Tis the season....

Well we have made it 30 school days in the B. home and the dreaded STREP has hit!! 3 out of 4 of us have it and the only reason #4 (dear Mr B.) isn't included in the mix is he did not get tested. This is not going to happen this year. IS.NOt. Weird thing is only Kenzie had symptoms! They were not going test Marshall but they did and here we are!! SO we 3 sickies are staying home tomorrow in spite of recent policy changes in my district. My number 1 job is mom. Although I love being Mrs. B I love being mom more and all too soon I won't get to stay home with my babies when they need me. So there. No attendance points for me when this is all done. Anyone who faults me for it can stick it!! Seems we are going backwards in the workplace as far as accommodating working moms. Just plain silly. OH Well... here is to a day filled with snuggles, movies, gatorade, NAPS, and reading!

Where has time gone??

Last week I put my baby girl on the bus for the first time. I rode to work alone for the first time in years (except those days when everyone is sick and home but I am sick and on my way to work! lol) And she didn't even cry. But I did a little. I cannot believe she is in school, she is 4 years old, and she does not miss me once during the day. This is the same little peanut who would FIGHT to get to me the second she heard my voice. She is attached to me always and just seems very content about it. BUT in school... now... she is queen bee! I love it and loathe it at the same time! I am so happy she is happy and smart and healthy but I just wish I could keep her small a while longer.
Same goes for her big brother! He seems to outgrow me faster and faster everyday! He is such a big boy but really needs to defined my boundaries a little better for me! He wants me to stop in his class but I cannot talk to or touch him. He wants me to help him or say hi at lunch but I cannot kid with him or his friends. He is so funny!! It is crazy to see them both forming their own social identities and figuring it all out.
So... here I sit on the eve of my birthday... my babies are growing... and in a month I will have my 20th class reunion. RIDICULOUS!! Where did time go? I feel like I have done everything I wanted to... is that sad or what?? Where do I go now?? I am still that crazy chick from college... I am still the cool aunt, and I am still learning a ton everyday in my career... so then why is it that I feel so melacholy when I do the math and realize how much time has passed? That the bag boy at the grocery store calls me ma'am.... that the kids who were in my first Kindergarten class will graduate in 2 years and the first kids I taught have ALREADY GRADUATED!!! what?? Again I say ridiculous!!
This post was not meant to lament about times gone by. I do not wish to go back and change a thing... I do not regret a single moment of my life... I just can't believe how much time has passed... and how many more good times there are to have!!

a little reflection....

Wow!! I am already neglecting my personal blog!! What a slacker huh? It has been WILD busy here now that school/soccer/dance have started!! I never imagined I would be that crazy mom who has her kids in stuff but here I am... planning dinner around practices, and birthdays, and games, oh my!! Speaking of birthdays, my sweet little princess will be 4 on Thursday!! HOW TIME FLIES!! It just does not seem possible that 4 years ago it was a million degrees and I could barely fit in bed with my 3 year old son to read his bedtime story! Time marches on and boy is it a quick pace! My baby girl is now a healthy dancing performing, smiling singing headstrong sweet pea! As for her brother... he is the smartest kid I know (and mind you... I am a teacher!!) He excels at everything he does and hardly even tries!! We are so blessed to have these beautiful little people and I thank God each day for the funny things they do!!

Crazy in the Classroom: Twas the Night before First Grade

Crazy in the Classroom: Twas the Night before First Grade: Ok... I know that is an actual book and I hope I didn't break any great big copywrite laws but well... it is the night before and I am super...

