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I have bronchitis...

Middle School Drama begins

My poor sweet girl came home from school today in tears. She sits in an assigned spot at lunch, between 2 of her friends who do not like each other. She comes home on occasion telling me that they were fighting and asking my advice. I don't really like one of the girls - she is trouble - and my assumptions were found to be true today. So this girl, A was fighting with M. A (the one I dont like) grabbed M's arm and hurt her wrist. (ally said she sprained it...drama) The lunch aide told them to go see the guidance counselor and made Allysa accompany them "as a witness". Another girl asked her where she was going and she told her that A & M were fighting and she had to go to the GC. Well, later on the bus, Ally tried to apologize to A for talking to the other girl. M BLEW UP and yelled at Ally in front of everyone on the bus and told her it was HER fault for starting rumors and that everyone in school was going to hate A because because of it. GRRRRR seriously???? I am so not ready for all of this - 5th grade is so early, isn't it? I don't really remember drama like this happening until about 7th grade. I called the GC, filled him in on what happened on the bus and got her lunch seat changed (well, I would have, but all of 5th grade is getting new seat assignments tomorrow) and asked him to keep his ears open to the rumors spreading. I don't want my kid to be lumped in with girls like that and become guilty by association.

Frustrated...

Why can't people be as positive with each other as they are negative? Why must people make a special trip to tell you when you have done something wrong, but can't even be bothered to send you an email to tell you that they appreciate how you go above and beyond the call of duty?

I need to check this in my own life...I love and appreciate my friends and family. A LOT

time's up...

WOW. so it's been about a hundred years since my last post. I feel like I have not had time to breathe since I last posted!! My mama came to visit from Mexico for 3 weeks or so and brought with her my neice and nephew from Phoenix. We had a nice visit. Then she left and the kids stayed here for another week until my brother flew out to get them. The entire 3 weeks consisted of a lot of driving, a lot of flexibility, some tears, some yelling, some frustration, A LOT OF MONEY SPENT...it was nice to have the kids here so the cousins could spend time together but 1 week would be plenty. I had a lot of school work to do, and Ally went away to camp for the first time! She loved it and had the time of her life! And being consistent with my "mother-of-the-year" status, I was an hour late to pick her up from camp, which resulted in more tears!! I worked ESY (extended school year) this summer, which was...well...lets just say that I am glad its over. The kids were great - it was the other adults who I could have lived without! GRRR Now my summer vacation can start - I have 4 whole weeks. Cheerleading begins this week - both of my girls cheer and I am one of their coaches! Its fun, but a HUGE committment. I will be a "ministry widow" this coming week, as the Reading Fair begins and Mike will spend every waking moment there. He will be home to sleep and shower. Not even to eat! The girls and I will be driving to MI to see their grandparents on Saturday and Mike will fly in next Wednesday. Busy, busy...but I will try to be more diligent in my postings. Not that anyone really reads them, but I like to just write randomly sometimes (like this one right now) and get stuff out...

UPDATE ON LILY
for those of you who don't know, Mike's cousin Joy has a 15 month old daughter who, long story short, got Fifth's disease, which is very common among children. It attacked her heart and within 2 weeks recieved a heart transplant. It will be one week tomorrow. She is doing very well and they are slowly trying to wean her off of the paralytic drugs to see how she will do and so she can begin to recover. It was a shock and it all happened very quickly. The family appreciates your prayers.

SCRAP HAPPY

A friend of mine has a nice scrapbooking blog and a fabulous scrap retreat house that I hope to visit one day. Check her blog out (& info about The Hamburg hideaway) at http://musingsandmemories-taryn.blogspot.com/

chatterings...

Cass: "daddy, it's official, you're wierd!" Ally: "Cass, it's been official for years!"

Aunt Moo: "Ally, you don't make a lick of sense!" Ally: "yeah, thats why I like to talk to my dad"

Cass: "Hannah Montana the movie is on DVD!" Ally: "you know what we have to do now. BEG!"

Ally: "Daddy, I like to sit on you because when you sit...you like...spread..."

Meeting Jesus...

HOLY CRAP!

