Well,

It is summer (though you wouldn't know it for the weather) and I have a one year old, it must be time to work on the kitchen.

I started in March on repairing the damage done when I pulled off the old backsplash-ish tiles in 2011. Then in April I picked out a combination of tiles that I thought would look decent.  I got them up on the wall too. But it didn't quite look right, so this weekend I continued my white subway tile all the way around the room. Tonight I placed the very last tile! Now I just have to grout the tile, and figure out how to wire and duct the hood and I'll be able to cross off a ton of stuff on my ToDo list!

As I was doing all of this great tile work today,  I discovered that our pot rack had pulled away from the wall a bit. EEK! It had to come down, before it fell down. I move it to a spot in front of the window instead. Now I'm thinking some Ikea shelves where the rack used to be.



Friday, I came across a great deal on a floor model vent hood/extractor at IKEA. In my research of the vent, I came across this picture at Dusty house

It's my vent, with cupboards beside it! I'm not the only one with cupboards up to the corner by their stove (though those people put their own in on purpose)

I'm not ready!

How can it be? My principal informed me that there are only 11 schools days left. I actually accused her of being wrong. But she isn't.

I'm not sure if it is the lateness of winter or what, but that just can't be right. I feel like we should have another month or so left. Then, when you consider the fact that I have 2 days of off site meetings, 1 day working Field Day, and another Junior Achievement Day, that leaves 6 days of teaching left for me. WEIRD. I am not ready to be done.

Tequila!

I can't remember how it came about, but our kids have been enjoying watching various versions of Pee Wee's Playhouse, and Pee Wee's Big Adventure. Because of this, I can sometimes get Leo to stop crying when he believes some injustice has been done by starting a horrible version of the Tequila song.

Mother's Day

We celebrated early on Saturday with my family by going out for lunch. Sunday morning I woke up early feeling very sick. I spent the entire morning in bed.

FP & the kids came up for a little while and gave me a card and present. FP tried to get Felix to sign his own name, but Felix said, "The letters won't stay still."

Around 1:00 I started to feel a little better, but FP still called in to work to help me out.

Returning from camp

I made it. Everything was fine. Lots of times when no one told us something we needed to know, but even that was fine. By day 3, I felt we were all just hitting our stride at camp. I was wishing we could stay a little longer.

Now that I am home (and sick) I'm very glad I went. It was cool to have done. I had a great group. Every single kid in my group completed the ropes course, and only a couple of kids cried. I was so impressed by them. I had prepared myself for a lot of kids who would freeze, but we only had a couple.

One afternoon, we went to a model Ojibwe camp and after one of my kids started a fire with flint & steel, our guide made us wild rice and raspberry leaf tea. As that cooked, other kids tried to make fire and we peeled apart logs to get wood to make baskets. It was cool to see them working to try to figure things out, helping each other, and really learning. If my one kid, JP ever goes on survivor, he's gonna be the fire guy.

As we got into the Tipi, the kids oohed and aaahed and then a couple of them commented "It's bigger on the inside!" I don't think they are Dr. Who fans, but it made me chuckle a little to hear.

The calm has arrived

I leave tomorrow for Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center and after stressing for days about this, I feel really calm right now. Maybe even excited.
We're going rock wall climbing as soon as we get there, and in the morning tomorrow we'll be on the ropes course!  CANNOT WAIT!

Borrowing Trouble

Have I used this post title before? I do this a lot.
Next Wednesday I am heading up Nort' with a bunch of 10/11/12 year-olds. I've never done an overnight with my students. I realized tonight that I am showing all sorts of anxiety symptoms, and that is about the only thing I can attribute them to. So I said it out loud, and it helped, a little.

I worry that:
1. I'll get sick (being sick & away from home is just about the worst thing ever for me).
2. I'll hate the food.
3. I will not have any alone time for 60 straight hours.
4. The kids will be jerks to each other, and make my time miserable.
5. Because of #2 & #3 (possible #1 also), I will be a jerk to someone. 
6. I will do something incredibly stupid and never hear the end of it.

In doing all of this worrying, I AM already making myself sick.
I need to figure out how to let it go. I think about how if I, an adult, am feeling this anxious, how must some of my students feel?

I keep telling myself that I will not regret having done this. It can't be as bad as all that. My colleagues are nice people, who are absolutely willing to help me if I need it. All I have to do is ask.

Visiting the Doctor

We took the boys in for their respective yearly check ups.

Dr. S asked Felix if he uses the potty.
-No I'm not big enough.
She made a few attempts at convincing him that he was indeed big enough, but Felix was not interested.

It is kinda funny because Relia would have been all over it. For her, whatever Dr. S says, we have to do. Felix was pretty much "Yeah lady, you don't know me, and I don't know you."

Leo was having a great time crawling all over the room, including under around and through the table. As we chatted with Dr. S about something, he slipped and hit his face on the bottom of the table. Poor baby. Not only that, but he had to have a blood draw and two shots. All this after throwing up this morning. Pretty much his worst day yet.

Dr. S also asked Felix if we were doing something special for his birthday. "Is mom making something special? Or are you going to go out to supper?"

Well, we weren't planning on anything, but now that that seed has been planted...

On the way home, Felix announced his dinner plans (only we didn't have that context):

Felix: There's a library.
Me: Yup that's right.
Felix: I want to go to the Crown.
Me: What?
Felix: I want to go to the crown.
Me: Can you say a little bit more about that? What is it?
Felix: I want the crown with the up down.
After a bit of thought
Me: Ohhh, he wants to go to burger king, with a play structure.

Of course.
And so we did.

Everyone came away reasonably healthy Felix's stats:
36 lbs, 38 inches

Leo's 22 lbs, 5 oz, 29.5 inches, head is 18.25 in whatever unit they measure heads.

Happy Birthday Felix!

My baby boy is 3! Once again, it seem impossible, and yet, just right.

He

As I'm carrying him up to bed, commenting on how amazing he is to me -you used to be my little baby and now you are my big strong smart boy. -Can I drive the car?