Birthday Celebration...Part 1!

Gloria is turning 9!

Not until next Sunday.

But next Sunday there is some big football game on or something like that???

So we were going to celebrate on Saturday, the fourth of February.

But then she went and won the science fair at her school.

Which means that she goes on to the regional science fair, held at the local university.

And that?  Just happens to be on February 4th.

All day.

Which led us to "Plan C" and a party yesterday.

Choir school threw me a slight curve ball, but we worked around that.

Because honestly?

I didn't have it in me to come up with a "Plan D."

So yesterday we celebrated.

A few friends, some good food, and in Gloria's words, "It was a most perfect party."

And then she informed me that just 366 days after next Sunday she would be turning double digits.

Gulp!

But I have 366 days plus a week to ignore that fact, right?

Red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting--the birthday girl's request

Nine candles makes a lot of smoke...and it's hard to blow them all out in one breath!

Who doesn't like getting new clothes?

Chocolate?  Surely that was supposed to be for Momma!
She even took it to bed with her last night so I couldn't swipe it!

Dreaming of her Tigers?

Perspective

I really can't wait until January is over.  Six more days...

Is there a fast-forward button on the calendar?

It's been a hard month, in so many ways.  And on Sunday, I really thought I had reached my breaking point.  In fact, I think I had a mini temper tantrum.

Over garbage bags.

Yep...
Garbage bags.
Missing garbage bags, almost a brand new box of them!
They must have fallen off the shelf and into the garbage can.
Only I didn't realize it until several hours after tossing the garbage into the dumpster as we left our neighborhood on the way to church on Sunday morning.

Yeah, I was pretty ticked off about it.
Ask Gloria...she'll tell you.

And after that discovery, I still had to clean bathrooms (I despise cleaning bathrooms), do the laundry, mop the kitchen floor, and change the litter boxes.

I was N-O-T a happy  momma.
Not at all.
Not even one teensy little bit.

Until...
until it hit me, while scraping scrubbing how many weeks worth of hair spray off of my bathroom floor...

At least I have a bathroom to clean, and the rest of our little home for that matter.
At least I have a warm, safe place to live in and call home and I can curl up under a blanket and read when the weather is less than desirable.
At least I have clothes (too many, probably) to wear and then wash when ever I want to.
At least I have a kitchen that needs to be mopped and cleaned up--it means I have food for us to cook and eat.

All of that made me settle down a little bit and get the jobs done.
I may not have done it with a smile on my face, but it did make me pause and be thankful.

But I'm still ready for January to be over and done with!

Spirit Week, Day 1

Gloria has Spirit Week at school this week.

Today was sports day: wear something from your favorite team or sport.

This is a big deal for them because the school does not allow any clothing that has words or pictures or numbers on it that might represent another school or organization.

Easy choice, right?

Uh...

Not so much.

There was lots of discussion and thought put into Gloria's decision today...

Should she wear
a.) her Auburn jersey
b.) her Cam Newton Panther's jersey

There were pros and cons for each one.

Eventually, with a little help from "the main moms" of choir, she decided on the Auburn jersey because "there will probably be lots and lots of Panthers stuff and no one else will wear Auburn!"

And by all reports, they were right...

Lots of Panthers.

And even a Gamecocks shirt...
And *gasp* an Alabama shirt!  
Can you believe it?!?
The horrors!

(Her words, not mine!)

Blessings

I was going to post some pictures of our relaxed day at home, playing games and having tea parties.  But then we went to Gloria's choir rehearsal tonight.

I wrote about the group of moms last spring.  And really, they are more than friends.  They are family.  One of these Monday nights, we will solve all the problems of the world, I'm sure of it!  But tonight, they helped me and I was overwhelmed and humbled by their actions.

You see, this month has been super tough financially.  It's a long month since I get paid on the last working day of each month: the last working day of December was December 19th and the last working day of January is January 31st.  I usually manage a regular month down to the last few dollars, but six weeks...combined with a broken refrigerator and a few other un-budgeted expenses made this January particularly hard.  They knew that.  And tonight, they blessed us with three bags of groceries--fresh fruits and veggies, gluten free bread and pasta, pizza makings, beans and rice, things I can put in our lunch boxes, and even a few sweet treats.

Gloria's reaction was so sweet.  It was like Christmas morning as she helped me unpack the bags when we got home.  She was so excited about the zucchini that she pulled out of the bag..."Momma!  Will you make zucchini sticks tomorrow night?!?"  Guess what I'm making for dinner tomorrow.  ;)

I still don't know what to say.  "Thank you" just doesn't seem adequate enough.  Kristine, Paulette, and Cheryl, AKA "The Main Moms"...you guys are our angels and we are so blessed to have you in our lives.

And a few pictures from our day...

 

I won Connect Four, but she skunked me TWICE at Trouble!

Then a tea party...

With an extra guest...

Antics

It's Sunday night.

I've got nothing.

I've pretty much had nothing all week.

There's plenty going on.  Just not what I care to blog about.  Results, decisions to be made, grumpiness, blah...

But Hannah and Screamer have done their level-best to keep us on our toes...

And to try to be helpful, too...

Not only does the cat eat my homework (Really!)

He eats my dinner, too!

 I cannot find a way to keep him off of my kitchen counters and it is driving me C-R-A-Z-Y!

"Don't worry, Momma.  I've got that wrinkle under control."

Hannah must think she is helping when I change the sheets, 

because we go through this every single time.

Cold Wet Yuck

That's what I thought of this morning when we headed out into the dark early hours.  It's actually a line from a book about Henry and Mudge.  Only Henry and Mudge get to stay home and build a castle out of boxes in their basement with the help of Mom and Dad.  Us?  We had to go to school.

It was a good day...for a duck!

I'm thinking it's time for me to invest in a pair of rain boots.  What's the right word?  Galoshes?  I don't know.  I don't think I've had a pair since maybe kindergarten.  My feet got soaked when I went across the bus lot to the North 40, learning cottages, trailers to meet with my second grade groups.  It's a great walk on a sunny day.  On a day like today?  Not so much.

I was so glad to come home and put on my warm fleecy red socks.  They are much, much better than cold, wet shoes!  :)

 

What made you happy today?

Conversations

Monday morning on the way to school:


Me:  Eight glorious months of no football!
G:  Eight horrible months of no football!

Someone please tell me how this happened to me!  I mean really...

Tuesday during a kindergarten reading group:


We read a book with lots of rhyming words and they were having so much fun playing with words and making more rhyming words.  The word family was "-ake."  Harmless, yes?  Make, take, cake, rake, fake, Jake, lake, snake...

Then I was getting them to use the words in sentences and talk about each word.  We got to "fake."

Me:  How about "fake?"
Student:  (in the sweetest little innocent voice) Some ladies have fake boobies.
Boy students:  laughing and rolling on the floor
Me:  And fake fingernails!  How about "rake?"

I love kindergarteners!