I have had my ears pierced since I was 6 years old. They have never closed up - I have never left them for more than a few weeks without earrings. Bee would like hers done but we have put her off so far. She wants to know if they put you to sleep before they do it. The belly button is still pierced. I am sure it has healed but I haven't messed with it too much truth be told.
I went to pick Bee up from a swimming party today. It was organised by a 'friend' of hers. The class was pretty much all invited. Bee and this girl are hardly great buddies. This girl has older parents - both Drs. She was adopted from China as a baby. She is quite sweet but is very very competitive and that runs Bee up the wrong way. When I say the parents are older, the mom is 58 and the dad at least as old as that too. The mom does not really look her age but the dad does. He is in shape etc but he looks older. But he wears an earring. And it is quite bizarre as it really doesn't go with any of the rest of him - his clothes, his haircut, his shoes, his demeanor. Ever time I chat to him my mind is thinking 'WTF is with that earring, mate?"
I remember the 80s at school where a few boys had the one ear pierced. It was pretty cool. I also remember we had an old (sexist) Maths teacher who would make them take out the earring before they went into his classroom. He also always called the boys by their surnames (last names) and the girls by their Christinan names (first names) - he was that type of old school.
Talking to someone I went to school with back then he told me that he took his earring out- I think he said around 1995 so he'd have been about 25. Not sure if it was his job, his life, his girlfriend or whatever but he stopped wearing it. No idea if it healed. But he obviously made this decision to leave it alone after a certain age.
I wonder when you are too old. Whether this older dad looks in the mirror and feels 'young' with his stud (in his ear). It seriously baffles me every time.
Rory (aged 2) is currently believing all the lies his brothers and sister are telling him. So far today he has whittered on and on and on about his bedroom window being open after Bee told him a monster could get in or a squirrel. There is a mesh on the inside even if there were a bloody monster and the squirrels (yes we do have loads of squirrels around ) stay on the roof.
He is now clinging to my side as Mac (4 will be lucky to get to 5) has told him he is going to eat him for dinner.
Oh and I found a fully in tact squirrel's head behind the swing set. No body left at all. No pieces even. Just the head. It still had its eyes open. Put me off my lunch (not a bad thing). Maybe the monster ate the rest of it?
Bee and Paddy finished 4th and 1st Grade respectively today. They were out at 11am complete with report cards (good) and a few letters and photos.
Bee is very matter of fact about moving on. Their school is unusual in that there are two sections from pre-school through to 5th Grade - the Traditional classes (which my kids are in) and then also Montessori. In 5th Grade (Bee's class next year) the Traditional and Montessori merge and there are 2 classes. So she will be with 'new' Montessori children and have one of two teachers.
Paddy has loved 1st Grade. Really loved it. He told me his teacher cried today saying bye to them and a couple of kids did and he 'nearly did.' He is excited about 2nd Grade - he will have a teacher Bee had a few years ago who I thought was very good. He will be on the 2nd floor and have a locker - both of these things are tremendously exciting to him! You would not believe how many questions he has been able to conjure up about a different floor and a metal bloody cupboard.
Along with their report cards they also brought home notes from their respective teachers. Bee's teacher sent a handwritten card - personal to our family.
Paddy's teacher and assistant teacher sent out computerised letters - just personalised for each family in the title but with sentiments much more personal. The student teacher has been at the school for 4 years - always paired with Paddy's teacher - they are really tight. I feel an affinity for the assistant teacher. She has a bit of a mixed background and I can understand her on so many levels. Talking to her at Field Day last week we were both sharing why neither of us felt the need to attend our Graduation Ceremonies at all.
Her letter was so meaningful I wanted to share it. She is only 23. But a very wise woman already.
" Dear Mumof4's family
As some of you know, the close of this year marks an end to my role as a Teacher Assistant and Athletic Director here at S*** School. This past year I graduated from the Universtiy of ******* with a Degree in History. You may be tempted to join my father in wondering where the History tent is located at the Job Fair; however I am certain that great things are on the horizon and look forward to a different kind of journey than the academic one I have endured over the last years. I hope to travel over the next year. I promise to take pictures, send postcards and think of you often.
I write to all of you with a heavy heart filled with gratitude for I am certain that I would not have achieved this kind of success were it not for the students of S***. I began each of my days with Elementary Language Arts, Social Studies and of course my favorite - Kickball! In the afternoons I shoved off to classes of my own. The relationships that I fostered with the children, the staff and the families of S*** both solidified my desire to continue my studies as well as confirmed my passion for education.
I am certain that I will be a real teacher some day. I could not have discovered this dream were it not for the community of S***, So, thank you! Over the last four years I've watched a myriad of friends 'grow up' and get 'real jobs'. As they shuffle into cubicles, I experience the joy of sharing my days with children. This is not limited to the luxuries of snack and recesses. More accurately it is the twenty-seven nearly toothless grins, the stories they tell, the progress they make, and the moments in which their inner light bulbs glow.
They have been my biggest fans, my impassioned cheerleaders, the greatest teachers I will ever know. I have learned lessons here that cannot be transcended through any textbook nor revealed through any equation. It is my belief that these kinds of lessons are the stuff of life, that open any door one can dare to imagine. So off I go, daring to dream as boldly as my first grade friends have shown me how to do.
Thank you for all you have given me. Regardless of the journey I take, you will all be with me forever.
AA S"
It nearly made me cry as I read it at the traffic lights!
