Balance

I can tell already I will have to relearn what Balance is.

I missed a family party and tried to spend the better part of two whole days getting lessons done, aligning standards, now that we actually some to work with.  (In the case of my AP classes, I have MORE than enough standards to work with...10 pages for two preps...but, I digress.)

My FF took care of school supplies and he took the kids out of the house for me.  He is awesome.  And, he bought me a back-to-school gift...to help me shake the on-coming blues...

Tomorrow, he is taking "back to school" pictures for me so I can go in early and make my last minute copies, move maps that need to be hung, attach fabric to a table, creating a convenient hidey place for my mess, etc.  

He will also help me work through my guilt.  

I am always there for the kids' first day.  I always take the kids' pictures.  

And instead, he will do that for me.

Not unlike what I do for him when he is on shift on those most amazing days.

I guess this is a taste of my own medicine. 

He gets the extra responsibilities, but he also gets to be part of those memories that the kids  will take with them into the world.  And I will be absent from those pictures.  I will be at work. 

There are many pictures of me with
the Muppets while he's on shift...

Perhaps, it is good that my classroom needs so much attention this year.  It is a necessary reminder of all the holidays he misses without saying a word. There is that sacrifice.  He is absent from so many of those memories...or he is on ooVoo.  I allow myself to feel resentment during those times, but I forget how much sacrifice comes with that as well.

I need to balance my time - work cannot consume me.  But, I also have to balance my frustration over the solo parenting moments, with the understanding that he is not only missing from them...but also truly missing them.

Life is all about balance.

Everything in moderation.

A FireWife has An Epic Afternoon - with No Muppets

Well, truth and accuracy requires an addendum that reads, ALMOST no Muppets.  N is home, he has football practice that does not sync up nicely with my hubby's family picnic time.  But, being the teenager that he is, I am alone, for all intents and purposes.  

And this time of no muppets and no meetings and no revolving door on my classroom (My FF can vouch for me - I have an invisible revolving door in my classroom.  Everyone knows it is there, even though you can't see it.) allows me to actually work. I tried working yesterday, it was a shift day.  I can tell you that very little got done. 

So, I am off to organize my student teacher/field worker's binder and my AP Binders and finish my lesson plan standard correlation and hopefully find my sanity out of this pile o'craziness. Notice the Scat Mat - so the polar bears don't stomp on my papers while defending me from the blowing winds on the other side of the window.

Enjoy your day.  Take a moment to think of those who fought for the 8 hour work days and child labor laws.  Regardless of where you stand on the issue of unions, you have benefited from those who fought the fights that Labor Day represents.

Being a FireWife is So Not Epic

Epic

It is the word of the month in our house.  Things are either Epic or SO Not Epic.  There is no grey area.  There is no middle of the road.

And I feel that.

I am either Epic or SO Not Epic.

This month my FF has been gone more than he has been home.  There have been paybacks and days at the track and Hey, Could ya take this day for me 48s ALLLLLLL over the place.  

And I have been left to hold the fort down...while spending days in my classroom and nights learning how to breathe and handle these times. <sigh> 

I get something done and it seems so amazing and at that moment, I am Epic.  Whether it is in my classroom or with the kids or whatever.

Or, I feel like a complete failure.  We have not eaten as a family in forever.  I have been away from my kids more than I would like.  And when I have been home I have had SO much work to do, that I have been working while sitting in the same room or on the patio.  But not playing with them.

Or when my FF comes home after a 48 and a day at the track and fusses that house is messy.  

Or when my oldest has to ride his bike to and from football practice all week.

Or...

It seems like I am SO Not Epic more often than not.

And it SO sucks.

I would like much more boring events.  You know, just sitting around doing nothing. Just...being. 

