Observations

I've decided that I suck as a blogger because my life is too boring. But I keep going, simply for my own entertainment. Blogging is weird, because I always have to be trying to decide how personal I want to get. Do I really want to post the details about this or that? Will this topic annoy all four of my readers, or will one of them be able to relate? If I post that, will I be one of those obnoxious TAMN-style bloggers that doesn't know she's a TAMN-style blogger? Not that I really have to worry about everyone thinking I'm bragging too much about my glam life. "Just who does that Shannon think she is? Such shameless bragging. Like those pictures of Lexi with the bits of marshmallow stuck to her face. And that post about which movies she watched over the weekend. Thinks she's Princess Diana or something." It's all pretty mundane. Then half the time I don't edit (grammar and punctuation are our friends). Blogging is sometimes just overwhelming, so I hit delete and walk away rather than try.

Have you ever noticed that when you spill something or create a giant mess, the kids come running to see what you've done? But when the kids spill something or create a giant mess, you hide and don't want to see? Brittney spilled chocolate everywhere and I could hear her telling Josh to stay back, and he's dying to see just what she's done... meanwhile I'm downstairs thinking invisible thoughts, not wanting to know, not wanting to be summoned. Maybe that's just me, though....

My blog playlist needs some help. I sometimes turn it on when I'm doing different things, and I need some new songs. I was thinking that I need to ask Brittney for the name of that one song I like, and Courtney for that other song I like, and thinking I could just cruise their playlists and figure it out.... And then I started thinking about how different our generation is when it comes to music than our parents were. I don't remember my parents or the parents of my friends really listening to or liking our music at all. They tolerated it sometimes, but they didn't choose it for themselves. Totally different now for me and for most of my friends. My girls have Journey and Bon Jovi on their iPods. Because of them, I listen to Breaking Benjamin and Paramore and My Chemical Romance. Green Day seems to span both our generations. I introduced Brittney to The Offspring. I bought a Korn song several years ago that Courtney declared "scary"... she now has it on her iPod and loves it. We don't see eye-to-eye on all of it... They like more screamo than I do, and I like more country than they do. But we all agree that Lady Gaga is nasty, Katy Parry sucks live, and Avril Lavigne might kill brain cells, but she's fun. Common ground is a good thing. :)

Smith and Morehouse

We went camping last weekend. It was very, very wet. Sean and I set up the camp during a huge thunderstorm/downpour, since we aren't smart enough to come in out of the rain. I took a Blair Witch Project style picture of my drippy self looking crazy afterward, but I won't make you look at it.



Kids playing in the trailer


Brittney escaping the rain

Last Day of School

I hate the last day of school. Or, more accurately, I just have a really hard time with it. I have a hard time with endings and good-byes. I have grown to love some of these kids so much this year. I have laughed with them, I have cried with them, I have worried over them, I have celebrated with them. They have taught me many lessons, and they have cared for my children in the daycare. I hate to say good-bye. Especially to the seniors. I am so fortunate to have a job I love so much. I can't imagine doing anything else. Graduation is tomorrow, and I don't know if I can stand to say good-bye again. I may have to slip out before it's all over. I am so excited for these kids, and scared for them. I love getting to work with these intelligent, talented, creative, compassionate, energetic, crazy people. I love seeing what they are capable of. Emo ramble over.

Lexi's Birthday

Lexi turned two last weekend! She is a sweetie. She's talking a lot more now, saying cute little things and trying to keep up with her big brother.

Camping

We went camping on Saturday. Sean said, "This hasn't been bad, has it?" I said, "Camping is always a mix of good and bad. You just hope the good outweighs the bad enough that you want to go back."

Good:
beautiful campsite
nothing to do but relax
cooking/eating outdoors
nature
hanging out with the whole family, which is rare nowdays
warm campfire on a cold night

Bad:
it rained for a little while when we first got there
Lexi jumped in mud puddles and generally got dirty
I don't sleep well camping
I declared that we were going simple on the food. That did not work out well. Before I was done I had gone to the convenience store twice for groceries. I paid $13 for bread, peanut butter, and honey since I forgot to bring dinner that Josh could eat.

In the end, the good won out and we had fun.

