Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing

Every Monday morning I show up bright and early (9:20am), dressed to impress and cheery as can be (sweaty running clothes and slightly groggy) to do the Monday Folders for Isabelle’s class at school. It is my job to stuff the childrens’ folders with approximately 217 papers each…sign-ups for the school play, classroom weekly newsletter, PTA reminders, and the like.

This is a great gig because for 30 short minutes I can monitor Isabelle’s behavior, get a read on her social skills, shoot the occasional evil eye at the classroom bully and eavesdrop on the teacher.

Yesterday, for the first time, I took the toddler. 

Yesterday was not a great gig.

I thought surely Jack would sit in the reading corner, happy to experience a bean bag for the first time, read a book and watch the students. He did! For about three minutes, until he spotted Isabelle. Evidently, Jack did not understand this is where his big sister disappears to every day.

         “Sis!” he shouted happily, and ran to her desk.  He wanted to sit on her lap, explore the wonders of her (messy) desk and chill with the boys on either side of her.

Pretending to be invisible—which I was not...all 24 kids were highly amused—I patiently dragged him back to the beanbag and plopped several engaging books in his lap.

Jack again escaped to her desk, I pulled him away, got 2 papers inserted into folders, Jack escaped again, I pulled him back…you get the picture.

Finally, he pretended to just stay on the beanbag. Until I turned my back and was lulled into complacency, stuffing maybe a grand total of 3 folders. Then he quietly got off the beanbag, sneaked around behind me THE LONG WAY, behind the teacher’s desk, and then ran full speed to Isabelle—watched by 24 children with bated breath.

         “Sis!” he called, “Hewwp!” (help) The class erupted in laughter—of the Little Rascals variety. (someone please tell me you know what I mean by that.)

Meanwhile, I was DRESSED IN LAYERS. And I had forgotten that the school keeps the thermostat at what surely must be 940 degrees. We were providing quite the entertainment—and I was getting sweatier by the moment. Steam was coming off my head, from heat and toddler-induced grizzlement.

Somehow all the folders got stuffed, while I was trying unsuccessfully to stifle my exasperation, and I sped over to the cubbies to throw all the folders into the kids’ respective slots and get the crap out of there. 

It was at this point that Jack discovered the recess bin. The bin that holds all the 4-square balls. The balls that bounce really high. And make a loud, echo-y “BOING!” noise.

         “BOING!”

         “BOING!”

         “BOING!”         

“BOING!”

         “BOING!”

         “BOING!”

Seriously, no less than six balls were sent bouncing in quick succession all over the classroom like pinballs. With ensuing Little Rascals laughter.

I tossed the few remaining folders on the teacher’s desk and got the heck out of there. Straight to McDonald’s, where Jack got an ice cream (don’t judge my negative reinforcement) and I downed a XL Diet Coke in 37 seconds flat.

And my final thought is this: Good thing Isabelle's class had a substitute that day. 

Deck Me.

{Secret Note to Self: This post shall take no longer than 10 minutes to write. No more 90-min long posting! You will be finished by 11:30pm or you will run 15 extra punishment minutes tomorrow morning. In the cold.}

Below is the non-secret portion of today's post.

As of three days ago, I have begun decking the halls. It is a compulsion for me to begin the minute after Halloween is over.

I admit that as I answered doors to trick-or-treaters (a grand total of 3--story to follow in a coming post), the Christmas storage bins were waiting in the wings--brought up from the basement but hidden behind a closed door.

I have been secretly listening to Christmas music since the first chill in the air. I have been grinning-and-bearing my way through Halloween and will now reward myself with lights and glitter and garland and (cue the Sesame Street Grover Voice).....sprinkles!
Sweetie Jack was given a candy cane to keep him satisfied and subdued while Mimi & I dove into the frenzy. This was Mantle Decor, Day 1. I've been dreaming up a white & silver mantle, so I started with a huge silver frame and added a white feather boa. The frame has been in my basement Frame Stash for who-knows-how-long (that is an interchangeable term for "approximately how long I've been married"). The boa was from Mimi's chicken halloween costume 3 years ago.

While impatiently waiting for a socially acceptable time to Deck the Halls, I've been avariciously reading The Nester. She opened my eyes to shopping the house and using what you have to decorate, so I've been looking at all my stashes with new appreciation.

Below: I added lights and a few jars filled with white snowball-y looking ornaments. This is all stuff I had from my Endless Christmas Bins.

Mimi has been waiting all year to decorate this little white tree. Well, actually not. As my fingers were typing that sentence my subconscious self remembered the day in June I found Mimi & the cilantro-partner-in-crime decorating the tree with all my blown glass candy ornaments. *&$#@!%!! Seriously. With an fair amount of broken glass on the cement floor.

