In Which I Got Very Behind and Now Do a Catch Up Post

As it tends to go, I got a little overwhelmed with life.

It's been a harder semester with both math 1050 and Spanish, plus working full time, and also trying not to slack as a mother and a wife altogether.

Which didn't happen, but after a slap of reality I pulled it back together and realized where my priorities need to be, even while working and going to school.

No other success can make up for failure in the home.

I don't want to fail in my home.

As it is, the blog got set to the side for a few weeks.

And now I get to show all the incredibly random things that have kept us hopping.

Like Cali's birthday party at Hollywood Connections.

Where Grandma Julie gave Cali some ice cream cones for part of her birthday present, and we then used them to back the cupcakes in and top with ice cream on sundae toppings.  

Our local grocery store had a week where they invited schools to decorate check stands and come in and do...

Well...

This:





...all through the entire store.  Over and over.

The walking around behind the mascot, not the rapping.

Though the rapping was quite good.

A few months ago I saw a groupon for Harlem Globetrotters tickets, and as the Harlem Globetrotters have been on my bucket list since I was a kid, I jumped at the chance to go.

For "bring your parent to school day" we decided to just join the girls for lunch.  We showed up with Panda Express and Subway cookies and hung out with them at the Middle School for that part of their day.

It would have been helpful if they'd all have the same lunch, but what do you?  The Man helped me study Spanish flashcards in between lunches.

A random pic of the girls tromping into church on a windy day.

As it turns out, we have all six kids going to the orthodontist.

I'm not sure how this happened since none of their parents ever had the need for orthodontia, but *sigh* I guess that doesn't matter.

The orthodontist (who is awesome by the way, if you need one hit him up here and tell him we sent you) checked out these three, thought he was done, and then was shocked when he realized the rest of his chairs were also filled with our kids.

The orthodontist has become a family outing.

I think that brings me up to date on all the little goings on.

I have a really fun roadtrip post to do, and I still have the 10k run post to do, complete with a discount run.  It has inflatable jump houses in it!  The run, not the post.  We also need to plan our Very Merry Unbirthday Tea Party for our Disneyside Home Party ( a HUGE thanks to Disney for the fun swag for that one!).

But first, a Spanish test tonight.

Then we'll get on with the rest of it.

A Day in the Life of a 7th Grader

There's many moments as a mother when you hope against all that you are, that you are enough.
Enough that your children will not only love you, but be good people in this world.  Maybe even despite you.

Our middle school had a "bring your parent to school day."

Cas and I talked about it a bit.  I told her that I wouldn't be offended if she didn't want me to go, but frankly, I didn't want to be the only parent that showed up either.

That would just be awkward for me, let alone her.

So we asked a neighbor friend who was in the 9th grade, do parents actually go to this?

And she shook her head, "only parents of bad kids usually go."

So it was settled.  I wouldn't go, and we wouldn't worry about it anymore.

Until the night before when Cas came home from school and stated that teachers had asked in classes if anyone was bringing parents and there were people who raised their hands.

She wanted me to go.

Things I observed during my day as a 7th grader.

1.  It hit me full force how much I enjoyed 7th grade myself.  I met some amazing people that year and, thanks to facebook, can still be in touch with them.  Friends that I hung out with clear through graduation were friends that I made when I entered 7th grade.  Even though Cas isn't going to the same school I went to in 7th grade, I had memories hitting me at every turn.

2.  Cas is pretty comfortable in her CTE class.  I got to watch them on their first day in the kitchen as they attempted rice krispie treats and that girl was in her element.  Especially when other kids were staring with furrowed brows into their pots, "is it normal for it to burn?"

Well, I guess the answer to that would depend on who you live with.  At our house it's not uncommon for me to tell The Man, "just don't scrape the bottom when you dish up."

I can say that Casidee's group made perfect rice krispie treats.

Not a bad breakfast, if I do say so myself.

3.  I loved watching her in her orchestra class.  Just straight up loved it.  Her teacher is dynamic and they would play along with other music and I just couldn't help but smile through the class as I listened to them.  I think it's awesome that she's learning to play an instrument.

4.  I'm an English nut.  A geek to the core when it comes to grammar.  In fact, I'm working on a bachelor's in English right now (The Man says, "isn't that a useless degree?  I've always heard that English and history degrees are useless."  Seriously, it depends on what you plan on doing with them!  psh.)  So I found myself paying extra attention in her English class.  Her teacher is the cutest thing and the class had a great collective personality... most of it coming from the boys that Cas was grouped with.  They sat in groups of four and she was the only girl in her group.  A proud mom moment came when they proof read a paragraph.  The teacher asked how many mistakes were found and the boys in Casidee's group were adamant that there were 12 mistakes.  Cas insisted to them that she had 13.  "No way," they told her.

Guess what?  There were 13 mistakes.

That's my girl.

They were also asked to arrange strips of paper in order of how they needed to be used in essays.  Casidee's group laid them out in order, though haphazardly.  Their teacher checked them off as being correct and then as they sat there waiting for other groups to be checked off Cas began to line the slips of paper up in a nice, straight column.

One boy gasped.  "She's making it pretty!"  As in, how dare she.  And, she's such a girl.  There was a lot of good natured banter in that group.  It's an honors class and I told her to be nice to those "nerdy" boys, they'll always be the fun ones and she'll be glad she knows them.

5.  The girl never uses her locker.  She totes her books around all day long in her backpack.  This is craziness in my opinion, but I noticed that she's not the only one who does it.

6.  She pointed me out to her friends in every class we went to.

It made my heart happy.

Except when she pointed me out as, "my mom is the mom with the 9 inches of flashcards in her lap."  Um, I'm sorry but I have a science midterm to study for!  And I got a lot of flashcards memorized as I sat in those classes with that girl.  Make fun of me...

7.  The last class of the day for her was Chinese.  Holy cow, I don't know how she does it.  The teacher spoke a lot, and gave directions a lot in Chinese (mixed with hand signals).  Before the class began a boy sitting next to Cas said he bet he could guess which mom belonged to Cas.  I overheard that and looked up at them (I may or may not have been looking at 9 inches of flashcards) and saw them both staring at me.  So I made a face.  Immediately Cas comments, "not that one, I have no idea who she even is."  Another boy said, "that's your mom?  I thought it was your 21 year old sister!"

I'll take that, even if it's unrealistic.

Over all, I loved being there with her through the day.  I loved seeing her interact with those she sat by, I loved watching her get things that her teacher taught.

I loved that she seemed so proud that I was there and that I belonged to her.

Teachers would ask me who I belonged to and I felt just as proud to say it was Casidee.

I don't know if I'll be given the chance to go to school with any of the other kids, but after yesterday, I sure I can.  Because the kids who live in my house and belong to me, are pretty cool to hang out with for a day.

Thanks Cas, for sharing your day with me.