The Best Way to Spend an Afternoon

The camara work on that one is by Britt. Sorry if it made you seasick.

If Brittney doesn't look happy, it's because she had to be dragged out on the boat against her will. Have you ever heard of such a thing? She had fun once we got out there, though.

We had an enjoyable weekend. It was a nice mix of hanging with family, relaxing, visiting graves, chores, and getting some much needed yardwork done. It was nice to get back to work today knowing that there are only a few days left. I'm enjoying the last few days with my students. I gave my first period class a big thrill today when I accidentally swore in class, which I don't normally do because I think it's unprofessional and inappropriate and I try to use my fancy book learnin' vocabulary in class. So anyway... I was trying to get them into a discussion, and they were still sleepy, and I was getting all fired up and passionate and a "hell" slipped out and I immediately put my hand up to my mouth and they thought it was the funniest thing ever. They were awake after that, though. I am so looking forward to summer, but these kids have been a lot of fun. Most of them. Some of them.

Update on random stuff

Sean stayed home with the kids today because Josh seemed like he was coming down with something, so we kept him home. When I got home, the house was clean and smelling like delicious, the kids were happy, the lawn was mowed and trimmed, and the furniture was rearranged. I asked him if he would like to please be a stay-at-home dad. He said he would if I made 100K. Hmmmm... How can I make 100K at my job? Legally? Maybe a career change is in order.

Teenagers are so weird, but they are funny. I really like working with them. One of my boys chose to read Pride and Prejudice (I think because his girlfriend was, so he figured they could work together). In his reading log, I asked how he had liked the book, and he said, "There was too much romance. No action, or at least some physical fighting." LOL The other day when I was in Barnes and Noble, I saw a book called Pride & Prejudice & Zombies . It's a combination of the classic with zombies. I almost bought it for him.

Well, Mother's Day was last weekend. I won't make my yearly I Hate Mother's Day post. Well, maybe I will. I hate Mother's Day. Nuff said. The day itself was nice, though. My family (that lives here) came over for dinner and it was so nice hanging out with them. They rock. They are just cool people to talk to/be around. Sean took off after a little while and went to hang with him mom and family, so that worked out really nicely. My kids got me presents and flowers, my husband got me flowers for my yard and helped me plant them. I love any excuse to get together with family... I just hate what the day stands for (to me).

So here's something cool... My brother-in-law Peter graduated from med school yesterday! He's pretty dang amazing, and we are really proud of him. He's going to be a head and neck surgeon (right, Heather?)

Courtney is working a ton of hours right now. I'm a little bit worried about it, but I know she doesn't want to ask for reduced hours going into summer, because in a few weeks she'll be wanting to be working more. She hasn't had a day off since last week and I don't know when she'll be getting one next. Yuck. Combined with school, that's a heavy load.

Brittney missed school today to go to Lagoon with a club she's in. It's the MESA club (Math Engineering Science something club) I got all excited when she joined it because I am always trying to tell her to go into engineering, but she assured me that she joined because they always have food. And they go to Lagoon.

Josh is loving this nicer weather so he can play outside with the neighbor kids. He's a little kamikaze on his scooter. I think he's going to hurt himself before the summer is over. He is way itchy right now with grass pollinating. The daycare had their annual carnival today, and I didn't want to take him since he had been a little sick. Bummer. It's really cute. They do this rubber ducky race that Lexi would have gone ape over. So he told me tonight, all excited, "Mom! In a few days at school it's going to be the carnival!!" Doh. I had to tell him we missed it and his face fell, but he recovered.

Lexi is at a cute age. I love when kids really start talking and putting words together. It's so fun to see how they do it. Her latest is "No not." As in, "No, I'm not going to." Said in a sweet little voice, of course.

Mom: Sit down, Lexi.
Lexi: No not.

Mom: Are you going to go potty in the toilet?
Lexi: No not.

Mom: Do you want princess underwear?
Lexi: No not. No not prinsa.

Survivor! Is getting so good! I really am loving this season, because the strategy is pretty fun to analyze. I loved Stephen's explanation last week about how he memorized the numbers for the challenge. Love when they cast really smart people on this show and they actually use their brains. The nerds... they are my peeps!!

Well, that's it for now. Off to eat pecan pie.