That girl.

Some mornings are harder than others, especially the first day back to school after spring break. Even more so when it's the first school day after springing the clocks forward for Daylight Savings Nonsense. 

Liam had to sprint to the bus, not that he got up late; he just needed to spend an entire half hour of the hour he has from alarm to bus to kvetch about the fact that it was A) morning, B) not a two hour delay (after a week off), C) dark, D) cold, E) all of the above and then some.

Carrie was already standing out there with Bosley on his leash, in the dark, and the bus rolls up. I was behind Liam to ensure he made it out of the house, so Carrie began to run away from the ever closer bus towards me while I'm calling cheerily to Bos. She drops the leash, dashes up the bus steps, Liam on her heels. Unbeknownst to her, I did indeed corral the squirrely, joyful, leaping Bos before Carrie was the whole way seated, but as the bus was already in motion again and we were in the dark, she couldn't tell. So I receive the above text from her friend Isaac's device.

Notice she can now "sleep easy" in math, not just "sleep"! Does anyone want a teenager?!

A Normal Person post

I'm channeling my mother today. I'm at our local Panera, watching the guy across the street at Ace Hardware wiping down his windows, Panera customers coming in and out, an occasional (crazy- my car said it's 24 degrees out) jogger, just eating my fresh orange scone and having hot (amazing) coffee. My mother calls this Something Normal People Do. 

Yes, I have coffee at home, and I am capable of making scones, though mine would be chocolate themed as I have lemons but no oranges or blueberries at home. However, I had have a million errands to run since I've been home with a sick-ish kid for the past two days. I've already dropped off a scrip but need to claim two prescriptions at pick up, hit Walmart and perhaps Aldi, and even though I went back into the house twice before I left for good, I still don't have the mail I intended to send from town. Grrrr. 

But there is laundry which has made its way into the dryer already, all the kids made it onto the bus at their appointed times, the dog has been fed and run and played with, Liam's six month med check has been scheduled, and I am actually wearing makeup and earrings. I call it a win. 

Hence the coffee and scone out while I blog because our home wifi "is being a big poopyhead" to quote our longtime friend Todd. I have next to no technical knowhow so it's beyond me as to how to fix it. The guy standing next to my tech guy in my brain muttered, "Panera has wifi" and the tech guy perked up to add, "and coffee!" Someone smarter than both of them slyly added, "and yummy baked goods, and never mind that you already ate three cookies after breakfast. Get one anyway. How often to you go into Panera?" Sneaky little devil. So here I am. I just made a tactical error. I closed my eyes to absorb some of the steam from my coffee (who knew coffee could steam? Doesn't everyone heat theirs 4 times in the microwave and still forget to finish it?) and realized, I could nap here... 

What a difference 24 hours makes

Yes, that would be Damon in the kennel with Bosley. Some of you are having flashbacks to when Carrie and Liam would do that with Triskal (Carrie did it once with scissors) but Bos has a significantly smaller crate. 

Twenty-four hours later, after hearing a dreaded sound that no parent wants to hear, especially early in the morning, led to a much different picture:

Poor kiddo. Who knows which particular germ he picked up, but we're thankful it was short-lived. After his initial bout of hurkage, he had no reoccurrences and only a slight fever. The next day he still didn't look himself upon waking, so he stayed home again to make sure he'd licked it. Halfway through the afternoon I realized he was completely his 100% ornery self again. His bum went on the bus this morning posthaste. He's probably glad to be back among friends instead of with his boring old mum anyway.

God bless teachers, every one. 

Black belt test, part 1

This is the kid who passed his first of three tests to become a black belt in karate. He showed off his basic skills set and performed four katas over three and a half hours. He performed Six Qualities of a Champion, Universal 3, Advanced Kicking Kata, kicking kata and single stick form. Some of you are scratching your heads because I said four katas and that's five items; the point system is where some of them count as a whole point and some are only half a point. In his case, kicking kata and single stick form are each half of a point so together they made up his fourth kata. You'd think I'd know all this stuff by now, seeing as his siblings are already certified, but I have to write it all down as I go...

Anyway, after some tweaking and repeating certain aspects throughout the test, his whole class passed the first test. Way to go, guys! It was a long afternoon and they worked really hard. It felt fantastic to cheer and clap for them at the end. 

Next up will be the self-defense test and two weeks after that is the sparring and grappling element. That's the really fun one to watch as the instructors and some of the krav maga crew get to hop in to be "sharks" and the kids get to show what they know against adults whom they're not necessarily accustomed to dealing with. Not sure who gets more of a kick out of it- the kiddos or the sharks! That will be late April, so let me know if you'd like to stop by to see some of it. Nina and Jonathan are testing for their second degree black belt, so their test includes two attackers and really is something to see. They've already been practicing on Saturday mornings and the sessions I saw both went very well. 

Carrie is mulling over the idea of working as a student instructor. She is aware that several of the current ones will be heading out to college this summer and there will be vacancies. Since she will be 15 (!) in May, it warrants looking into, especially as we are there all the time anyway. 

And so our life continues to be school, homework, church, and karate, karate, karate...

Graduation will be May 12 at noon at the usual venue. If you'd like to come, know that it's free, wear black to cheer Damon on, and be sure to buy some popcorn!

Seuss Day 2018

Today is Dr. Seuss day at school, and thanks to Grandmama, this kid has something perfect to wear. (Pay no attention to the photobombing Bosley.) What a perfect event for a Friday. I bet there are all kinds of giggles at school today.

The second graders have been learning about money, the coin denominations, how to add and subtract it, that sort of thing. Last night as I tucked that tuckered out kid into bed, I told him to uncover his head so he could breathe. He pipes up from where he was burrowed, "y'know how coins have heads? I'm a Damon cent!"

This morning, while attempting to snuggle the little stinkwad, he informed me, "I already said 'I love you.' Now please shoo." 

He's Thing 3, all right... and a happy heavenly birthday to my Gramps, whom I'm convinced is the guardian angel for this crew...

In Mawch...

See those two frizzering kids on the extreme left? They actually have daylight at the bus stop now!

I liked how the trees looked outlined on one side. 

The wind is still blowing pretty good and Damon found a spot of black ice on the driveway en route to the bus stop. It kinda went like this: 

Normally we wait until we can see the bus head down the street for our intersection. That way we are out of the elements. Today, however, perhaps because it was sunny, Damon insists on waiting outside. Damon, Bosley and I all headed out of the garage. Damon lags behind, grinning wickedly as he begins to argue that we should wait in the garage. I stare at him, then turn my back and continue out. He eventually catches up, after commenting on the trees, the snow, the ice, every little thing, and then scurries to where I am where he proceeds to wipe right out and lands on his bum. He looks up at me with a twinkle in his eye and announces delightedly, "black ice!"

Whose kid IS this!? He then proceeds to dance his way down the rest of the driveway, shuffling, sliding, doing his very best with every move to make me crazier. I'm happy to report that he didn't wipe out again as he crossed the street, which has happened before, or at the turn where he boards the steps of the bus, which has also happened previously. 

Bos and I made it back down the driveway in our respective pieces, and he couldn't wait to go play out back. Enjoy the sunshine and happy weekend, everyone!