Corndog Queen

Here is a link to my website for school. Some of the art work my kids have done astounds me. I am really enjoying teaching this year.

Last week I was kind of pushing it. Maggie had the croup, I had a bad cough and couldn't sleep through the night, Kevin had 15 hour work days. And I had a full weekend planned.  I had planned it without really consulting Kevin. Because Kevin didn't have to DO anything.

On Saturday, I had signed up to volunteer at the bounce house at 10 AM and at the science club booth at noon. This was for our school's main fundraiser, a walk-a-thon/carnival. Since I am a teacher and a parent, I feel it is only right to volunteer. Maggie would be participating in the walk-a-thon while I volunteered. No problem.  Kevin? He would probably be working. It is crunch time at his office.

Then on Sunday, I had planned to teach Sunday School, take in the coffee time goodies and meet with another couple to plan our Social Concerns actions for the Fall. Right after church Maggie and I were going to meet Kevin and drive up to the city to meet his parents and go to the King Tut Exhibit. I was really looking forward to that!

But...On Friday I felt really awful. Queasy and light headed, and doubled over with coughing bouts. I should have called in sick, but I was already covering my classes AND another teacher's classes who couldn't be there. If I had gone home, they would have had to find TWO subs. Plus, I only work part time. How hard could it be?

  I almost fainted a few times. It was ridiculous. Those poor kids. I managed to wait until after the last bell when the kids had all gone,  to barf into the art class trash cans. Then I called Kevin. Kevin, who was working on a deadline that Friday night. And had planned to worked very late to get stuff done....

I called Kevin, and he jumped into action.  He left work, got me medicine from the pharmacy, got dinner for Maggie, put her to bed, and just took care of me.

Saturday came. Guess who went to the walkathon? I stayed in bed.

Sunday? Kevin taught Sunday School for the first time. He said it wasn't too bad.  He took in the coffee time treats, met with the social action crew. Then he and Maggie went to the exhibit. I stayed home. Boo.

The man is a rock. I love him so much. He must be exhausted after all of the work he has been doing. And then there were Maggie duties, and Natalie created duties on top of that.  But he never said a thing. And I am still sick. I took off work yesterday, and as soon as I finish this blog, I plan to go back to bed.

H1N1? Probably. Ehhh -- Swine Flu. You don't scare me. I have my husband taking care of me. 

Recently, I had been patting myself on the back for how darned efficient I was being.

Errands run? Check.

Work out DVD performed? Check.

Floor mopped? Check.

Articles typed up for the church newsletter? Check.

Lessons planned and papers graded? Check. (mostly...Ummm.... okay, not all of my papers are graded. most. not all. Alright, fine, I still have a stack on my kitchen table, so sue me!)

Dinner planned out for the week? Check.

But in order to do everything, I have been getting up each morning at 6AM. This is a big difference for me. Especially since my darling daughter is NOT an early riser, so I can actually sleep in pretty late. But this year we all need to be up and out of here by 7:40. I have to drive the carpool in the morning. And if I am going to exercise every day, then I need to do it before Maggie gets up at 7. So. I get up at 6. But I don't like to go to bed at 10 PM. Too early. Too much to do. I am NOT getting the amount of sleep I need. Which is 8 hours a night. (ha ha, right? Who gets eight hours of sleep? Single people. Retired people. Vacationing people) Not moms. But still. I need to try. Because when I get tired, I get a little absent minded. Here are some examples of why I should maybe hit the snooze button....

1) Last week, when I was helping Maggie brush her teeth, we got to the part where I pump the mouthwash into the little cup, and add water so she can slosh it around.   I performed the nightly ritual, and handed her the cup. Maggie looked at me, wide eyed, and said, "Mom, you put the hand soap in there!" And yep, I totally had. The concoction had even gotten a bit bubbly. And I hadn't noticed a thing. Thank goodness one of us was aware!

2) Last Monday, I was driving the kids in to school. I had one extra kid, and was a little flummoxed over how to fit three car seats in the back of my Subaru (Oh mini van, how I covet you....) And I was just getting over heated and frustrated, and of course, we were totally running late. (I always seem to be running late, and the kids are like, pushed out of the car, while I yell, "go go go , hurry, I hear the bell ringing!"  and they grab their little back packs, and run wildly. Oh, and I WORK there! Thank goodness I don't teach art classes until later in the day!)

