Tour de France.
4) Reading on my bed while Caden watches TV in our bedroom.
5) Hearing Caden sing the theme song from the Geico commercial, "Let me be myself"
6) Taking Caden to Lowe's & hearing him tell another little boy (who is playing on the riding lawnmowers like Caden) that he will share his (imaginary) tools with him. Caden likes to fix the lawnmowers by lifting the hood, tinkering with the engine, & then the most crucial step - blowing leaves in the engine.

I will miss both of my boys so much!

A boy, a party, & a dog

There's not a trace of my genetic code in that kid!

We had Caden's party yesterday. I was pretty nervous about it because, well, that's just what I do. It was his first party & my first as a birthday boy's mama, so it was a little nerve-racking.

I shouldn't have been nervous. The kids started piling in around 10 & within a few minutes were all outside playing on the moonwalk/bouncy thing we rented for the day. I had to do the girl thing & cut the cake & give it to all the kids. I know it sounds silly, but doing typical girl/mama things doesn't come easily to me.

I hope everyone wasn't expecting a great big show, because at the Aalbers house, we're pretty laidback. The kids were running back & forth, inside & outside playing. Our living room was a wreck with toys! A friend of Caden's gave him a bag filled with all sorts of outdoor games, so a few dads put them together & the kids played with that. Everyone was sweaty and happy when they left.




After the party we went to lunch with Oma & Opa (Stan's parents) and then came back home and recuperated from the party. The moonwalk guy told us we would have the bouncy thing much longer than we had paid for because he had to travel out of town to break down a rental for a VBS going on in Milano. Caden was able to get a few more hours of playtime out of it.

About 6, he shows up at our house & Stan sees a black blur go across our backyard window. The guy brought his dog, Bella! We all sat on the back porch and played fetch with the dog while her daddy broke down the moonwalk. I always think it's hilarious, because the bigger the dog is, the more Caden loves it. He cannot stand little dogs; he's terrified of them. But a great big lab or Weimeraner (sp?) makes him shriek with glee.



I hate to say it & if any of the kiddoes' parents at our party are reading this,I am sorry, but this was the highlight of his day. He laughed and had so much fun with her. Maybe in a year or 2 we'll get him one of his own.

Big Boy

Caden turned 4 on June 20th. We made the deal with him that on his birthday, he would throw away his little boy potty.

He was more than OK with it.




He hasn't missed it at all!

And just because there are never any pictures of the 2 of us (you can tell I'm the photog of the family), here's a few pictures of us playing at a park on his big day.

It's been how long????

I'm not really sure where to start blogging since it's been sooo long, but here goes.

I apologized to Caden awhile ago for yelling at him. He rubbed my back & kissed me & said it was OK. I wanted to say, 'Are we friends again?' but I don't believe in parents & kids being friends so I asked, "Are we Mommy & Caden again?" I know, pretty lame.

He said yes & then asked me, "What happens if you're not my mama?"

I said I would always be his mama.

He asked, "But what if you're not?"

I replied, "Do you want a new mama?"

He started to say yes but then stated, "Actually, no."

I laughed and thinking we were done, I started to walk away.

But he couldn't let it go. "I always want the old mama...and you're old."

I looked back at him and he grinned like he knew exactly what he had said.

Can you stand the cuteness?

We apparently are NOT paying enough for daycare if this is the kind of stuff they are teaching him. Stan & I heard it the first time when Caden was walking down the hallway. We just heard the part about the naughty girls and making them cry.

I looked at Stan & asked, "Did you teach him that?"

He said, "No!"

We were parking the truck at Kroger today when we got him to sing the whole thing and we cracked up. It's the funniest thing I've ever heard!

Workshop Day

What's the best part about going to a workshop? An hour and a half long lunch and getting to pee whenever I want to!

What's a girl to do?

The relationship between a girl and her mailman is a very tenuous and important one.

I've just realized how much so.

There's something going on between me and mine.

He leaves the box open when it rains so my mail gets wet.

He wads up magazines and newspaper ads so they are crumpled and torn when I retrieve them.

The other day, he stuffed a package in there and I almost couldn't get it out.

I question myself - did I do something? Did I antagonize him in any way? Whenever I've seen him, I THINK I've been politely friendly. I mean, I've never baked him cookies, but to tell you the truth - my cookies aren't that great, so maybe that's a good thing...right?

Should I leave a note in the box? Stickers? A McDonald's gift card? Lotion? Those polyester uniforms must certainly chafe the skin.