I will get over this, I always do.  But, someone might want to tell the FireMan that the week of back to work for the FireMan when he has been gone more than he has been home MIGHT not be the best time to say, "Hey, what do ya think about me joining the IRL Safety Team?" if he has any hope for a supportive answer.  Someone MIGHT want to clue him in on timing.  Right now, I don't want to think about weeks of training in Indianapolis or the 4 race commitment (roughly 6 days per race) per season or the two 48s that would come from nearly every race. (That makes a minimum of eight extra 48s - not including his days at the Mile.)  Right now, I'd like to hold on to the last smidge of sanity that I seem to possess...while I prepare a binder for my SURPRISE Field Student who might be a Student Teacher, but is not sure...

Sigh...and two family gatherings this week.  

Custard will make it all better, right?  I am going to need a TON of Custard. 

Custard will make me Epic.  I know it will.

Won't it?

A FireWife's Epic Failure as a Mother

Recently a friend of mine from college sent me a message on social media.  We talk all the time in comments and on each other's walls, but only rarely do we message each other.  If I may so bold to summarize her message, essentially she asked how in the world I was so put together with 4 kids and a firefighter that is gone so much.  I always seem to take things in stride. Whereas she, with three kids and a husband with a more traditional job, felt like she was always struggling to get by...especially when he is gone.

You would think that I would have been thrilled with such a compliment, but instead, I felt ashamed.  I am not put together.  I am a mess.  I have metl downs and yell more than I would like.  I am impatient and snippy when I feel overwhelmed and under supported.  I am stubborn and pigheaded when I feel that it was "someone else's job" to do something...and I refuse to do it. I am not perfect.  I am horribly flawed. 

Even as I am writing this blog, literally sitting down in my living room for the first time since 6:30am (It is 7:40pm...on a shift day.) I am sniping at my youngest in my head. Why, do you ask?  Because she is asking about the Packer game while I am trying to type this post.  Mind you.  Her face time with me has been VERY limited this week.  I have gone back to work.  I was at work from 6:30am until 3:30pm.  At Training Monday-Wednesday from 4pm-8pm. (Oh so IRONICALLY, it was training for teachers on relieving stress through breathing.) Today, I had the most stressful training for a gradebook that I have ever experienced...and got nothing done that I needed to get so I am ready on Tuesday.  From there I grabbed the three youngest muppets...the oldest was at football practice...having to bike because I was at work...and take D to my dad's so he could take her judo.  We ran to Target because my polar bears had NO food in the house, picked up N from practice twenty after seven.  And I am home.  

So, snippiness, driving through rush hour after dropping off D.  (Mind you, this is after driving nearly an hour to make the 25 minute drive there.) B and O were singing as loud as possibly and clapping, horribly off-beat, to And All the People Said Amen by Matt Maher.  And I snapped at them.

Yup.  Epic.  Failure.

I snapped at my kids because the Spirit moved them.  

Fail.

But, my stress level was stronger than I was.  

Excuses.

The people driving recklessly in the parking lot formerly known as I-94 and the two syllabi I have yet to finish writing and the picnics that we need to attend and host even though I am SO not ready for that first day and I have so much to do. I need to pick up fabric for a table in my room and my hubby has to help me mount my map bracket and I need make 200 copies of syllabi and print out rosters and...

Breathe.

I am missing that part.

And because I am missing that part, I am missing out on the joy that my people bring just because the song that moved their soul came on.  Because I have let life consume me.  I have given up control to stress and life is now controlling me.

So not a happy place for a control freak to find herself. 

I am going to leave you know.  As my muppets are enjoying the Packer game...and I am trying to set up my last prep in my grade book.  It only has 6 pages of standards.  And each standard needs to have 3 pieces of evidence. And...I am trying so hard not to be an epic failure.  I am a FireWife and I am Fire Strong. 

Just not today.

Epic Firewife Return to the Classroom

So, yesterday, I shared with you the chaos that comes with organization in education.  I must have my chaos organized. But, it is still chaos, none-the-less.