ANYWAY-- We were late. Just getting out of my garage. And I broke a nail while buckling them in. And I still had to run into the kitchen to grab my coffee. (Mommy loves her coffee) and Josh, from the back of the car, yelled, "I need water, I am so thirsty!" Poor kid had been asking for 10 minutes while I buckled them in. So I opened the fridge and grabbed one of our aluminum water bottles that I keep in there, to make sure the water is cold when I want it. I unscrewed the cap, and passed it back there.  "You guys share!" I yelled over my shoulder as I careened onto the highway,   "Pass it back and forth!" Josh took the first chug, and said "Natalie, this water tastes bad."

Oh God.  When he said that, I realized what I had just handed that dear, sweet little six year old. "STOP!!!!" I yelled, and almost crashed the car. "Don't drink any more! Don't pass it to your sister! Give it to me!" . The kids were looking at me in the rearview mirror like I was a crazy person. I was a crazy person! I had just handed Josh a full liter of Sangria. And he drank some. At 7:40 in the morning.

Lord. I don't usually have water bottles full of sangria just sitting in my fridge. But we had gone camping with the girl scouts that weekend, (more on that later) and I had taken the sangria for the adults to drink when the girls were in bed.  And I totally forgot. And now Josh was going to smell like a wino when he walked into 1st grade.  Please don't call Child Protective Services. I told his mom, and she just laughed. But. Ummmmm. I need a nap. Or something. (Maybe some sangria?) 

  

Today Margaret turns six. I can hardly believe it. My baby! And here she is, already in school, making friends, learning to read and write. She is learning how to go off without me. It is wonderful and sad all at the same time. I am so proud of the person that she is becoming.

She is kind, and helps other children when she can. Her first grade teacher has paired her up with a kindergartener who is not able to get along with many of the other children, and Margaret is fine with her.

She shares and is not at all greedy. She will even offer me the last bite of her ice cream cone, if she knows I wanted to taste it (I am fairly certain I would not do that, even at the age of 38. Not even for my own daughter....ahem)

She is gentle, and not at all violent or aggressive. She will begin taking Aikido in a few weeks, and from what I hear, this class will further this sort of behavior.

She is adventurous. Our trip to Thailand this Spring was made so much more fun by her love of new experiences. And for her birthday, she climbed to the top of Flag Hill in Sunol with us this past weekend. And it was no small feat! When we got to the top, her reward was finding a geocache under a tree.

She is creative. She has taken to making little "dolls" out of found objects. I am constantly coming across taped together creations around the house. And if I am missing a sock, or a button, or a ribbon, chances are, I will find it as part of one of her dolls...

She is funny. She has a very good sense of humor, and remembers stories that tickle my funny bone. She will bring them up at unexpected times.

She is easy going and goes with the flow. Always. Kevin and I can plan elaborate weekends out and about the Bay Area, and she is always game. We just have to have a notebook and pens and books -- All of these in the back seat, and she will keep herself entertained as we drive to where ever we are going.

She is excited about learning. She loves reading, and she loves writing stories, and she comes home from first grade brimming over with tales of what went on in class that day. (I absolutely adore her teacher. I mean it. ADORE her.)

She sings and dances with abandon. She has a beautiful voice. Truly. I may even have her take some voice lessons down the line! And her dancing, well, let's just say she puts her heart into it.... :)

She makes my heart fill up whenever I am with her. She is my joy. She is my light. She is my 6 year old daughter.

 I love you Margaret. Happy Birthday, honey.  

Here are the things I have done since arriving in Arlington on the 14th of July:

Ha. This is sort of funny, because I just had a toenail incident this past Friday! At my local manicure place around the corner. I hadn't been in a really long time. But my beautiful ($4) pedicure that I got in Thailand was starting to wear off, and I found that I had a free afternoon. So hey, why not treat myself to a pedicure?!

This past week has been hellish. There were meetings at church, open house at school on Wednesday until 9:30, Maggie's dance dress rehearsal on Thursday until 8:30, and then the weekend was looking like it was going to be one activity after another.

But on Friday....ahhhh....sweet Friday, Maggie had gone for her very first sleepover at a classmate's house. So Kevin and I had the night to ourselves -- for the first time in a long time. And I planned to enjoy every minute I had. I called the pedicure place ahead of time, to make sure the lady I like was there. Tina. She was the one who did this to my toes. I like her. I was assured that I had an appointment at 5pm.

I got there at 5 PM on the dot. And saw another woman being escorted by Tina to the pedicure chair. Aghhhhhh! This did not bode well. But Tina assured me it would only be a few minutes. So, there I sat in the uncomfortable chairs, waiting for my turn. My seat mate was an 18 month old boy who was apparently half pterodactyl -- judging from the ear piercing screeches he was making every few seconds. What? An 18 month old boy? What was he doing in a nail place, you might be asking.... Yeah, I was wondering that too.  But the mom didn't have time to actually watch him. She was concerned with the bright red fingernail polish she was instructing the manicurist to apply to her 7 year old daughter's nails. The mom, herself was getting her acrylic nails replaced, and she did this while holding ANOTHER baby under one of her arms. Yep. Three kids under 7 in the nail place. Lovely.

