So Hazel has recently become obsessed with the song "You are my sunshine" She loves me to sing it to her but my favorite is when she joins in and sings it with me. I love her little voice and the way she says shunshine just melts my heart. Does life get any sweeter? This is just one of my everyday joys I wanted to share. -Jenn
Yesterday morning I went to Tri-cities after I dropped the kids of at school. I Shopped all day with my friend Kristen, then rushed home to pick up the kids at 2:50. When I got home I started cleaning up and doing all the things that I normally get done in the morning. The kids were outside playing and Myles was asleep. So I decided to turn on the T.V. so there would be some kind of noise. I continued cleaning when I herd Oprah say "If you knew that you were going to die what would you say?" (not exact but similar) anyhoo....I found myself watching intently. This man that was speaking was a Professer, husband, and father of three small children, and had found out that he had only a couple of months to live. He had pancreatic cancer and there was nothing more they could do. He gave a final lecture to his class that talked about what he had learned in life but was actually letting his kids know what he wanted to teach them if he were going to be alive. I soon found myself sobbing, I felt so blessed to have the knowlege of the gospel. To have a family that I will live forever with, and that I WANT to live forever with. I thought about what my parents had taught me in my youth, and how throughout life I turned back to those teachings. I can only hope that I can instill in my kids the same pricipals. Does anyone else wonder about these things? I started thinking about Scott and how grateful I am for him. I am so blessed to have a husband who lives and practices what he belives. I am grateful to Scotts mom who taught him when he was young. I often think of her. I know that she is proud of him. I am excited someday to meet her face to face. Scotts best friend and his family also had a huge part in how he turned out. I am eternally grateful. Anyways...enough "gratefuls". Who'd have thought...Oprah? Looking back and reading this I feel like I need to end in Amen. Anyhoo, I was just happy for the break in everyday thinking.
Jenn
Well it's another Sunday afternoon; I am doing homework, Jenn, Courtney, Megan, Hazel, and Myles are having "quiet time." I am sitting here trying to write up a stupid pile of lesson plans and all I hear is "NO DAVID!" "PUT YOUR PANTS ON DAVID!" "EAT YOUR FOOD DAVID!" "NO DAVID!" being screamed from Hazel's room. I go back there and she is "reading" a story called No David. Any of you who have read this book or seen it will have to agree, it's funny. I had to laugh. Well after several 10 minute warnings to be quiet, I finally tell the kids quiet time is over, now it's nap time! Court, and Meg go right to sleep, while Hazel however, decides that nap time does not apply to her. She must not think it's not in her best interest to follow directions or something. So after about 30 minutes of, what I beleived was "nap time," Hazel the magnificant comes out and proceedes to perform several magic card finding tricks for me. Here's the basic's on how it would go.
Hazel holding the cards face up - "Pick a card dad!"
I do
Hazel - still holding the cards face up - "Put it back never(I did mean to write never, I think she will need speech!) you want to!"
I do
Hazel - Straightening the deck - "Let me get my magic sticky dust!" She does and sprinkles it on the cards. She proceeds to go right to where she saw me put my face up card and "WOW" me with her magical ability as she says "Is this your card?"
Her subtlity is sure to please crowds around the nation in the future!
Courtney and Megan had thier primary program today. I was very pleased with how they did. It is funny how a little something like sitting up in front of a large room of about 200-300 people will help a kid behave. Megan needed a little help to control her, thanks to 8 years of WWF watching when I was younger, the sleeper hold came in handy, is that wrong of me? Actually all she needed was a subtle life threatening! Once she was sitting in her little cage of a seat up in the choir section, she behaved very well. Courtney was very well behaved the entire time. She sang and participated at her best. It was fun to see. Meanwhile Hazel was a terror, she needed a not so subtle butt reminder out in the foyer. Jenn felt in good company since there was another mother out threatening to break her sons arms! we are fine and I am on the down hill slope of Student teaching. All our love.
Well it's official, I have been out pimped by my 6 month old. Yes I know that it sounds completely pathetic and not something I should be writing down in my secret public journal...however I do find this rather amusing. Well in order to truly appreciate this experience we should have a little background. Myles is a boob man! From the first time he was "exposed" to those identical sacks of goodness, he fell in love. He will see Jen, smile and stare at her chest (still smiling). Jenn will make a comment along the lines of "Myles my head is up here!" He will jerk his head like he just got caught staring, and then just smile! Well last night he was having a hard time going to sleep, I was holding him and he would just fuss and whine. I passed him along to Jenn, and he stopped. He would sit up, smile, look at me, smile even bigger, and then rub his face right in Jenn's cleavage! Sits up, and then smiles at me again. He repeats this about 3-4 times! Little punk is getting more action than I am!
