On the Other Side of the Table

Being a teacher I have sat in dozens of IEPs. Today I had the opportunity to sit on the other side of the table. Today I was Mom. I have to say it was very odd. Reflecting on it now I feel so sad for so many of the other parents who have to go through this horrible, long, process. I am lucky to be somewhat familiar of the rules, acronyms, and the process because of my job. But I am really blessed to have family who know the system inside and out. There are so many families out there who I think really don't know or understand their rights and probably are not getting the best for their child.
After the meeting I am mentally drained.  I am not feeling like we won the race today, but my wise Father-in-Law reminded me to think of it not as a sprint but a marathon. So today we ran a leg 1 of the race.

Bandaids

Update on the flu shots:
We all still have very sore arms and two of my three kids still have a band-aid on the shot. The thought of me taking the band-aid off  of them is more traumatic then them getting the shot.  Emmeline insisted in the doctor's office that she can only put the band-aid on and it was barely hanging on. It is really funny how much they dislike band-aids. We have just about every type of band-aid you can imagine; princess, cupcakes, Toy Story, Angry Birds, robots, and hearts to try and get them to just let us put a band-aid on them. Most kids can not get enough of them, but in our house they are seen as pure torture. Hmmm... maybe I just thought of a new punishment???
I can't wait for them to be older and I can remind them that they didn't mind shots, but hated getting a band-aid.

Shots

From my last post I mentioned that I was pleasantly surprised to have no school on Monday. I thought to myself what is a Mom to do on a no school or work day? For some reason I thought it would be a great day to go get all of our flu shots. At the moment it  seemed logical and reasonable. I was sure there wouldn't be much of a line and we don't have to show up on a Saturday. As I am standing in line with three munchkins and just myself I got to thinking that this probably wasn't my smartest move. Being a coach's wife I had a game plan all set; Mommy gets that shot first to show them it would be fine and that way by kid number 3 we could bolt and not wait. As soon as we made it to the front of the line the nurse looked at me with pity and ushered me into a room instead of the hallway where they were giving shots. Bless her heart for helping me contain the troops. Well, the nurse had a different game plan and after lots of bribing and a trip to the toy store we all have our flu shots and very sore arms.

T.G.I.F.

Today was a pretty great day despite the fact it took me another hour and a half to get home.
I started the morning with a Starbucks treat - which I have to say was the first of the school year. I know I made to October with no Starbucks!!! While at Starbucks I ran into one of my favorite students and her Mom. They were the sweetest and treated me to my coffee. While at work making pumpkin pancakes I learned we don't have school on Monday- woohoo! I topped off my day with a win from the Dogs and movie night with my kiddos. Caden and Emmeline convinced me to let them sleep together in Caden's new bunk bed. It was so sweet to listen to them giggle and laugh at one another. Here is a quick pic from their "slumber party."

105 minutes

In an hour and 45 minutes there are so many things one could do. You could; watch a full length movie, wash and dry a car, enjoy a long facial and massage too. If I had 105 uninterrupted minutes I could probably get my house clean, but today I spent 105 minutes in my car. It took me almost two hours to get from work to home which sadly is only about 20 miles. Luckily I had a pretty content passenger in the backseat who enjoyed my singing and my moans and sighs. And lucky me tomorrow is Friday which means I get to deal with horrible Friday traffic. I think the countdown has now begun for Christmas break and two weeks of no work, no traffic, and no STUDENTS!

Graduation Day

This is such an exciting post!!! Today is graduation day for my sweet friend Melissa. She is graduating from chemo. She has been such an amazing and strong person through this whole journey. Her faith in God even through the hardest struggles has helped me focus and have faith for my Dad. Kind of ironic that she is finishing her journey with the "Big C" and today my Dad went into surgery for his.

I am so proud of my sweet friend for all of the courage,  grace, and strength she showed through all of this. I wish I could have been there to see her more.  I am itching to see her and give her a big hug. I hear that she may even be up to traveling to California soon for a visit. If she is not able to come out soon, I think I may just need to plan a quick trip to S.C. to go see her.

Tackling the Impossible

This was a super busy weekend filled with lots of projects. Daddy was in a not so good mood -something about 3 losses in a row and reading The Reporter on Saturday morning did not help.
I thought to cheer him up I would take on the impossible task of trying to make "Mr. Feld Ribs". I have to say the husband was pretty impressed and they were pretty delish. I am going to scoot over to Teaspoons and Twine and blog all about my new, super, simple recipe.