After 1/2 an hour of waiting, I was ushered to the foot soak. And once my feet were in there, I really couldn't leave. Even though I was tempted. Repeatedly. Because the mom of three kids was there the WHOLE time. And the baby boy was squawking and then...then...the mom got a call on her cell phone. Which apparently she HAD to take. So she put the baby down. Down on the nasty floor where everybody's toenail clipping are and god knows what else. And then the baby, who must have been about 8 months old, proceeded to crawl with the speed of a racehorse over to my foot bath. I was sure she was going to drown herself in it, and it would all be over. But the mom suddenly looked up from her phone conversation and noticed what was going on. She bellowed out "Natalie! Get back here!"  (Yeah, nice, huh? The kid had my name, so I got to hear it yelled repeatedly during my "relaxing" time at the manicurist)  And the baby, who was a total escape artist, turned toward her mother, giggled, and slap slap slap across the tile floor, edged her way closer to certain death in my massaging foot spa.  Finally the mom got up, and with the phone held to one ear on her shoulder, came and scooped her daughter up with the the other arm and took her back to her seat.

All of this was commented on loudly by the screeching pterodactyl boy in the seating area. To her credit, the 7 year old girl with the inappropriate nail polish was totally behaving herself. So anyway, the mom sat down, put her nails back out to have them touched up, and put the baby back down. And little baby Natalie...you guessed it...headed right back towards me. slap slap slap.

I could go on. But I will not. You get the idea. I didn't even wait for my toenails to dry. As soon as she slapped the polish on, I was out of there. Ughhhh. WHY would a person take three young kids with them to the manicurist? Why?

In happier news, Kevin and I had a wonderful dinner out. (With the cell phone in my pocket the whole time, just in case Maggie had to call from her sleep over --which she did not) We had crepes, and then we walked over to the local Indian Movie Theater which has just started showing American films, and watched Star Trek. I have never even seen one episode of Star Trek in my life. And I watched one of the movies with Kevin one time because he couldn't believe I had never seen Star Trek (we watched the one with the Whales and it was SOOOOOOO stupid) But anyway, I knew that Kevin really wanted to see the movie and he had been working when his friends all went to see it together, so I suggested that we go see it on our romantic date night together. I honestly thought he was going to swoon when I suggested it.  Ha. But, I must admit, it was a totally fun movie. Also, it didn't hurt that the guys in the movie were really cute. Way cuter than William Shatner EVER was.     

There is so much stuff going on right now, I don't know where to start. Here are possible blog topics that I have thought about writing, but can't decide which to pursue.

1) Maggie's Dance Recital (yes, it is that time of year again)

2) Open house night at our school last week

3) My thoughts on my first year back to work

4) Maggie's entry in the school's talent show

5) Summer plans

6) Girl Scouts

7) Moving to another country

8) Exercise and weight gain

9) The star trek movie

10) Church

11) Our new Water Park

12) Teaching art

13) Teaching 8th graders

14) Teaching in a super duper small school

15) All the things I love at Trader Joe's

Hmmmm. That is  a lot. Any suggestions?

Last Weekend the weather was divine, and we drove up to the city to enjoy it. My friend D. was running in a race called Bay to Breakers  where the runners (thousands of them) run from the Bay Bridge to the beach. I think. Anyway, it is across the city. Up and down hills. And it is a quintessential San Francisco thing. With all kinds of people dressed up in costumes, and themes, and, of course, naked people. We promised D. we would meet her at the end of it, and pass her a back pack she needed to get home.

But the streets are closed off and the parking is craziness, so we decided to park on a random street near the beach (the finish line) and bike down the Great Highway to meet her in Golden Gate park. Oh. Man. So nice. The entire Great Highway was closed to cars, so we zoomed down it, with the smell of the ocean in the air, the breeze on us. Maggie was in the trailer. (She is too big for the trailer. She is almost six, people! God love Kevin for hauling that thing behind his bike...)
 

But we were traveling a long way, and her little bike with the training wheels wouldn't have made it. So we (meaning Kevin) hauled her to the finish line, and met up with D.  We weren't allowed in to the big party tent area where they have the costume contest and all of the bands and stuff, because we had our bikes. Sigh. So we sat near the gates under a eucalyptus tree and had our lunch, and watched people pass.

