My Wonderful One

Is there anyone out there who didn't just love the television series, The Wonder Years (1988-1993)? It was, and still is, my favorite show of all-time. And, to be perfectly frank, I have always had a bit of a cougar crush on Fred Savage, who played Kevin Arnold. I am such a fan, I even adored him in his awkward stage.

Well, while looking a the picture of Pumpkin below, my husband recently had this epiphany: "He reminds me of Fred Savage!"

So, it led me to wonder...what do you think?

And after you tell me your opinion about my child's resemblance, I'd love to know who your child resembles in the poll on the left.

Double-Take

I recently did a double-take when I saw my little pumpkin enjoying his cereal at the table. I was transformed back to my childhood of the seventies, sitting waytooclose to the television set. Ring any bells?

For those of you who are just too darn young or need a refresher, click here for the infamous commercial.

Here's hoping you are enjoying your Life today.

My Punny Peanut

As we were wrapping Father's Day gifts, I said to my peanut, "How do you think we should wrap these clothes for Daddy? We could use a gift bag or a box."

Peanut got excited. "Mommy! I know the perfect box. Wait right here. I'll go downstairs and get it."

As he hurried downstairs, I called after him, "Honey, are you sure that box is in good shape?"

He answered, "Yeah, it is. It's a rectangle."

Dedicated to Daddy

Happy Father's Day to a dad who is always willing to come to the rescue in the middle of the night, who knows how to make up great silly stories and make superhero voices, who does great duckie noises with Pringles, who loves popping popcorn on a kids' movie night, who makes grocery shopping fun, who never says "no" to a dirty diaper, who makes sailboat sandwiches, who loves to spoil his boys, who never runs out of kisses and hugs, and who says "I love you" for absolutely no reason at all. We love you more!

How I Spent My Summer Vacation - Vol. I

So, yesterday was officially my first day of summer vacation. It was filled with possibility, hope, and dreams of chasing my little men around the backyard, practicing our jumping skills, and doing "ring around the rosie" for the zillionth time, as per my pumpkin's request. Hmmm. We all know what Robert Burns wrote about "the best laid plans of mice and men," right?

Somehow, as I was chasing my second-born into the kitchen, the corner of the dining room managed to come to life and get stuck between my forth toe and my little toe. I'm not exactly sure how it happened; I just remember the screaming. And for all of you who don't already know this, most people would probably agree that I tend to be a fairly quiet person. And certainly, around my boys, I really don't want to scare them or add to their already overly dramatic repertoire of boy noises. But I screamed so much that my throat hurt almost as bad as my toe.

Fast forward through the hobbling of the next few hours until I realized that purple and green look decidedly odd against each other on a toe, and I called our local medical center. It is open late, so I usually prefer to go there instead of subjecting my children to come with me when I need to seek medical attention. I spoke to a nurse I will laughingly call "Sue" -- not because she bears any resemblance to my mother-in-law, but because when I asked if I should be seen, she said, "I can't advise you that over the phone or you could sue." Oh, okay. Well, can you tell me if I should "buddy tape" it to the next toe until I can come in? "Again, you could sue." But wouldn't the doctor just buddy tape it even if it is broken? "Ma'am, you could sue." You get the picture. When I finally did go in while the boys were eating dinner, the same nurse actually saw me. And she saw the toe. And then she actually apologized for her lack of bedside manner but still swore up and down that I could have sued her for giving me information over the phone. Irony? The woman sitting next to me in the waiting room was the most wonderful woman who just happens to be the on-call pediatric nurse at the boy's doctor's office. I thanked her (as I always do) profusely for her sweet, caring nature, and for always giving such great advice....over the phone.

Anyway, in case there was any doubt, the toe is broken. And I have had several broken toes before (as well as a run-in with my heel and a rusty lawnmower, a jelly jar that broke on my foot, and multiple fractures in my foot at Disney World that I walked on for over two weeks because my then-boyfriend's family -- who brought me along -- thought it was just a bruise), but my toe never hurt like this.

To (literally) add insult to injury, I did more damage after returning home from said medical center. Now, folks, do not try this at home. I am a professional klutz, not a mere novice like many others I know. I can perform feats with my feet that even I cannot explain. Which is why I can't tell you my secret regarding how I managed to do this; I don't even know. All I do know is that the corner of the hallway also managed to jump out at me as I was attempting to hobble upstairs to my bedroom, in the exact spot as before between the exact same toes, only this time it had been buddy taped, so there was much more resistance. Yeah. And can I also recount the two times since this happened that my darling pumpkin succeeded in first bumping my toe and then full-out stomping on it (with sneakers on)? I guess I needed another good cry.