But she got a second chance and did a good job. {I am now 8 minutes past my deadline. Crap. Why can't I be a fast writer?}

I'm pretty sure she's got visions of sugarplums already.

Here is the mantle about halfway into the process.

The candy cane sugar rush did not deter Jack from going to bed. Here is the little mama about to take him upstairs. Isabelle loves to put him to bed, snuggle him in, arrange his blankies just so around his face, pet his feathers and say goodnight to him.


A day later, I added the mirror--also from the basement. Everything is just kind of thrown up there, but it sparkles so I like it. I'm going to do a fun candy theme on the upstairs mantle where the kids congregate, and I'm not sure about the mantle in my room. I'm just glad we are here in this house to see another Christmas, so I'm having fun making it cozy. We've got a tenuous grip on life with even more tenuous finances. I plan to drown my sorrows in sprinkles.

{20 minutes past the deadline...I'm going to be so sore tomorrow from punishment minutes.}

***Edited to add: Post finished at 11:55pm. Dangit.

Chillin' with my Bad Self at 2:30am

At the moment, I am trying to calm my frazzled nerves after watching "24" tonight. My theory is this: If I write about my normal, sedate, (non-special op's) & somewhat boring life, I will distract my brain from firing signals to my synapses at 250x the normal rate.

Saturday I mobilized the troops (slang for "lazy kids") and we scrambled around, spiffing up the house to show it once again. We left shortly after to watch the girls dance at the Poinsettia Festival. Mimi was soaking up the spotlight as usual, and Isabelle did a little hip hop number. She was so excited to perform her dance and practiced it frequently at home for a tiny audience of one, seated in a carseat on the floor. Later that night, I went to dinner & to see "Twilight" with the girls. Because I'd heard mixed reviews, I had low expectations and ended up really liking it. Contrary to most people I've talked to, Edward was just exactly as I'd pictured him. I couldn't get settled down after coming home--perhaps due to the fact that I'd consumed approximately 137 Diet Cokes--and held Food Storage Friday by my little ol' self at 2:30am.


I decided I needed something more specific than calendaring my meals, so I followed the how-to at "Safely Gathered In" and planned my 3 month supply. I feel much better about the organization. My first attempt at organizing pantry meals wasn't sitting well with me. I needed more structure. I followed the directions exactly and now feel like I've made a good start. The next step will be to do the math and write out a big master grocery list to work from and start collecting the ingredients. This process had always been very daunting to me, but I figure it is well past time to just start, and I have gained peace already just by making babysteps. It seems everyone I know has ALL their wheat and ALL their grains and ALL their water and honestly, I feel like a big doofus. Yes. I am just starting my measly 3 month supply.***

Anyway, my current plan is to accumulate all the ingredients for my meals on the above list and then work on gathering the long-term supply of food like bulk amounts of wheat, rice, etc. I have found safelygatheredin.blogspot.com to be invaluable! It's a very informative blog, and also very helpful in that they break the process down into just that....a process.

Today was church--without the two Littles. Baby and Mimi stayed home, because baby is sick and Mimi is just tired and grouchy. Little Jack napped from 11:30pm until 4:30pm! Poor little sick guy. I think his power nap was restorative, though, because he woke up playful and happy.

In Relief Society, we discussed Elder Uchdorf's talk, "Lift Where You Stand," which I've actually read a few times in the past week. We talked about how talents of body, spirit & personality are given to us from the Lord to be used in service, to give to others using our unique capabilities. It's a great talk.

Tomorrow I plan to knock out a plethora of errands, then come home and read books to the Littles and make cards for my card exchange. Life is good.


***And thanks, Mom, for my boxes & boxes of food storage you gave me! That's what got me started.

52 Blessings, Week 8: Love Notes

I find little scribbley notes like this everywhere. Isabelle jots them on scraps of paper, my lists (of which there are many), on the tile with bathtub crayons, on post-its & then sticks them in random places for me to find....everywhere. And when I see my love notes, my heart just sings.

52 Blessings
Week 2

My Sister Bear.