There were lots of themes this year. We saw two different sets of crayons

and there were lots of super heroes. And a bunch of octomoms. (Women dressed as an octopus with a baby in each tentacle) There were all kinds of references to the swine flu and a 15 foot flying pig costume that was jogging and had a sign that said "I outran the swine flu". (I was riding my bike at the time, so I couldn't take a photo). There were also lots and lots of drunk people. And skanky looking people who were getting terrible sunburns as they sat on their shopping cart "floats" and were pushed through the crowd. And, of course, there were naked people. This was my favorite. He was just sort of shuffling along. Wearing the hat. He also had on tennis shoes. And he was carrying a purpletinkerbell softpac lunchbag. Good old San Francisco.

We took a break from all of the chaos to go and sit near the DeYoung museum and listen to music at the bandstand. We lay under a big old palm tree and Kevin and Maggie played the pillow game (where they each pretend like they think the other one is a pillow. Hours of hilarity, let me tell you.) And we searched successfully for four leaf clovers.

 
And we just vegged. It felt so good. And the day was only half over.  From there we got on our bikes and headed back to the beach. We packed up our bikes, and grabbed our beach stuff from the back of the car. It was so nice down there. Maggie entertained herself while we lazed around.

 We collected tons of sanddollars that were littering the beach, and created designs from them. Honestly, everywhere we looked there were sand dollars! Most of them were broken, but we did find three perfect circles. There is something so satisfying about a sand dollar.

By the time the day was over, it was dinner time, so we wrapped up the day with dinner at a place that was right around the corner. Golden Gate Pizza and Indian Cuisine. Mmmmm.  I love this city. 

   

Well, let me tell you. My daughter is learning about insects. Here, I will have her show you what she knows:

This kills me every time. The little fingers at the side. The abdomen patting. The weird little buggy thing she does after the first time she says "sometimes wings." All of it. Plus, she really does know what an insect is. Yesterday, I saw a big spider in the corner, and I yelled "Eeeek! An insect!" And she turned to me, rolled her eyes, and chided, "Mo -om, that's an arachnid, not an insect!"

Last weekend really was glorious. The weather was perfect, and so we went to Santa Cruz for the day on Saturday. We got up fairly early, drove down, got a parking spot right next to the boardwalk, and went on all of the rides.

The new ride for 2009 was the Sea Swings. They are right over the beach, and every time we went around, we would catch a view of the waves rolling in. So nice.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

For lunch we had corndogs. For a snack we had kettle corn. And for a late afternoon treat we chowed down on dippin' dots for Maggie and chocolate dipped soft serve for us. Mmmmmmm. Just thinking about it now is making my stomach hurt a little. But we were at the board walk. What are you gonna do? You've got to eat the food! I had brought along healthy carrots and snack crackers, but, ummmm, with the smell of funnel cakes wafting through the air...the healthy stuff never stood a chance.....

When we were done with boardwalk activities, we walked to the car (only a minute away -- thank you parking mojo!) and got all of our beach supplies. The blankets, the diggers, the towels and the swimsuits, and plopped ourselves on the nice warm sand, and relaxed. Maggie and Kevin even got a little bit wet in the freezing cold Pacific ocean. But not I! I read my Newsweek magazine and dozed in the sun.

The next morning was Mother's day. Kevin and Maggie brought me breakfast in bed

(which quickly moved to the floor  -- chocolate on the white sheets was not my idea of fun) I was singing Trader Joe's praises all morning (and of course, I was singing the praises of the lovely family who prepared it, too )  But let me tell you -- if you haven't had their chocolate croissants yet (in the freezer section -- they need to proof overnight) Well, if you haven't tried those croissants -- then you need to RUN out to get them. Now. 

Also, I got some sweet cards. Very satisfying. Happy Day.

And it was only just starting! After that I got to go to the Farmer's Market - alone! So nice. And shopping (just to return stuff and run errands) But I did it with out a 5 year old attached to me. Ahhhhhh. So relaxing. Happy Mother's Day to me.

Later in the day we went up to see Kevin's parents and to celebrate his mom. It was Mother's Day, after all. And also her  birthday. We doubled up on the love. And tried to celebrate her twice as much. The mojitos got the party started!
 

And it was such a gorgeous day. We sat out in the back yard, under the Persimmon tree. And the flowers were all coming up around us, and the sun was shining. And we were there with the people whom we love most in the world (if only my parents could have been there, too) And we enjoyed a delicious dinner and good conversation, and a wonderful day. And that was how I spent my Mother's Day weekend.