This week is not different. I go back tomorrow, to the "organization" week, which has nothing to do with getting organized in the grand scheme of things.  It has nothing to do with setting up the new year, but instead implementing the new student management system, learning the new best practices that are researched based and better than the years before, meeting the new staff, rah rah sis boom bah kinda stuff, but nothing really to do with actual ORGANIZATION of anything dealing with the kids. 

And where does that fall...on the back half of a 48, of course, in true firewife fashion.  BUT, it gets better... 

I have a 3 night training...that might be amazing or might be  the biggest waste of time.  I have very little literature on it, so I will let you know.  What that means is that B will miss his middle school youth group kick off tonight, D will miss her judo class tonight and N will have to ride his bike to and from football practice for three days.  And I have three 12 hour days to kick start the year.  


So, Wednesday, FF comes home, nope he is need at the Mile.  Thursday he is back on shift and so I will see him Friday for sure...and perhaps if my eyes are open Wednesday night.

INSANITY, but we'll get through this like we always so.  Now, if only I had a time machine and a sonic screwdriver...

Back to School CHAOS

So, I have spent so much of the last two weeks in my classroom.  I think what happens is I wake up, shove some cereal in my face and head to my classroom for 10 hours.  No joke, no exaggeration. (so much for those over paid teacher theories, huh?  My first paycheck is 3 weeks away!)  I have unpacked and purged junk left behind my "new" classroom and organized and decorated and ...oh muh gosh.  But, I will be thrilled to have it all done.

We go back to work officially on Tuesday.  I will not have to spend my in class time decorating, but instead, planning.  I have 3 new preps this year.  One that I have never taught before and has only been taught by one teacher in our district and the other two I have not taught in 4 or 5 years.  It will all be great, but it will be so nice to just focus on the academics of it all.

So, please forgive me if I seem to be neglecting my blog, but there is a definite juggling act, especially as J continues his 48s to pay back his trades from all my hospital stays.

In the meantime, here's a view from my workplace...


Story
I have 2 cabinets and a drawer that are locked, with no keys to be found anywhere.  So, we took the 100 year-old lock out of an open closet and took it to a master locksmith and he made a key for me. I got the cabinet open - full of CRAP - and found a place to store part of my bibliophile addiction units, now to get plexiglass for the lower part of the glass door.  There is also a mystery cabinet - they are in a few rooms and NO ONE knows what they are for.  I was so excited to find out...but sadly it was much like Al Capone's vault, only worse...it did not open.  Something was broken off in the lock over the years. <sigh>

This class is enormous compared to my tiny little science lab that forced my kids to play the role of sardines.  I started with 30 desks...and then we looked at my class list.  49

But, I thought 47 would suffice.  And my Bossman has assured me that I will be at least 10 down from that...hopefully.

Here was the first look at my new class...30 desks.

Here are alllllll the boxes, well some of the boxes and a CRAPload
of extra cabinets and furniture and a TV??
See ya..

I was bored during football and taking pictures...
truly what I do when bored.
My class is in the section that jets out
so far, hence the extra space. <3 <3

My epic poster!  I AM the Force, Unleashed!

First impressions are so important.  I start with my door... 

I got 47 desks, 2 teacher desks, a SmartBoard, some file cabinets and bookshelves...and I am almost there. The void in the corner of the chalkboards...waiting for maps to be moved from my science lab turned history class to fill it.

So, I guess, I'll finish up later this week...and give you a better tour.  But, this explains my absence.

Now...send your good juju my way...I am back to work on Tuesday.  My FF has a 48 starting tomorrow...after which he heads to the track and back to work the following day.  Meanwhile I have a 3 night conference and 3 days of beginning of the year PD/Staff Meetings/ I have soooooo much to get done...all while trying to get all the muppets where they need to good.  Wish me luck.

Happy Sunday.  Hug that FF...kiss your muppets as they head off to school...and send in sanity keepers.  C/O TOO Hot to Handle Insanity Week!