Trial Morning Run..... ugh

This is the last official week of summer for the Brightmans. Which means it is a week filled with working in the classroom, rushing in the morning, and getting distracted by a million different things.... Today was supposed to be the trial run. We were going to get up and moving at a relaxed yet focused pace.  No video games, no phone calls, and definitely no computer for momma!  WELL..... it was an epic fail all the way around!!  First I was up WAY too late putting together my new little blog Crazy in the Classroom.  As a result I slept way too late, and was distracted by a million phone calls.  (actually it was 3 calls but they were important people I just HAD to speak with!!) lol  Top that off with a battle about opening new cereal boxes, some wardrobe malfunctions for little Mack, a counter filled with raspberry juice, and a demanding set of pets and you have one frustrated momma!
SO!!  I decided to let Marshall play some video games (I KNOW!!! TERRIBLE MOM!!) while I enjoyed my coffee and vented to the blogosphere!  Now the house is calm and quiet.... and as soon as I am finished with this giant cup of cafeinated heaven I can load the family up without the yelling anxiety we can so often find ourselves stuck in.  Thank God I have the opportunity for trial runs and can make some attempts at keeping myself and my kids sane!!

The last days of summer.....

Well.... one more full week of sweet sweet summertime and it is back to my second favorite job!  This summer has REALLY flown by and each year it is more bitter than sweet to see it go.  I guess it is because with the end of summer 3 of the 4 Brightmans ring in another birthday, and although they are WONDERFUL to celebrate.... it means everyone is growing up and growing older.  I guess the marching of time has always made me melancholy.  That and the thought of losing our lazy days of time spent together!  On the bright side (cause there always is a bright side!!) I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fall and changing of the seasons!!
I am getting excited to start a new year.  Last year was one of the most emotionally exhausting years of my teaching career.  There were MAJOR cuts in programs, we lost some AMAZING teachers, and I had one of the most challenging classes I have ever seen.  I mean.... there were some babies with SERIOUS emotional damage.   It took me most of the summer to get over those pumpkins and the challenges they faced.  Add to that the PITA parents who always just challenge my more outspoken side.... I do have to rein it in from 8-4! LOL The political state of public education grows more uncertain and dark each year, but regardless of what happens at the capital, there are still Firsties and their families who are depending on us to lead them through another year.  Thanks to a lot of rest and these BLOGS I have stalked all summer, I think I have a fresh perspective and some wonderful ideas for this year.  I am anxious about class size, schedules, cuts,  and getting it all done with fewer resources.  I am going to miss my friends and the programs we had in place.  But,  the show must go on! So.... I am going to end this last summer blog to enjoy the outdoors one last time with my own punkins and try to make some more memories!!

The perfect parent

Once upon a time.... I was a perfect mother.  I started out as the perfect aunt.  I watched my siblings have kids and raise them.  I helped them with many of the daily tasks of caring for a child and thought I knew it all.  I had advice and ideas coming out of my ears!!  Not only had I learned what to do from family and friends who had forged ahead of me, but I also read books!!  That was the key!  All the answers to parenting were in those pages and I was ready!!!  I would eat the best foods during my pregnancies.... I would be glowing and energetic and wear the cutest clothes.... I would be bohemian and trendy in all things, and my kids would thrive!!  I would not yell.... I would read to them daily....they would never watch tv... We would eat healthy dinners and never have fast food.... we would talk openly and be best friends. I would expose them to different foods and cultures and ideas and oh my!! I would be utterly splendid and go down in history!!  I. Had. It. Figured. Out.  And then..... I took the pregnancy test.  The very second before that stick said "pregnant"  I was at the TOP of my game.  The very next second... I started to ever so slowly "forget" the mother I imagined myself to be and became something quite different.... I did not exercise daily.  I didn't do yoga (which, by the way,  I had never done previous to being pregnant) I drank pop.  And I cried. All. The. Time.   Now, almost 8 years after that first stick changed my life, we have every video Disney has made.   I am still not doing yoga.  And yes.  I yell!  I even.... dare I say??  I have spanked on occasion!  But there are a few things I did hold on to.  Dinners at the table (even if it does come in a box once in a while).  Some form of exercise for us.  Reading MOST days. Fantastic and LONG road trips to far reaches of the country.  Prayers at night.  And most of all.... wonderful conversations about the things that happened that day.... whether they were good or bad. Our kids are healthy, safe, and they are happy.  Do I have this figured out?  No!  Am I an expert?  ABSOLUTELY NOT! But I don't think anyone ever does... do they??