Wordless Wednesday

Our Last Few Days

Here are the girls, all ready for the ward Christmas party last week. There was a entertainment group there--all singy and dancey--and Mimi was RIVETED to the stage. There were probably 25 or 30 teens doing a modern version of Lawrence Welk...singing and dancing and acting. Mimi finally ditched us; she found herself a front-row seat and plopped right down and didn't move the entire next hour. Afterwards, the adults were talking and enjoying dessert while all the kids were out causing a ruckus in the halls. When it was time to round up our kids, we found everyone but Mimi, whom we finally tracked down in the Relief Society room with the dancers! They all went there to rest and eat their dinner and socialize after their performance and Mimi zoned in on them and started giving them the rundown: "I like your hair," "Do you wear that makeup all the time?" "Does your mom only let you wear it to dance?" "Do you want to see MY moves?" "Do you go to dance class?" "There aren't any boys in my dance class," "Are those tights just for big girls?" "Where did you get your sparkle dress?" And on & on. The dancers got a huge kick out of her and made a big fuss over saying goodbye to her. What a girly-girl!

So that was last weekend. This weekend was Mimi's Christmas dance recital, which is always a treat. She has been looking forward to it so much and has almost as much fun getting ready for the recital as she does at the recital itself--especially because she is allowed to wear mascara. Here she is before the recital, striking an impromptu pose.

This is a girl who loves to feel glamorous! Which is so funny because Isabelle could care less. Oh, she'll usually cooperate when I get her trussed up for church every week, but really is not into bows and frills. She'd rather "rough you up" (her words) or play Star Wars with her light saber.

Here is Mimi's little Grinch dance. She's the one in the middle with the white bow.


Later that night Mike & I went to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's Christmas Concert, which was fabulous! I was too far away to capture the coziness of the stage; on either side of the orchestra is a Christmas village, all aglow with lanterns and lights. This is my favorite Christmastime event and I was so happy I was able to go!

The next day, Sunday, Mimi took a very late nap and so was allowed to stay up much later than usual. I had been waiting to show her The Nutcracker, which I have tivo'd, and she loved it even MORE than I had expected! This picture is of her floating and flitting her arms around, ballerina-style. She did this all through the show--she couldn't help herself.

At the very end, she popped up out of her couch nest and began to dance along with Clara. I can't wait to watch her get bigger and see how this part of her personality develops.

We're Patrons of the Arts

Tonight we went on a family outing to "The 12 Dancing Princesses," a play at our local high school. It was primarily for Mimi, as you might have guessed. Because Mimi is constantly telling me and all others who will listen to her that she goes to high school, I got a picture of her in front of the lockers. (Seriously. The checkers at the grocery will ask her how old she is and she answers, matter-of-factly, "I go to high school.")

This is the outfit she assembled herself to attend "the princess play." And she just strikes these poses spur of the moment. No mere stand-'n-smile for the Drama Queen.
This is us sitting & waiting for the play to begin. Because we were early. I am always early, actually. Oh, YES I AM. Always. And if my mom says otherwise, don't believe her.

Isabelle snapped this one. Check out the twirlies in Mimi's hair. I'm going to have to shave her head in order to break her of this habit.

This is some of the on-stage action. I posted it mainly so my mom could get a feel for how colorful and busy it was, so she could understand why MIMI WAS IN HEAVEN. Look at the gowns! Mimi was enraptured. And she noticed right away that each princess had a tiara. She was sitting on Mike's lap the entire time (daddy's girl) and kept describing to him, with great big sparkly eyes, the details of the gowns she loved. She had concentration mouth the entire play.


While we were waiting for the play to begin (I repeat! because we were early!), Isabelle got her mitts on my camera and got snap-happy. Evidently she was shooting goofball self-portraits, which I didn't know until I plugged my camera into my computer just now. HA! Mike says he saw her doing it, and the older gentleman in the row behind her was getting quite a kick out of it the entire time (bottom picture).

Max took advantage of the 3 hours to work on solving his Rubik's Cube. I'm mad I didn't think to take a picture of that!

A Little Time Warp

Hop into your Delorean, rev it up to the required 1.21 gigawats and let's GO! We're going back in time (sung in Huey Lewis' voice)...

Here I am at 6 years old, with my sister Jill, on Halloween 1978 as an Indian Princess. When I reminisce about Halloween as a youngster, my memories always include this costume. I loved it! My mom, The Queen of Costumes, made it.
(I wanted to post this on Halloween for Tell All Tuesday but didn't, due to the fact I've spent the last week-and-a-half in bed with the covers over my head. Well...maybe not literally. But definately I was in a mental state of "covers-over-my-head, I'm-not-coming-out!" So here is my Back In Time Halloween post.)

And as you can see, the Indian Princess made a comeback in 1982, when I was 10 years old.
Here's the best part! As we rip Back To the Future in our Delorean (at 88 mph), Isabelle is wearing the EXACT same Indian Princess costume, at the EXACT same age! We both wore it when we were 6 years old! It just worked out that way and it makes me happy.

Oh how I love this sweet little girl! Off she went to kindergarten, skipping in, happy as always.