Midterm of my Madness

So today marks midterm for the summer semester.  I can honestly say I can't believe I made it!  The time has really flown by, and I am still standing.  I really wasn't sure what or how I would be feeling at this point.  Surprisingly not that bad!  Ha ha!  Teaching this summer has been a real learning experience for me. One of the biggest lessons I've learned is that I can do hard things.  This was a really tough challenge for me, but I have conquered my fear (for the most part), and am figuring things out as I go.  I am working hard, and it feels good to overcome my insecurities.  It's definitely helping me to figure out what I want to do next.  It's nice to feel like the world is my oyster.  I can do anything I want, I just have to choose.  Time is still a big factor, but that will work itself out.  I figure I just keep doing what I'm doing until Parker is in school.  Then I will probably start applying to grad programs.  Hopefully I can find something with a tuition waiver and teaching assistantship.  I guess that's where I see the purpose behind me getting some teaching experience now...hopefully that will make me a better candidate to getting an assistantship, which will essentially pay for me to go to school.  Which is where I also see divine intervention because at this point, we cannot afford any more student loans.  (Aye yi yi, different subject for another day.)  Anyway, it all seems to be unfolding before my eyes.  Hopefully it will continue on that trajectory.  I feel peaceful and trusting in this path.  It just feels right. 

In other news, summer is marching on.  We've started making weekly library trips on Mondays.  What is it about libraries and summer?  They are just meant to go together...like peanut butter and jelly, milk and cookies.  It's been fun.  Avery is sitting on her bed reading while we speak, and Maryn is reading her books under a tree on the west side of the house.  I read Parker several of hers while she was sitting on the potty before her nap.  (No, she didn't pee...aye yi yi!)  When it's too hot and humid to go outside, I guess this is the next best thing.

Maryn asked me an interesting question on the drive to her flute lesson this morning:  what are your 3 most favorite things about summer?

Her answer was going to Avery's softball games, vacation, and lemonade.

My answer is vacation, grilling out for meals, and watching the garden grow.  We have some early girls coming in already!!  Oh and fireflies too!! That's our favorite time to play outside lately...the fireflies come out just when the sun has first set...it's a small window of opportunity and only lasts for an hour or so.  Then they shut down for the night.  The girls chase them and capture them (they're really slow), while Mark and I watch from the porch.  Probably one of my favorite things about living where we do in the summertime.  It's really quite magical.

What about you, friends? 

Nobody Wants To Wake Up To This

Nothing quite like waking up to get the mornin' paper and finding this document wedged between the screen door and the storm door.  Ugh, are you freaking kidding me?!?  Days like this make me wish Tonica was never born.  So next time you see us and we've grown tails and a third arm, you'll have our lovely groundwater to thank.  House guests...BEWARE!!  LOL!!

And to make matters worse, this isn't the first time our friendly Village board has given us such pleasant news.  Flashback to 2009 right after we moved here and we received a similar notice informing us of high levels of arsenic in our groundwater.  So instead of just killing our babies under six months, we are ALL in danger of being eradicated.  Imagine, Tonica circa 2020...a dried up ghost town with tumbleweeds blowing down Main street.  It could totally happen. 

Luckily we will soooo be outta here by that time!!  Ha ha suckers!!

:-)

Crazy Days of Summer

So much for the old saying, "lazy, hazy days of summer"...in our house lately it's been more like the CRAZY days of summer!!  Everyone is back into the swing of things with schedules and activities. 

Maryn is taking flute lessons on Mondays, and art lessons on Thursdays.  She will start soccer in August.

Avery is playing softball right now, just got done with basketball camp last week, and will also take art lessons on Thursdays with Maryn. 

Both of them will go to IVCC daycamp in July.  They loved it last year, and are excited for another year!  Besides that, they are also involved with a little "activity group" here in town that tries to go and do an adventure once a week.  So far they've gone hiking at our state park, they went on a 14 mile bike ride from LaSalle to Utica last week (Mark went too!), and this coming week they'll be learning tennis.  That should keep them busy and happy too.

Parker is a whirlwind of energy and happiness.  She loves her shows and movies, if it were up to her this is how she would spend her entire day.  Lately she's getting more into the princess movies.  "Beast, Laddin, Ariel, and Tangles" top her list.  But she loves her some Toy story too, especially the love triangle between Buzz and Jesse.  She is too cute!  She's a funny little couch potato.  On the other hand, when you get her outside she loves that too!  She loves playing with the girls most of all, but also likes her bikes and balls and chalk and shovels and buckets.  The challenges we are facing with her right now are typical toddler things, let's just say she is well-accustomed to "time-out".  On the list of items to do:  potty train, ditching the binky, and transitioning to a big girl bed.  I know it's time, but gosh darn it!!  I don't wanna!! Can't she just stay little forever?!?

I am trying to figure out how to act like I'm a teacher this summer.  It's going okay so far, but I still feel like a nervous wreck every time I teach.  As a matter of fact, after my first class I came home and got really sick...I literally broke out in hives and was up all night.  Could it possibly be an allergic reaction to teaching?!?  LOL!  I'm finding it takes a LOT of prep time, and am spending way more time than I expected.  Luckily I don't have too many other demands right now and am diving into it with all my heart and energy.  I hope that it goes well and I can keep doing it.  We'll see.  It sure beats tech writing, that's for sure!!  :)  Items on my summer bucket list?  I would love to landscape the front yard this summer, and see our sunroom painted.  Maybe even tackle our bathrooms.  I guess we'll see how far the budget goes.  