Have any of you gone through this turmoil? It's killing me inside to think that someone I don't know very well could have this animosity towards me. If it was someone who knew me, I could understand - I'm cute & funny & have cool glasses.

But that's a whole other post.

Injury time-out

The other night Stan, Stumpy, & Caden went to the A&M Consolidated football game. Nana & I stayed home. When they got home, Caden put his football helmet on and began running around the room, tackling Nana & throwing his football.

He then laid down on his back, hiked his pants leg up and yelled, "I hurt my knee! Someone needs to come look at it!"

Obviously the kid watches too much football. He even re-enacts the injuries.

It's never dull!

Last night the whole family went to Macy's to get some fancy britches for Stan. We're walking around the men's department upstairs and they have tons of mannequins that are only from the waist down, showcasing their collection of slacks.

We were shopping and Caden was running and playing, but then Stan & I got distracted. Caden had been quiet for a minute (& that's never good) and when we looked up, he was standing on the little platform gripping the mannequin tightly just below the waist.

I said, "Caden, get off of that."

And he said - or yelled - "NO, THAT'S MY DADDY!!!!"

I informed him that it most certainly was NOT his daddy & he needed to let go RIGHT NOW.

I cannot make this stuff up.

Feeling a little sad

Last night I went to my first Varsity Consolidated football game. Those of you who know me may think it's weird that it took me this long to go, but I really had no desire to. I don't know ANY of the kids playing. I have one Bengal Belle & 2 sophomore cheerleaders, but that's it.

And as the band played, I teared up because I remember the last few years being eager to be at the games so I could take pictures of my kids, hurriedly get them developed at Walgreens and then take them to school Monday morning so I could have them up on the wall before the kids came in.

I remember Adolfo, my incredibly mature, sweet-natured kid who led the drum line in band but played football too so he would get out there and march during halftime in his uniform. But he did it barefoot because he said it was easier to march that way.

I missed Dino, one of my alltime favorite students (I know as a teacher I'm not supposed to say that, but it's true!). I watched him mature from a little sophomore all the way to a self confident senior. It was so much fun watching him grow and I loved snapping pictures because he has 'that face' and it's so expressive.

I missed watching Danny get so frustrated on the sidelines when things weren't going their way. He'd stand with his hands on his hips and then shake his head in disgust when a play didn't go as planned.

I missed watching James, Cordrick, and Jared laugh and goof off when the team was on and the game was good. As a teacher, getting to see them in their element was exciting and I tried to bring football into the classroom more because of them.

I missed watching Coach Tuck get so irate that his bald head would turn red as a beet and he would have those big macho players quaking in their cleats. Whenever I had trouble with football players in class, all I had to do was email Tuck. Problem solved.

I missed seeing all of my sweet babies in the stands. I love seeing students outside the classroom. It reminds both of us that we're people and we're not just 'student' and 'teacher'.

I missed seeing Bethany & Jill in their cheerleader outfits, catching my eye so I could take their picture.

I missed working the gate and seeing former students come back to the game, or have them sneak up behind me to give me a bearhug and tell me they missed me.

I will forever miss bringing Caden to school one day and having the star quarterback come by my room on his 'aide' period, hold out his arms to Caden and Caden jumping to him, and then both of them walking around the school for half an hour. I didn't worry about Caden at all because I knew he was with Brian and he was safe.

All of this is running through my mind - as the band is playing and the game is getting started - like a slideshow. I didn't have my camera with me. I hadn't even thought about bringing it.

I know this is part of being somewhere new - and especially someplace so incredibly huge as Consolidated, but I'm still struggling because I miss my kids. I miss my kids. What makes me love teaching is what made the decision to leave Cameron so heartwrenching.

So please pardon the melancholy nature of this post. I promise not to wallow. But for one night at one football game, the memories were just too much.

The gas factor

I got gas today.

Now, normally that wouldn't be blog worthy. I used to fill up my car every 3 days.

Today was the first day I got gas since AUGUST 20!

That's right - I made it from August 20 until September 28 on one tank!!!!!

So, last year at this time, I would've already paid $420 purchasing gas (or more with all of the fluctuations) for my car & right now...since the beginning of the school year (really a week before), I've paid a total of $42!

Not quite so separated

Yesterday I showed up at school, stepped out of my car, and inexplicably heard the sounds of drums and guitars. I looked over at the front of the school and there was a band, all set up, singing their hearts out - about Jesus!

Wow! What a way to start my day. It was awfully early, but the kids were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed - and they sounded good!

Way cool.