So, with two little klutzy-by-nature boys running around, and having to actually use my feet every day (and only being able to get my foot in one pair if shoes that didn't hurt as badly as the others; for goodness sake, the sheets bother me at night when they are on my toe!), I don't foresee a quick recovery. But since you have been so patient (if I haven't lost you by now), I will allow you to see the monstrosity that is my littlest piggy. I am sure if it could, it would cry all the way home.

Whatever you do, please do not click this picture to enlarge it. I normally see my feet from more than 5' away, so I never noticed how badly I could really use a good pedicure and some foot lotion (not like that would happen any time soon, anyway!). But let this serve as a warning to all of you: watch out for those corners!

Sunshine Day

Everybody's smilin'

Sunshine day

Everybody's laughin'

Sunshine day

Everybody seems

So happy today

It's a sunshine day

(Did I mention school is out?!?)

P.S. Five extra credit points on the report card of anyone who can name

the artist of the above lyrics.

"There's so much that we share, that it's time we're aware..."

It's a small world after all!

Here is Cameron's class at their show last week. Look at the cute little Asian costumes, the sweet little Swiss girl, the little boy with the sombrero from Mexico, and...wait...who is that?

Ahhh! What an adorable little African boy!

He told us he chose this costume because he really liked all the colors.

What a wonderful small world it would be after all if everyone embraced that philosophy in life.

"It's a world of laughter..."

Cameron's preschool held their annual end-of-the-year music show last week. Each class sang and danced to their own class song, and then they all performed together. Cameron's class sang "It's a Small World" (which, as a side note, is also one of Mommy's favorite songs ever and her most favorite ride at Disney World. No, I am not kidding!). Cameron's teachers went all out and each student wore a costume representing a different nationality. Any guesses what part of the world my blonde-haired blue-eyed pale-skinned child represented? (No fair for those of you who already know!)

While you are guessing, I will entertain you with a picture from last year's show, where all of Cameron's class dressed in chicken costumes and sang and danced to...you guessed it..."The Chicken Dance." Yes, Mommy was crying from both laughter and pride.

Preschool Show 2007

I can't wait to see if anyone guesses this year's costume correctly!

Hallelujah and Amen

They're DONE!!!!!!!

Okay...if you are asking, "What's done?!?" you are obviously guilty of not reading my blog enough. So, I won't tell you outright. But I will give you some hints. It involves several used-up red pens, lots of bad grammar, and many doses of Tylenol. Oh, and seven weeks of my life that I can never get back! But I am so happy they are done!

P.S. I know at this point, you may be worried about me and wonder, "What will she do with all her free time now? Will she be able to handle having weekends free of red ink?" Never fear, my dear blog readers. You see, now I have the opportunity to catch up on all that work I assigned but didn't get a chance to grade and enter every assignment for every student individually into our convenient online grading system. Oh, and final exams started today, so I get to grade hundreds of those, too. Oh, and then I can ease my pain by computing yearly grade averages for each student. And don't even get me started on the fun I plan to have packing up my classroom. So, don't worry! And did I mention that I get a whole week to do all of this? Piece of cake after the past seven weeks.

No Autographs, Please

Okay, I have teased you just long enough...

Time for some healthy laughter!

(You will understand the significance if you read the below descriptions from yesterday.)

It's Just Not Nice to Tease

This posting is just to establish content for tomorrow's posting...just to explain some important likes in this family. I know that many of you have been extremely patient; my posts have been infrequent and not too thrilling. Well, if you want to be entertained, tomorrow's posting may just deliver if you want a good laugh.

So here are your teasers...

Teaser #1: For those of you that don't know...I am a singer and I have a degree in music as well as English. Growing up, since the moment I saw the film Grease at age seven, I was in love with Olivia Newton-John. In love. As in, every time I saved up enough of my allowance, I would but a new Olivia album at Drug Fair, a store that had several older albums for as low as $3.77. In my earliest fantasies, I wanted to be Olivia. I memorized all of her songs, and every time I was asked to sing a solo, I chose an Olivia song. Naturally, my first solo in front of the entire elementary school was "Xanadu." And when I won a statewide essay contest at age ten, the local paper's headline read: She'd Like to Sing Like Olivia. I adored the purity of Olivia's voice and her wholesome demeanor (that is, until the whole "Physical" era arrived; it's hard to believe that song was ever considered scandalous compared with today's standards). As I grew older, I respected the woman she had become even more; she supports many philanthropic and environmental causes, and her fight with breast cancer was nothing less than inspiring. You can just imagine what I was like the first time Eric took me to see her in concert; she actually entered the stage to "Xanadu," and I couldn't see or speak for the first several songs through my tears. So, that is your teaser #1.