Mark is teaching a couple sections, doing some tutoring, and working on his PhD.  He really wants to check a few items off his bucket list too.  I know he wants to see the Robie house in Chicago, and eat at one of Jeff Morrow's sandwich shops...I also know there's at least a couple items on my bucket list he'd rather NOT think about.  See if you can guess which ones...ha ha!

As far as our summer plans go we will probably go out to Idaho and Utah at the beginning of August.  Stay tuned for details!  Also we are planning on hooking up with the Piersons in July so that we can say hi to our recently returned missionary nephew Andrew!  Should be fun!!

What are your plans for summer?!?

Memories from Memorial Day

The girls literally dropped their backpacks on the floor from their last day of school on the Friday before Memorial day so that we could load them up in the van to drive over to Michigan for the weekend. It was a quick trip to celebrate the end of the school year, and hail the advent of summer. Short and sweet. We left on Friday, and came home on Monday. Mark and I went back to work on Tuesday. Ah well, such is life.

It was fun to cut loose for a little while. We had fun visiting with Grandma & Grandpa at their house, we got together with everyone for lunch at the Day's house on Saturday, and then had dinner (and an impromptu baseball game) with the Griswold's on Sunday. These visits are always too short, but always jam-packed with lots of laughs and plenty of good food.

Now we are officially ready for SUMMER!! Bring it on!!

Everyone Deserves a Chance to Sparkle!

That was the theme for Tonica Grade School's 2012 Talent Show.  This kind of thing is right up Maryn and Avery's alley.  They love it...they eat it up with a spoon!  Haha!

Maryn performed a comedic magic act with her friend Paige.  The gimmick was that they were rivals for being "the greatest magician in the world", and kept trying to one up each other with different magic tricks, which all ultimately failed.  In the end, their best trick was to make "themselves" disappear from a disappointed audience!!  Har har!  Mark and Maryn wrote the script and it turned out cute and got a few laughs.  The acoustics in the gym were lacking, so a lot of people just couldn't hear what they were saying due to the echo-y gym.  :(

Maryn also performed a flute duet with her friend Janelle.  They both did a very nice job.

Avery and her friend Faith performed a comedic skit/commercial selling mustache grower for only $99.99.  It was funny and very "them", but once again some of the jokes fell flat because the audience couldn't hear them.

Overall, it was a fun night for both of them and a new tradition they look forward to at TGS.

Thanks to Them...

Thanks to these beautiful, smart, funny, sweet, talented, wacky little girls...I am a Mother.

Thanks to this thoughtful, intelligent, hilarious man I am a Wife.

Because of all of them, I am a happy woman.

Hope you all had a wonderful Mother's Day!!

Oh, Somebody had a birthday...

I had a great birthday, thanks to everyone for the well-wishes and thoughts.  I must admit that turning 38 feels a little awkward.  38 is so close to 40 that it's almost easier to just say, "I'm 40" when asked my age nowadays.  They really are running together at this point, I mean, I never thought I'd say that but it's kinda true.  So what's different when you're 38?

• You have several more wrinkles, now appearing on hands and neck.  I didn't mind a few on my face, but getting old lady hands is kind of gnarly!
• The wiry facial hairs that began to sprout at 33 are now in full-force, requiring daily reference checks and (AT LEAST) weekly maintenance and plucking!  (Sidenote:  OMG, I was sitting in the parking lot waiting for Maryn to finish her flute lesson, popped open the visor mirror, and I about screamed in horror!!  The hairs, they were OOC!  I will now be carrying a pair of tweezers in my car at all times...the daylight don't lie!!  LOL!!)
• After being assigned a younger sister in our Ward to visit teach, I thought "oh that'll be nice, we can be buddies."  Then I realized I could actually be her Mother!  Young sisters in the Ward don't see me as a buddy anymore, they see me as a mother figure.  When did THAT happen?!?  Ha ha!!
• I often can't believe that I'll have a child in middle school at the same time I have a child in preschool.
• And that I'll be teaching my 12 year old to apply makeup at the same time I am continuing to change diapers.
• I graduated 20 years ago.  Many of the students I work with at the Writing Center on campus were BORN the year I graduated, or now even after!!
• I got back from my mission 16 years ago, which means I have almost completely forgotten the Czech language.  :(
• I've been married for almost 14 years.  We've been through 3 presidential elections together.  This next one will be our 4th.  Random!?!  Ha ha!
• I can't remember a lot of stuff.  For someone who prides herself on never forgetting a name or a face, or being uber-organized, I've become pretty forgetful these past few years.  
• And also squishy...but that's another subject for another day.  

 I'm thinking it's not all that bad.  Along with the awkwardness, there are things that are fabulous about being 38.  Life is good, I have a lot to be thankful for, and a lot to look forward to.  One of which is that 40th bday just around the corner!!  Ha ha!!

In 1998, my roommate and I were determined to date more.  On New Year's Eve, we made up a catch-phrase that would become our mantra for the year...it was, "To DATE in '98!!"  Well, it worked because I actually found and married a MATE in '98!!  Ha ha.  In my birthday card this year, Mark wrote, "Let's date at 38!" (Cuz were the same age, har har!)  It's looking like a great age so far!!