Driving along the highway tonight, going to my sisters house when BAM! A truck kicks up a rock that plummets right into our window shield!! If it had gone through and hit Mike in the head, he would have gone home and met his Jesus. Thankfully for us - maybe not so much for him - Jesus had other plans. Here is kinda how it played out. Girls are chatty in the back seat. Mike & I are silent because we are feuding. BAM! I look at him, see no blood, look in the back seat at the now silent girls. I ask Mike if he is okay and there is just blankness. I ask the girls if they are okay when suddenly Cassidy starts screaming. Mouth wide open, blood curdling scream. Lasted about 10 or 15 seconds until I yelled her name and was getting ready to slap the shock out of her. She had seen the gigantic hole in the windshield. I look back at Mike, who is still barrelling down the highway at 70 MPH when I say, "Mike, you should pull over." Again I asked if he was bleeding. I think it took a full minute for him to realize that there REALLY was drama and that he needed to pull over. He kind of came-to at that point and pulled over. I cleaned up the glass - there was just dust and tiny particles on the dash and our seats. He had tiny little nicks on him from the dust and my left arm had some dust on it too. We were all silent in the car for a good 5 minutes. Then I said something about how rediculous Cassidy was for screaming like that and Mike asked me what I was talking about. He does not recall her screaming or me asking everyone if they were okay. He DOES remember seeing the rock coming at us and watching it smash into our car. He draws a blank after that until he pulled over. Should I be concerned? I am still kinda mad at him from our earlier mentioned feud, however, I am SO grateful that Jesus is letting me keep him for a little while longer. I do love him.

more catching up

The other day Mike & the girls came home froma bike ride. They had seen a hot air balloon and we decided to hop in our car and "chase it". We drove ALL OVER Berks County...there were 2 of them. We followed one for a while, but came upon a different one and ended up following that one. They could see us and kept waving to us. Eventually, they decided to land and we followed them to this gravel pit. Once they were safely on the ground, they called us over. They offered the girls a tethered ride, but Cassidy was too scared so Mike went in with them. They went up a good 10 feet or so in the air for a few minutes. It was a great night and an even better experience.

catching up...

Monday I got to bring my BFF home from work. My sweet, funny little Adam. My friend has autism. He is SO smart, unique, funny, sweet, defiant, chatty, and adorable!! He has trouble with communication skills like most people who have autism do. It is what we focus on the most in school. Anyhow, my friend came home with me and we went swimming. It was overcast and the water was SO COLD! There is probably no one else in this world I would have gotten in that water for (maybe my nephew) - certainly not my kids!! =] He was in the pool before I even had my cover up off and did so well. I have never seen such joy cross his little face! He let me do some OT stuff with him - which he hates - and we worked on pronouns and prepositions and he didn't even know it! We had a great day and I wanted to share about it with you - ok, so fine, there are only 2 of you who read this and one of you is Adam's mother, but still!!! If by some chance, some other random person is reading this and you want to check out more about this beautiful child, go to http://www.schaeffer08.blogspot.com/

FAITH HOPE & LOVE

OH MY WORD! today was day 182 and we are FREE!!!! Smell the freedom people!! But I can't get too excited, I get to see my little gems in a week and a half for ESY (summer school).

Ain't i lucky?!

I just love love my job and my boys...they make me crazy, the make me smile, they make me think and they make me smarter. Most of all, they make me laugh. There is no one else who can put a smile on my face the same way they can.

One of the mothers gave me a beautiful gift today - a bracelet that says, "faith, hope, love" I will think of Adam everytime I wear it for as long as I have it. Thanks, Luci =]

trials of a fat girl...

So, I went bathing suit shopping today. All I have to say is LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

because if I don't, I will cry.



New quotes from my students:
"I'm biting my arm!!" "I got a text, from NY" "I want computer NOW!" "I'm not welcome here!" "Can i stay open my water?" "Hey girl. What's up?"

um...meow?

So Mike is away for the week. Cassidy is such a daddy's girl and does not handle that well. Last night when I was tucking them in Mike called. She talked to him for a minute and started to cry. When she hung up I was talking to her and cuddling with her and I was trying to make her laugh so I said, "You like Daddy better than me, don't you?" She hid her face in the blanket and was totally grinning. I told her it was okay because it made me happy that they loved each other so much. She said, "If Daddy isn't home and I want someone to cuddle with, I will come cuddle with you..." =] What am I, sloppy seconds???? So I laughed at her and then she said, "It's kind of like cats and dogs..." um, what? She said - and I TOTALLY quote, "You know how much I love dogs. If dogs weren't around, I would love cats..." SO I AM A CAT??!!!!!! nice, daughter. I'd rather be your sloppy seconds!! LOL I love that kid.