Peace...

School is Back in Session!

I have never been so happy to have my children go back to school as I was today!  So happy, happy, happy.

Okay, I get it.  This takes me out of mom of the year running.  Somehow, I will have to get over it.  Not sure how, but I will soldier on.  No matter what!  I am fire strong, after all!  

When we got to school this morning, the boys instantly ditched us for the middle school playground.  They stood for one more picture from mom and away they went.  D went by her friends - leaving the little one with a death grip on my hand.  When the bell rang, I made my way in with the girls.  Dropped D off with a hug and a kiss (to the class one of my friends from HS, no less) and went off to drop O in her room, at the end of the hall.  

 I am really not a stalker, I did not have a telephoto lens on from across the playground.  Just my usual macro to zoom.

O's teacher had the mommies divvy up the hordes of school supplies.  <SIGH...>  I KNOW it makes it easier for her.  But right now, a drive-by drop off would have been less stressful - for all parties involved.  <SIGH!>

Any other child and this would have been fine.  O has been in school for THREE first days of school.  This is not her first time at the rodeo.  And still, the waterworks.  They have not gone away.  Had I let her brother drop her off, life would have been fine.  Had Daddy dropped her off, smiles - albeit apprehensive smiles, would have met the teacher.  But mommy?  See, I think they forgot to ACTUALLY cut the cord with the last one.  I think they left it attached to try and keep her cooking longer, even though she was expelled from my womb three months early.  

There, were tears...and sobs...and more tears.  When the teacher finally came over, I told her it was probably best that I left and she took over the reins.  And she smiled and did just that.  The only one crying in the room, was mine.  And I am the teacher mommy.  <sigh>

But, I chit-chatted with the principal, smiled at some parents and hopped out the door.  I did not look back.  No tears from this momma.  I was off for breakfast with a certain hot fireman before he went to sleep!  Talk about pep in my step. 

I love my muppets, please don't misunderstand.  I am an odd dichotomy.  I need my breaks from my children, but as soon as they are gone, I miss them terribly and want them home.  It truly drives my FF INSANE!  I am good for a night, but by the next morning, I am pining for their wake up calls and interruptions.  Even if one is missing, I feel a part of me is missing.  

BUT, having my FF gone so much this summer and having no breaks from them, I am very glad to have them go back to school.  There will be a bit of a lag before I can get into my classroom - TB tests and corporate medical exams where the docs really pay no attention to me.  All that fun stuff.  Which means I get to see my hubby - tomorrow.  He is sleeping today away and spending the night "drafting" for his fantasy league at the firehouse. (That means I will be sitting by my phone to help him out, while feeding the horde and running the football runs and...you know... normal fire wife stuff. ;) ) It means I can sit down and work on my units for the next few weeks - without having to referee.  It means if a room gets cleaned, it will stay cleaned, until they come home from school.  It means I can breathe and shower and eat - in peace...for a few more days.  

Ahhhhh, finally.

I will be the first mommy in line to get them.  I will be dying to hear their tales of the day.  But for the new few hours, I am my own woman.  Ahhhhhh.  Peace.

Enjoy those first day tales when your kidlets come home from school - even if they are drama filled.  Hug those firemen, even if they smell gross and grimy.  And enjoy the day.  

Peace.

Last Minute School Shopping

I am not sure how it has happened, but every year since 2010, I have done the first day of school solo.  The last 3 years, I took all the kids' "stuff" in before school started - because I worked in the building.  They hung out in a friend's classroom - it was a no brainer.  But now, my FF is on shift AND I have to do it alone - for real this time! I did all of the shopping - including the last minute procrastination pieces today.  Tomorrow, sigh...tomorrow. Tears, endless bags of household supplies much needed school supplies, impatient parents...and I am so not up for it.  
So, tonight we are having frozen pizza and Drumsticks for dinner.  The supplies are divided up.  The new shoes are patiently waiting in the living room - so I don't have to hunt for one of them in the morning.  Lunches are packed.  Camera battery is charged.  And I am ready - for the first day of school pictures and the tears.