Teaser #2 is much less emotional but still fun. Cameron is really into the old-school versions of Scooby-Doo right now, and he recently borrowed Scooby-Doo Meets Batman from our library. He can talk in Scooby-speak, and knows more trivia from the shows than I ever did (and I watched them the first time around). And sometimes he even pretends to be a part of the Scooby clan and ride around in the Mystery Machine. Which takes us to...

...Teaser #3. If you read my previous post regarding Connor's babyhood, you know that I was holding my breath in case he was as colicky as his brother. But then a funny thing happened. He wasn't! In fact, I deemed him my "angel baby" those first few months because he was so good. And what a fantasy-come-true that was!

Okay, friends...those are your only clues. You will have to wait until tomorrow to see the reason for this preview of sorts. But until then? Feel free to guess!

P.S. No, my research papers are not all graded yet, but thanks for asking.

That's not what my high school friends would say...

18% Geek

According to this online quiz, I am only 18% Geek. Hmmmm. That must only be because the questions never asked if I ever wore a hat with a plume in the marching band, if I used to own socks that matched every shirt in my wardrobe, if I know every Barry Manilow song by heart, if I correct people's grammar (in my head, of course) ad nauseum, or if I cry whenever one of my boys outgrows his cute clothing and I have to pack it away. I guess those things only make me a 100% dork.

By the way...since I'm still grading research papers in my "spare" moments (which I am certain -- despite these quiz results -- is a tremendously geeky way to spend my weekends), and I don't have as much time to devote to my blog, feel free to entertain me with your thoughts: What do you do that is geeky (or dorky)?

"Happy Mudder's Day"...

...as my little boys say. In all honesty, my Mother's Day was spent grading research papers. As have all my weekends for the past month. And the month to come. And the rest of my life -- oh, so maybe that is going a bit too far, but that is what it feels like. Please bear with me through this time of research papers (or rather "R.P.," which eerily looks a bit like "R.I.P." Coincidence?). My posts may be lame, few and far between, and unfunny. But it's all for a good cause, right? I mean, I'm sure that my students will exhibit the utmost respect and appreciation when they receive their papers back with all of my terrific suggestions for improvement. At least I have had enough sense to make up one important rule in the past: no throwing your graded research paper in the trash in my presence.

All that aside, I did receive some pretty wonderful acknowledgements this time around. So I will post them for all to see (and for me to see when I am at work and would rather be with my little men).

Cameron came home from preschool Friday and said that this time I was not allowed in his bookbag. This morning, I received my big surprise:

That is me and Cameron in the drawing (I guess I was having a bad hair day in this picture).

And this was wrapped up with the card; his picture is inside the flower. How cute!

Daddy took Cameron to the park last weekend for a Mother's Day craft, and he painted this pot, decorated it, and planted it all by himself.

And these came yesterday from all my men. It was a lovely gesture since I am not even Eric's mom, and I have a feeling Connor didn't call the florist all by himself. In fact, I also got a new CD I have been wishing for (yes, some people still buy CDs...in a store! Shhhh....), a book by one of my favorite authors, and even a card from the kitty! This morning, Cameron asked me if today was "Mudder's Day," and when I said, "yes," he asked, "But when is Children's Day?" I used that one when I was a kid, too. So I told him the same thing my parents told me: "EVERY DAY is Children's Day!" :)

Little Pumpkin, Full of Grace

My parents taught my brother and me to say grace before every meal as little kids, so I naturally wanted to pass that tradition on to my children. Until last week, Connor's involvement was a resounding "A-men!" in unison with us at the end of the prayer. But he surprised us the other day with this, so I had to ask for an encore and catch it on tape.

By the way, don't be embarrassed to tell me that you can't understand what he is saying. And also, don't be embarrassed to tell me that this isn't the most original of dinnertime prayers. I am totally aware that that is probably the case on both accounts. But we know what he's saying, and I am just thrilled that he is learning good habits early. However, if you have a great prayer to pass on, feel free to share! In the meantime, here is a translation (in case you don't already know it by heart):

God is great; God is good, and we thank him for our food.

By his grace must all be fed; give us, Lord, our daily bread.

Amen.

My Little Star

Connor has become quite the little singer/songwriter. He sings songs often (especially in his crib when he wakes in the morning) and throughout the day. Sometimes they are obvious songs we all know...sometimes, not so much. But I prefer to think of him as our little budding songwriter. It's not nonsense singing. It's "experimental."

Anyway, here's one I am sure you can identify. Feel free to sing along!