Monday, August 27, 2007

Back to Life

I'm sitting here at my desk at 7:46am on Monday morning, the earliest I've been up in many weeks. I actually got up at 6:15. The house is quiet with the exception of Matt Lauer quietly in the background and the hum of the air conditioner. Peace.

I just got back from dropping the kids off at school. First day. New backpacks, new outfits, new pencils, new outlooks. Fresh haircuts, milk money and a whole list of things mom forgot to get for this very important day. First time parents dropping off their kindergartners wiping away tears with video cameras glued to their eye sockets. I laugh quietly as the fathers in their business suits drag away the moms as she's waving "bye bye" to her little precious one. The little precious one is literally rolling his eyes and waving "bye bye" over his shoulder as he spots a soccer buddy. Good luck finding a parking space, because this is the one day that most parents walk into the classroom with their child.

Anticipation. Excitement. All kinds of activities to do. But then that's just me. I think I may have hurt some feelings this morning with how over-the-top chipper I was. I have been waiting for this day for the past month. A whole month filled with "I'm bored" "she hit me" "it's too hot" "I'm hungry" "I'm bored". I piled my kids in the car and dropped them off at the front door of the school wishing them well and trying to embarass them as much as possible yelling out "I love you!" and "Make good choices!" They run.

There are two different parents- the good ones that make this day a special one for their child and walk them into their classes and make sure they find their lockers and desks okay. And then there's us- the vets- the ones doing the happy dance in our cars as we barely hit the brakes to let the kids out. The ones with days already planned of projects we didn't get to all summer and lunches with friends we haven't seen for weeks. The ones snickering at those other parents... because it wasn't long ago that we were wiping away tears and sending them off to another day of firsts.

Happy first day of school Rachel and Graham.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

At the Rodeo


Mom and Dad took the kids to the Ft. Smith rodeo over the summer. Graham kept that bandana over his face almost the whole time. He loves being the bandit. That's Rachel's "tough" look. She just can't pull that off- she's too sweet.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Alright already

Yesterday Randy and I celebrated 13 years of marriage on the 13th. Good thing we're not superstitious. Randy reminded me that in 13 years from now our kids will be in college if not already done.

We had a nice quiet evening, thanks to our friend Jill who stepped in at the last minute to watch our kiddos. We went to our favorite resturant and, as always, reflected about where we've been and where we're headed. We had the fun discussion of what could we do better and the things that we do really well. We promised to go on a trip soon, just me and him, because we haven't done that in a while. I'm looking at my calendar and October of '09 is looking promising. Just in time for our 15th!

Randy is currently working for EMSI where he is manager for the QA team. He also teaches the Young Professionals at our church, The Heights Baptist in Richardson.

My first job is being mom to Rachel and Graham. In my spare time I write for The Skitguys and travel with another drama group called Skitzo. This summer I did 8 camps in 6 weeks. It was a lot of fun, but hard to be gone from home so much. I'd like to say I'm glad to be back to a normal schedule, but I'm not sure we ever have a normal schedule.

Rachel is 9 and will be in the 4th grade. She really likes piano and singing in her choir at church. She now wears the same shoe size as Aunt Pam and a friend of ours assures us that she will grow into them.

Graham is 8 and the resident soccer star. He'll be in the 3rd grade and we are praying for his teacher to have a really good sense of humor. He also has a computer keyboard permanently affixed to his hands.

I have never been very good at journaling. Everyone keeps saying that I should start a blog. Not because they're particularly interested in what I have to say, but because they have one and so should I. It's like being in jr. high all over again!