My FF promised me breakfast in the AM, he is might have to splurge for a mimosa...

Happy Back to School Day!  

Bento Box Lunches

You can tell it is back to school time, I am hitting Pinterest - a lot.

My newest interest in the land of Pinterest is the idea of using the Bento Box idea for lunches.  Bento Boxes are traditionally used for Japanese lunches.  They are compartmentalized so there is a spot for rice and a spot for the fish and a spot for the veggies.  It has been adopted by moms all over for cute, adorable lunches.   They fit my reduce, reuse, recycle philosophy for lunch boxes, we try to limit the amount that the kids toss each day.  The keep the applesauce from soaking the PB&J, the dip from tainting the grapes...you get the idea.  Keeps the cross-contamination at bay.  One lid - one box.  As opposed to a lid/box for the sammich, for the applesauce, for the carrots, for the dip, for the apple slices...it is a nightmare and I have the cabinet to prove it.

From Nina, a military mom of 4 at Mommabelly.com

Now, from the truth and accuracy department, mine, will never look this adorable.  If I am taking time, before football and after mass to make 20 lunches, chances are the cookie cutters are not coming out for the sandwiches.  I'm probably also not going to fashion  Hello Kitty out of salami and whatever else concoction is there.  Nor will I probably be digging out all of the letters from each of their names for the alphabet Cheese It piles. I know, I know.  I will never win mom of the year this way, but some how, I will soldier on.

http://happylittlebento.blogspot.com/2012/03/hello-kitty-pizzawiches-bento.html

The idea in and of itself is perfect for my three youngest, who are always leaving food in the lunchboxes...ummm...it is SO gross at some points.  This box system allows me to control their portions to alleviate how much gets tossed, without having to go through a million bazillion pieces o' tupperware, hoping to find a lid that matches a container. (Okay, maybe million bazillion is a bit of an exaggeration, but thousands upon thousands really doesn't like much of a stretch.  I don't know where they actually go!) I can send dip for the carrots and cucumbers, without an issue.  Toss in a handful of silicone muffin wrappers to the mix and you have some nice accent pieces, that keep the dreaded touching food from occurring.  It allows me to buy in larger quantities, as opposed to individual sized portions - keeping costs and trash additions down.   It is definitely something that is do-able.

So, I started researching boxes.  You would be AMAZED at how many options there are for the pre-school crowd.  I have CLEARLY been a slacker mom for the last decade plus.  It is a wonder my kids actually show their faces in public.  And I nearly choked on my Cocoa Puffs when I saw the price for some of them.  Really?? $28 for a toddler's piece of lunch ware??  I'm thinking, not so much.  That is $116 - for one day's worth of resealable lunch containers. $580 so I can make all the lunches in one day??  Yeah, I can hire a chef to do it for that price!  So I started looking at other options.  

Some a stainless steel, some have individual components that you assemble inside a box, some are cute anime themed boxes, some have ice packs...all of them were making my head hurt.  I am going to have to invest in new lunchboxes for this to work (our current lunch boxes are the bag shaped collapsible kind - bento boxes will never fit), so the pricier pieces are off the table.  It needs to be something where I can afford TWENTY of them.  I have found that I am at my most efficient when I do not have to worry about things on a school morning.  And so the digging began...

My requirements - 

• Two piece sets - lid and container.  That's it.  If I wanted to do the component pieces into a bigger box, I would keep doing what I am already doing.
• Dishwasher safe - They MUST be able to go into the dishwasher.  Football is here, fall soccer will be starting, D wants to try judo...there is just no time for me to wash more things by hand.
• Affordability - I have to be able to buy 20+ (if I want some on standby) without having to take out a home equity loan or sell my first-born child.  I have to be able to make 20 lunches on Sunday, plain and simple.