For those of you who may be concerned, Megan is no longer visiting OT. Apparently the therapist decided not to pay attention to his own handwritten note that stated we no longer wanted his services, and if we did we would contact him. Some how he just didn't remember/see/think/consider that the note he wrote was our exact wishes. Well after a simple reminder..."DO NOT SERVICE MY DAUGHTER!" he will no longer be seeing Megan, I am goign to go by and visit with the Special Ed Director, Lori Scott (the gal that hired me at OSD), and let her know what happened. I am confident that this will not happen again.
So Courtney had school pictures this past week. She was recounting her experience to us tonight.
"The picture people only want money! They keep saying 'Where's your money? Where's your money?!' as the kids go through the lines. Well when they asked me for my money I just said, 'We're poor, we don't have any money!'
Oh the innocence of children
Tonight we found out that the Othello School District has been providing Megan with OT (Occupational Therapy) without mine and Jenn's knowledge. I talked to Randy, Tom, a few other teachers tonight and have come to the conclusion that the Othello School District is up a creek without a paddle. It's not like we are going to file some awesome lawsuit against them; it's not even like we mind her getting the therapy (sort of.) Our big problems are two fold; first we would have liked to have been included in the decision to put her into OT, and second the therapist is a freaking idiot! We have sent Megan to him in the past, and all he really seemed to do for her was piss her off! I may be new to this whole therapy thing, but I am pretty sure that the purpose is not to piss off the child! Jenn has a parent-teacher conference tomorrow, so we will be finding out how long this has been going on. According to Megan, she has been going from the beginning of the year. If that is the case, I will be filing a complaint with the OSPI (the State), the Superintendent of Othello,and any one else I need to to keep crap like this from happening.
Well it's time for another update...today we are sitting around watching conference. This is the first time we have been able to watch conference in our pajamas at our own house. It's nice to not have to worry about my kids wrecking someone else's home. The girls made it through the first session kicking and whining all the way through; that's an improvement from April, when they were off in another part of Grandmas house making messes, (which grandma got to clean up. We were shewed out right after conference!)
Right now the girls are in the bathtub singing and playing; well actually Hazel is singing (shouting) "I am a human, I am a human...(repeat 2 dozen times before breathing!)" Courtney and Megan are playing and asking (demanding) Hazel to be quiet. She kindly (defensively) responds "Do you want me to punch you in the face!" This comes as such a surprise considering how kindly she put her little Care Bear to bed during conference. After tucking the bear in on the couch and covering it with a handkerchief for a blanket, she takes a little snack size Ziploc bag with a 4 inch rock sealed inside, and flogs her bear while yelling "Now you go to sleep! You go to sleep!" I stop her and ask what she is doing. As if I were asking something that should need no clarification, she responds "Putting my baby to sleep!" I am not convinced mothering is instinctive!
Meanwhile on the other side of the fence, a little while ago Megan was out side trying to play with some of the neighborhood rats, I mean kids. These kids have a tendency to pick on Megan because she will do things most girls her age wont, like play in mud, pick up worms, eat bee's, lick the sidewalk, you know kids stuff! Well this day she was trying to befriend a new girl who had just moved into our little horse shoe arena. The kids weren't being very nice to her, calling her names and not letting her play with them; and so she returned the kind gestures. Turning to the new girl, she blurts out "Oh yeah, well your a lesbian!" Well it didn't take long for this group of premature drama queens to make their way to out door step letting lose with all the "Mean" things "Megan" did. The subsequent conversation went something like this:
Jen - "Megan did you call Jazell a name?"
Megan - "Well they were calling me names first!"
Jen - "Well Megan what did you call her?"
Megan - "The lesbian!"
Jen - "Why would you call her that?"
Megan - "But mom, she looks like one! She's got short hair and looks like a boy!"
Megan did get in trouble, however I also laughed and laughed and laughed at her ingenuity and resourcefulness at the skillful art of name calling! As a disclaimer, we have never used, mentioned, or in any way had a discussion on the the topic of Lesbians and their characteristics. That was all Megan!