I have just finished writing the thank yous in a card each for Bee & Paddy's teachers and teaching assistants as tomorrow is their last day of school! The teachers differ so much yet I am grateful to each one in so many ways. I have given money for the class thank you gifts but wanted to write something more personal too. One of the teachers was Bee's teacher last year and Paddy's teacher this year (she switched Grades) and I feel I know her so well. Her son is also Paddy's best friend so I know her as a mum too. I know she is shattered from the school year and will so need the summer to get herself back for the following class. It'll be a few years before Mac has her but she is my sounding board for so much that goes on at school and I think we'll stay close friends. Bee's teacher is cooler but still really very good. Her own mother is battling terminal cancer so she has had a lot on her plate with juggling that and the classroom. All in all I think we have had a really good year at the school.
I called hubby from the car at 2.30pm today - on my way to pick up Bee and Paddy from their last full day. I told him I was actually looking forward to tomorrow and the start of their summer vacation - that it really wasn't so daunting. We wouldn't have as rigid a routine, we could all relax a little. I told him to remind me of this sentiment when I get overwhelmed with them during the summer. He brought it up tonight at about 6.40pm as they were squabbling at the dinner table. Mmmm.
People ask what we have planned for the summer. I tell them - my in laws will be here for a lot of June, the children have a few summer camps arranged for July and then August we go to California for 2 weeks and then they are back to school on August 19th. It sounds all so simple.
Also - I have burnt my inner thigh thanks to a Clifford DVD. Any guesses what happened????
Oh and the fundraisers at school - for the auction was $210 000. For the full year they got $270 000.
It seems I am far too old for sex at 1am. I am fine reading until 12.45am but this leaves me with no energy for carnal matters it seems. As for then getting up at 6.30am for the school run - ha!
I am so bloody middle aged.
But I still remember when 1am sex was the norm...........does that make now better or worse?????
I was chatting to a friend today whose youngest daughter has just graduated from high school. The daughter - Sara is going to college here in the city but has decided to move into college accommodation about 20 miles away from her parents' house.
.
"So she will be away but close enough to bring her laundry home then?" I asked....
"Well I think she is excited about that actually," said her mom.
"Excited about laundry?" I asked in disbelief.
"Yes, well they can book their machines on line and it is all free - and then they get an e-mail when the cycle is finished. They can even reserve the washing machines and dryers on line and get a message when they are free!"
I was speechless. Is this a UK/US thing or am I simply old? I remember sitting in that nice warm room in the basement of our halls of residence waiting for the machine to finish....surrounded by dust bunnies, odd socks and obnoxious notes to whoever had stole someones' towels/underwear/sweaters etc.
How times change (and I get a lot older).
Instead of fridges in our rooms we used to just hang bits and bobs out of the window in a carrier bag (in fall/winter)!!! Positively Victorian in approach, non?
So from my friend Emma A Question of Sanity I took this idea of listing, in a purely laminated version - your list of shagable celebrities.....or as she put it...
"After my last post I realized you were all dying to know what celebrities were lucky enough to be on my laminated (and ever changing, depending on what I am watching or listening to) list of who I am allowed to sleep with should the opportunity ever arise. (And, as previously discussed, I am not delusional, I do realize that the opportunity shall never present itself. And I am quite alright with that. One just likes to imagine.) "
So having had a few hours to ponder this...here's my list.
1. Matthew MacFadyen (Spooks MI-5)
2. Josh Duhamel (Las Vegas)
3. Eric Bana (The Other Boleyn Girl)
4. Julian McMahon (Nip Tuck)
5. Dean Lennox Kelly (Shameless)
6. Robbie Williams (before he got chubby again)
7. Gary Barlow (since he got fit again).
8. Andrew Lincoln (Love Actually)
9. Jack Davenport (This Life).
10.Max Beesley(Hotel Babylon).....
They alll sort of fit the same type I think....
OK - where are you on this one then? It's your 'laminate list.' In your mind... nothing doing.....give it a go.....let me know....?
We have had a 3 day weekend over here (US Memorial Day). It also seemed to have been a taste of things ahead. My older children break up for summer this FRIDAY and then they are off until AUGUST 19th. Remember that magic date. So having had 3 undiluted days of darling kids, I think the long weekend was just a sample of the next few weeks. Hubby reckons all summer camps will be inundated with enquiries today - parents begging for a space for their offspring.
I am actually looking forward to a few weeks of fewer schedules etc albeit with the 4 of them . Not having to be dressed and out of the house by 7.20am will be nice. It will also be bliss compared to June 11th onwards when my in-laws arrive for 17 1/2 days. I think by that stage my Valium will be hooked up to me via IVs.
It seems that even Super Heroes need their sleep. But he'll go mad in the morning when he realises the velcro holding his cape on, didn't do the job!!!
No - last night I didn't go out actually - stayed in and was dutiful wife/mum cleaning up. Today it is twice as bad but I have been cooking so that explains it a little. Went for a kid free grocery shop today which was very good. Made a nice break after all the gardening......
Anyhow, Denver was full of tosspot drivers it has to be said. In the Target carpark there were loads of zombified looking drivers who had 'lost' their car. Walking aimlessly up and down the car park.....? Then some prat pulled out in front of me on the road - no apology at all - the guy looked across at his 'passenger' which was a dog sat up in the front seat. Making sure the dog was ok no doubt.
But no kids, good weather, zooming along listening to music....can you guess what song this is from (not listed on my audio link)?
"You go your way
I'll go mine
I won't stay around here
Don't you waste my time "
Loooooove this song.