Here are the two most feasible options for us at this moment in time.  

1. EasyLunchboxes - three compartment, 2 piece sets (4 sets per order).  Mommies seem to like them.  Sturdy, kids can get the lids off.  They would cost around $70 for me to get 5 sets.
2. Ziploc Divided Containers, rectangle - three compartment, 2 piece sets (2 per order).  Free shipping and coupons from drugstore.com allows me to get 5 days worth, plus 2 in reserve for less than $45.  Complaints seem to come from mommies of preschool kids, mine are all school aged. They can open the Ziploc containers we currently have on hand, I don't see why these will be any different. 
   

I think I am going with the Ziploc.  If they break or get lost, I am out $1.75.  If they make it through the school year, I got my money's worth out of it.  With school just a few weeks away, I will definitely let you know how it goes.  Feel free to share those pearls of wisdom and experiences with me!

Happy Wednesday!  Spend some time playing with those muppets and bonding with that fireman.  They are all kinda cute, in their own way...

Peanut Butter Jelly Time

We are getting to that time of the calendar - Back to School.  Supplies, bags, fees.  It is an expensive time frame in our household.  I scoured the sales for supplies and made trips to a few different stores and got that taken care of.  Now, I have to feed the children.  Ugh!!  It will actually be cheaper, in the long run, I guess, because they won't be asking for snacks every 32.6 minutes.  But, I also need easy.  We live 38 minutes from where I teach.  I like to get to school around 6:30am.  My students start wandering in my room around 7:20ish, the bell rings at 7:35.  The three stooges are still at our lower campus, which doesn't start until 7:50am.  Causes a little bit of a logistical issue, but we make it work.  Because it is such an early start to the day, I need easy for lunch.  We did the Uncrustable thing for a bit.  The convenience is nice, but that is a lot of money for PB&J.  I just couldn't get myself to accept that price.  I tried having N make sandwiches as part of his chores, well just the sandwiches took him 45 minutes or so.  That did not work.  I am so not sure what he did for that whole time, but he makes the more simplistic of tasks into monumental projects at times.

So this summer I started looking into making sandwiches ahead of time.  Tossing them in the fridge doesn't work, the bread gets hard.  Freezing them worked for the Uncrustables, so I thought I would try that.  I looked on line for Uncrustable makers, just on a whim.  I found that Wonder Bread made such device and HAD to order it.  



Today is our trial run.  I made 10 sandwiches which is 2 1/2 lunches for our crew.  Good to know, I never really paid too much attention to how much bread we used just for packing lunches.  A week's worth will take 2 loaves.  My goal is to make a week's work on Saturday or Sunday, whenever daddy is working.  It is so much easier to grab a sandwich and throw it in a box and into the lunchboxes on school days.

After a bit of research, I decided to put PB on both pieces of bread, with the jelly on just one.  The Peanut Butter would then act as a barrier so the jelly doesn't soak through.

Here it is pictures.  I hope it will work.  Time is of the essence in our home during the school year!

We eat the ends around here.  I just slather them with PB or Jam and
they don't know the difference.

On to the jam...

Ready for the freezer.  Not quite as pretty as Smucker's version
but mine comes with a momma's love.
Smucker's can't offer that.

And like all things in the kitchen, I have a helper.




I'll let you know how it works, tomorrow!

And for my girl who is trying to get me to watch Family Guy, here ya go...

Back to the Old Routine

Well, sorta.  The kids and I went back to school yesterday.  Yesterday was an amazing start.  First, I have to say I didn't want to go back to work.  As odd as it sounds, I can't remember the last break I wasn't DYING to get back in my classroom.  This year...I would have loved a few more days.  The kids and I had so much fun. I LOVED Christmas for the first time in years, which I talked about here.  I look forward to next year when my FF is able to be home.  We missed him during the day and we missed him while he was studying.  Anyway, my first day back was good, I missed my kids more than I realized.  Today, I had 2 periods off, as my juniors had test prep to attend.  For a teacher who is teaching an overload, that was a very pleasant surprise.  

