Ch-Ch-Ch Changes

Well only two more days and I am officially done with school for the summer (minus any PD that I sign up for ).

Hard to believe that there is another one in the books! And one in fourth grade to boot! 

I have to admit that I was a little scared to take on fourth graders after having been with K and 1 for all of my teaching time. Something happened though that made me fall in love!

I loved the (semi) independence! I loved being able to read and write and create on a level that I had never been on before.

I did miss so many things- but there was a trade off of sorts :)

I even put in for transfers to four middle schools for ELA positions (I know, what is that crazy squirrel thinking- but hey, you've known me long enough to know that I'm NUTS!!!)

It is district policy that they contact you by June 15th to let you know either way. I am beginning to get the feeling that these  middle schools have already made their teams for next year.

So I am not putting all my nuts into one nest. I am considering our neighboring state- there are three counties with middle schools, all less than a half hour from where I live. 

Scary, eh? 

I watch the Jobs Posted section religiously- and I wince each time the phone rings- we'll see what they think before summer's end!

While I am playing the "waiting game" with next year's assignment, I am not waiting around for other changes.

These are just a few "changes" that have happened for me:

1. Out of the last 10 days, I have exercised (on purpose) for 9 of them.
2. I have gone 9 days with NO SODA.
3. I made a concerted effort to make healthier shopping and cooking choices for ALL of us!

Let's go through these changes one at a time

#1- My exercise includes walking. (And a "fitness hoop" that I am trying to master) I walk out my door, turn left, and follow the road and all the cul de sacs until I am back home. If I stay on track, it's about 5 miles. This is NOT my first time to say I was going to stick with this. I WANT to stick with it. I PLAN to stick with it.
The app I use says that I burn (depending on how fast I go) around 600 calories on each walk. This is what has lead to and helped with the #2.

#2 I have said for awhile that I was going to give up soda. My beloved soda. We had a "thing". I would send Littlest Little to the break room with $ to buy my soda before I was ever even thirsty in the morning!! And I would drink it all day long. Then if we went somewhere where they served it, I drank it. If I got it in a cup, I would refill it so that I would be sure to have some when I came home.


And then I looked at the calories.
That one soda is about 1/5 of the calories I am burning. It's about 15 minutes of walking. 15 minutes of sweating- profusely.
My time is valuable. And I AM NOT going to waste it! The way I think about it now is, if I drink that soda, then I have WASTED 15 minutes of walking!!!
So soda is OUT THE DOOR! As The Mr. and I grocery shopped today, I looked at the Nutrition Facts and did lots of mental math- "That's 10 minutes. That's 25 minutes. That's only 3 minutes! Get in the cart!!"

#3 We have been drinking a lot of fruit infused water for the last few months. Lots of lemon and oranges. Recently, we have been experimenting with other fruits. I even bought the Littles their own pitcher because they don't always like what I make for myself.

And we have purged the pantry, discussed the importance of eating meals at meal time and "snacks aren't supposed to fill your belly" (they hate that lecture), and I've replaced all the junk with much healthier choices. It's a transition for us all. And I am sure that we will be a household full of angry squirrels as our bodies begin getting used to not having CRAP snacks - but we will trudge through it together. The Mr. said that as long as I don't become the Food Nazi, we will be okay.

So there are a lot of changes. Hopefully a lot more to come. And hopefully all good ones. (I look forward to being able to post great news) As soon as everyone gets over the "grouchies"!

If you aren't out yet, here's to a speedy week!!

A Mother's Love... {and Lots of It}

Wowwee Wow Wow!

Mother's Day is gone.

 {insert sad face here}

There was such a "build-up", too!

I was all about having this one day. Just one day. (Can you hear the Les Mis...."Just One Day....")

 I had it all worked out in my mind that I would wake up to a glorious smell from the kitchen and then my beautiful children would come into my room with a pretty tray adorned with freshly cut flowers and a delicious meal.

Cue to the dream like music.

And.....

It's over.

Guess what part of that happened.

Uh- NONE of it! That's how much of it happened!

I was the first one up- AND I made breakfast for everyone. 

What the What!?!?!

I guess it's better that way, at least I didn't have to hurt someone for waking me up too early!

All of The Littles did  a wonderful job of helping out The Mr. to find just the right gifts.

***Disclaimer- I know that makes me sound greedy- which is not my intent. I merely think that if we are actually going to spend $$$ on each other that it needs to not be frivolous or wasteful. 

I love a handmade ANYTHING with all my heart- and I keep it all and will cherish it forever! But if you are gonna spend cash on a squirrel- be practical!***

After everyone was awake and their bellies were full, they came out of their rooms with my "loot". The piece of paper there is a GC for a pedi at the spa where I get my hair done- which is good- because these toes are not ready to be seen in those flops!

(The chocolate didn't last 24 hours).

We had a great morning ! I think the best part about the morning was that we didn't "do" anything! The boys sat in front of the ent. stand and went through the movies, trying to find something that we would all like to watch- while "looking" we got distracted with some of the other stuff that was in there. In the time we sat laughing and joking about what we found, we could have watched two movies!!!

These are some of the lovely finds from the back of the stand. These are from our- "everyone do thumbs up right before the picture" stage!!

Lucky me, three horrible "dos" in a row.

Good times. Good times.

And our "good times" do seem to out weigh the not-so-good.

I consider myself to be a very lucky mom of three beautiful Littles. Inside and out.

 They have their moments (they get that from him).

  For the most part my life consists of a table full of sweet faces that sit across from me at the dinner table every night. And even if it tastes like I was trying to poison them, each night they pass my chair as they are excused and say "That was good. Thank you". One of them still kisses my cheek when he says it.

I also have to "deal with" two of them getting out of the van every morning when I drop them off and saying "See you later, I love you". Ugh - my life, right?

(Littlest Little comes in with me, so I get his goodbyes when he leaves for his classroom).

And whether it's out of habit or genuine concern- I have to "put up with" all of them asking how my day is. 

Woe is me. 

I guess it isn't so bad that it's over. I get a little Mother's Day "love" each day. 

I guess the moral of the story is that 

"A mother should be happy that she has the love of her children".

or

"A child's love is priceless"

or

"Let your heart be filled with the smiles of your children".

Screw that- the take-away here folks is-

 "If they didn't make it by hand at school and you have to buy it, make sure it's worth it- also it wouldn't hurt to let her sleep in and  bring her breakfast in bed every once in awhile".

BWHAHAHAHAH!!!!

Speaking of Love

there's a WHOLE LOTTA BIRD LOVIN going on in my hood! This top pick is the nest that is in the bush next to my front door.

Dear Robin #1,

I'm so happy you have built your home in a location where we are able to scare the $%^!> out of each other EVERY morning!!!

Love, 

Squirrels

Dear Robin #2,

Thank you for watching my weight for me and making sure that I don't have any juicy burgers or gigantor steaks until your CHILDREN decide they can feed themselves and get the $#^@ out of my grill.

Love,

Squirrels

NO matter if you gave or got Mama love this weekend, here's some Squirrel-love!
Hope you all had a great Monday!