I should write a book...

: "it's kooky!" "back you off!" "herrrrlp!!" "may you help tie your shoe?" "Do you feel grumpy? I do when I can't make my puzzle piece fit" "stupid beaver" "What could be better than that?!" "does Leo say hiya?" "That's good stuff"

: "DUDES!!! dude, dude, dude, dude & dude!" "what's up wit your bad self?" "my mom!" "My mom has talent, ya know?!" "I'm just a sad girl with no friends and nowhere to go" "Don't you listen to him!"

: "horny" (asking for pony & horse...) "hiya!" "busd" "dragon tales" "fishd" "chit"

: "oh, my ass" "my ass hurts" "what the hell are they doing?" "will you wipe my ass?" "I have to put my shite in the toilet" "stop teaching me!" "I'm going to kill yourself!" "No, YOU fold your hands!" "No, YOU be quiet!" "spaceball bags" "dumb trucks"

: "He's mah-blah" "aaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" "where my knee is?"

: "behold, I'm taking off my clothes!" "I'm never going to school again!"

: "go sit, then good job" "totty" "one more time?" "go to work, Brenda"

aaahhhhhhhhhh!

HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY! I heart 3 day weekends. It was beyond fabulous to sleep in until 9:00 this morning!! I woke up, went outside to another glorious, sun-shiney day! Had some fruit for breakfast, relaxed in my new lawn chair. The pool was up and full (we worked our tails of yesterday to accomplish this...). It was nasty dirty, though. So Mike & I scrubbed it until the skin on our hands were "soft-scrubbed" off. It's a beautiful vision in our back yard...now it just needs to warm up.

Thank you Jesus, for a beautiful, perfect, relaxing day.

What a week...

This week was forever long. It started at 3AM when I woke up Monday morning to take my college friends who were visiting for the weekend back the the airport. I came home and went back to sleep until about 7:40 (I have to leave for work at 8:00...). I brushed my teeth, added a bra to my outfit and ran out the door. After work I had to call a friend who had a biopsy done and was getting the results. YAY for no cancer...now to deal with this pesky "lump". Tuesday I spent the entire afternoon doing homework that was due that night because I had not done any over the weekend. College online when you are old and a mom and working full time blows...Wednesday I cleaned, again, ran my girls places, went to the grocery store to "pick up a few things" and $100 later walked out and went home. Had class at 8PM...put the kiddos to bed...Thursday we had haircuts, then went through Wendy's for dinner and had to be at school for Ally's 4th grade band/chorus concert. They did a fabulous job!! That brings us to today. I came home from work feeling bloated, gassy and dizzy...I have been laying on the couch surrounded by "crap". Mike and the girls went to pick up dinner and a movie. Sounds like a good plan to me.

school quotes of the week "I am going to kill yourself!!!" "STOP teaching me!!" "Herrrlp!"

I don't know about this...

I am not a writer. Ask anyone who has is currently taking classes with me (or forced to help me). But a lot of my favorite friends blog and I think theirs are fun...we'll see. I am married to Mike coming up on 15 years. We have 2 beauties...Allysa Kelli and Cassidy Rose and a freaker (oops, I mean a dog) named Gabriel Marvin (for my father-in-law). I am a para-professional in an autistic support classroom and LOVE LOVE LOVE my job. I love my "boys" just as much. I am finally going to college because I think I have figured out what I want to be when I grow up. So hopefully in a few years I will have graduated with an Associate's in Early Childhood Development and a Bachelor's in Applied Behavior Analysis/Psychology and then I would like to maybe become a BCABA or something like that. But then I want to be all done with the whole college thing. My hubby is a pastor - and very good at it - and we have been at our church for basically our entire adult lives (since before we were even married!). God amazes me all the time with his ability to forgive my stubborness and idiot-ness (yes, thats a word) and still love me and provide for me and take care of me. How blessed am I???