I CAN'T TELL YOU - Jenny Holzer

I have some very exciting news, but I can't share it for a few months.  And, ahem, NO, I am NOT pregnant.  If there is to be another little one in our pack, it will not be from my womb.  But, none-the-less, I am very excited and looking forward to all that it entails!  


Now, my FF sent me his schedule. (NOT that I can make it work nicely on my phone, not matter HOW I turn it.) There are too many MFD guys in the PM class that are on the red shift.  So, all these months I have been looking forward to being on the red shift with a FireWife friends of mine and that is not to be.  We will be on the Blue Shift while he is doing his training in the box, sometime in February. (I can't seem to get an ACTUAL date out of him.)  After that he'll go back on the truck on the red shift until graduation in April.  From there, it's anybody's guess what Med unit he'll land at.


So, even though I have my schedule back and we are all getting used to getting up at 5am and out the door by 6:15am, I still need my FF to get back on schedule and figure out which schedule that is.  I miss his schedule. I miss my space.  I miss having someone to help me a few afternoons with the kids.  (Like today, when we had noon dismissal and my children were MONSTERS in my classroom.  I should have taken a picture of the MESS they made in my room.  I texted my hubby that I need a Nanny on Thursdays.  Too bad all my girls at work had Bball practice, otherwise I have a ripe crop to pick from.) But, I digress...


Happy New Year!  Welcome back to whatever your normal is, now that the kids are back in school.  Make 2012 the best yet!

A Sad Afternoon

There is a quiet sadness that has fallen over our house.  Spring Break is over.  It is a rainy day so the kids could not even enjoy time out in the yard.  I go back to teaching, kids go back to school and the firefighter makes his way back to the fire house.  So, we get uniforms for Daddy and the boys washed, backpacks put together, take a look to be sure there is appropriate food for lunch boxes and off we go.  I think it will be a quiet, slow moving morning as we try and get back into the swing of things.  No worries.  We have a 4 1/2 day break for Easter weekend and then June 1st is right around the corner.  Wish us luck tomorrow.

Ahh - So Nice to Get Back to School

Never thought I would say that.  At the end of the summer I am usually looking forward to it - but after breaks it never seems as though there was enough time.  This is a first in my teaching career - mind you that is only 13 years, but still a decent body of work for a clear judgement.

This morning was a bit rough in the boys department.  They stayed up later than they really should have and did not want to get up and moving come shower time.  Even with the walking zombies, we still left the house at 6am, which is pretty impressive if you ask me.  This was made possible by my loving husband's decision to take his PO day yesterday.  It gave him the chance to sleep a bit more yesterday afternoon and to have an extra set of hands in the morning.  Such a luxury!  It also saved me a trip to the sitter's and 2 less muppets to get up and ready by 6am.  So nice!

The day continued - my first class consisted of many comments like - "Mrs. Halsey - seriously - I missed you."  And "Halsey, can we just hold class one day over spring break, I need my fix."  As a teacher, these are the best compliments I could get, especially considering it is a junior level Church History class.  I mean really - who misses their Church History teacher?  But, I am glad they did.  After such a stressful break, where I was feeling less than a SuperMom, this was an appreciated moment of accolades - even if it was unexpected and unnecessary.  Even my Facebook page had former students chiming in - nice to have college kids say they miss your class, especially when it was such "torture" when they were actually in the class. :)

So, my Muppets are studying/reading/practicing their name in various nooks of the house.  Daddy and Liv are on their way home from Grandma and Grandpa's in Two Rivers, I am getting ready to make Apple Pork Chops - found a recipe that sounds YUMMY - and all is right with the world again.  Organized chaos makes my life so much easier to handle!

Welcome back to school.  Mommies, hope you enjoy your first day back as much as I did!