I am THAT mom

First of all, the play that line from my last post came from was "Macbeth." The true line was "Look like the innocent flower, but be the serpent under 't." Kudos to you guys for trying to figure it out!
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When I was in high school, I worked in an educational toy store. One of the amazing things our store offered was free gift wrapping. The store was in the same shopping center as the Chuck E. Cheese. You probably see where this is going. Every Saturday, you would get the mom with the kids in tow popping in to grab a gift, pay quickly and have it wrapped before the party started at good ol' Chuck's. I always wondered why they waited until the last minute to buy a gift. I am the kind of person that likes to think out a gift that I am going to give...spending lots of time making sure it is just the right thing for that person. I usually get a gift several days or even a week ahead of time - that way I have time to wrap it (my favorite part!) and have it ready before the big event.

Today, V had a birthday party for a little boy in her class. I ran into Target about 15 minutes before the party, grabbed two Bakugan toys, a 99 cent card, and a gift bag (I brought my own tissue paper in the car!) and rushed back out to the car. V signed the card while I wrapped the gifts and I realized - I am THAT mom now. When did that happen? I only wish that Target offered free gift wrapping because - I would have SO taken them up on that.

Look like the flower, but be the smoker underneath

Last week, one of my students gave me this beautiful origami rose. It was folded and fashioned with this sparkly, shiny silver paper. I oohed and aaahed over it and put it on my bookshelf, promising my sweet student to keep it forever. Today while my kids were playing on the playground, that same sweet little girl came over and was chatting with me. Here's a recap of our conversation...

Student: "Mrs. P, you know the flower I gave you for your birthday?"

Me: "Yes, of course! I love it! I still can't believe that you made it. You are very talented!"

Student: "Well, actually, my Nanny made it for you but I helped."

Me: "Well, that was very sweet of you both."

Student: "Want to know how we made it?"

Me: "Sure!"

Student: "Well, you know the shiny paper inside a cigarette box?"

Me: (hesitating, not sure where this is going): "Uh huh..."

Student: "Well, my Nanny saved all of those from my Papa's cigarettes and taped them together to make that flower for you!" (said with this big beaming smile)

Me: (biting lip HARD): Thank you again...that was just so sweet of you.

**Bonus points given to whoever can correctly identify the Shakespeare play that I grossly misquoted my title from (Tim, you are out since you helped me!)**

And I'd like to thank the academy...

Or really my awesome friend Crys for...


this great blogging award!

Crys is a super adoptive mom who went from 0 to 3 kids in a few months, so her blog is always filled with humor and great kid stories! :)

So...I am passing this award on to:
Tim
Ali
Melissa
Crystal
Ainsley

Hope this brightens your day like it did mine! Here's what you need to do...

1. Copy the above logo and put it on blog or post.
2. Nominate blogs that show attitude and/or gratitude (Those who add sweetness to life and/or inspire you by making lemonade.)
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know they have received this award by commenting on a post.

Detox

Today was an interesting day. We are in the middle of a serious issue with V. After worry and tears, Tim and I have decided that she needs professional help...in fact, we staged an intervention. Because of this, she is currently enrolled in a detox program. What in the world could an 8 year old be addicted to, you may ask? Well... she is afflicted with severe "spoileditis." It was made much much worse by the weekend at Grandma's where she got to stay up late and choose where to eat for dinner and watch TV in her bedroom and just generally get to call the shots, so we are working her through her "Grandma detox." Please pray for the poor girl...it must be horrible to be back home and actually be asked to do *gasp* chores! or *gasp!* speak with a polite tone to your parents. Poor poor kid...

The Big 2-8

On Wednesday, I celebrated my 28th birthday. It was kind of a hard one since I feel like I am close to 30, which was my official "old" age when I was younger. However, my sweet husband and cute daughter worked hard to make it the best birthday ever!

I was woken up at 5:45 am by Silly String being sprayed on me and two people screaming "Happy Birthday!" at the top of their lungs. V had never used Silly String before and successfully got it all over my hair and even into my mouth when I was screaming. Needless to say, we had to wash the sheets afterwards but it was so funny! :) Tim gave me a beautiful Lisa Leonard necklace and V gave me the Pinocchio DVD and some premium mint M&M's. Yum!

During the day at school, one of my student's moms had made cupcakes and bought drinks so we could have a party at school. She is so sweet - I have never had a parent do this and it just made my day! She also gave me an ADORABLE bag with my initials and last name monogrammed on it - it is soooo cute!

After school, we went to my favorite pizza restaurant, the Mellow Mushroom, to enjoy some pretzels and "mighty meaty" pizza for my birthday dinner. To top off the night, we enjoyed some cake and Ben and Jerry's.

What a wonderful way to celebrate the day - I am so blessed to have such an awesome family and sweet friends!

Daylight savings time...

Anyone else think this is a terrible idea? I mean, why do we even do it? Is there an evil plot against mothers and teachers everywhere? Does everyone want little children and adults alike to be grumpy and nasty because their circadian rhythms are all screwed up? I just don't understand it.

Today my child slept in until almost 8 AM. If that isn't proof that she is tired from daylight savings time, I don't know what is.

In class this week, I was literally JUMPING up and down to demonstrate changing verb tense from hop to hops to hopped to hopping. My kids didn't even crack a smile because they were all trying to stay awake.

Let's hope everyone gets some more rest this weekend. :)

Girl's night

Tim had to work late, so V and I officially declared a girl's night! Here's the equation for successful girl's night:

McDonalds+rented kiddie movie=lots of mommy daughter snuggles and together time.

How do you like to spend one on one time with your kids? :)