Warning - more bragging to follow

Both of my children showed once again how wonderfully perfect they are this week...Hillary was voted junior class president. And Parker was selected from the entire 7th grade to be a TA (helper) to the principal's secretary. She pulled him out of a computer class so he could be her TA.
These children must have an AWESOME mother.
Aren't you glad I don't send out Christmas letters! (ha)

Stretched

Our family is definitely in full swing SCHOOL mode. We're back to getting up before the sun, and hurrying and scurrying off to our various academic pursuits. While I'm getting to know my feisty first-graders, my husband is creating powerpoint presentations to teach geometry to high-schoolers. Hillary is bossing around the marching band. And Parker has started cross-country.

When we get home from a fun-filled day, tired and hungry, there is still dyslexia tutoring to attend to, homework to be done, flowers to be watered, dog-medicine to be given, laundry to be put away...you get the idea. And did I mention that Hillary is taking Spanish II by corespondence course on top of ALL her regular classes so she could take choir, band, drama, AND art?
I'd say we're all feeling a little stretched...


But no one more than Parker! After he complained for the 15th time this evening that his butt hurt, his legs hurt, his calves hurt...basically everything from the waist down, Hillary (the veteren runner) gave him some sisterly advice. "You gotta stretch it out or run it out."

And she proceeded to show him exactly what that meant.

And even though stretching sometimes hurts, it can be good for you.

I'll have to remember that.

But first I have to look up the Beatles' names for Parker's research report...and make playdough for tomorrow....s-t-r-e-t-c-h!

Mothering

My women's bible study this week talked about how all women were created to mother...whether or not you ever give birth to a child. Women mother our friends and our siblings, our co-workers and our husbands (unfortunately! ha). And we mother other people's children. This got me thinking about some of the women in my life who mothered me, even though their own children were grown and gone, and my own mother was doing a fine job. Still these women took time to touch my life.
There was Gracie Farris, who gave me recipes to put into my recipe box for a girl's club project. Her Fresh Apple Pie is still the best thing I've ever tasted. She was small and old and bent with white curly hair, and she made me feel tall. She bought me my first training bra. She brought it to me one day, out of the blue, all wrapped up in pretty paper. I can't imagine what she was thinking (as I have never been "blessed" in that department), but I felt SO grown up.
And there was Mildred Laws, who often babysat my sister and I when our parents had to go out of town overnight. She would come stay at our house, and we would all pile into mom and dad's bed. She was large and soft, with wrinkled papery skin, and a magical ability to wake up at whatever time she thought about before she went to sleep. We would make her wake us up at 4:00am, just because we thought it was so neat that she didn't need an alarm clock. And we would be ready for school so early that we'd have to walk around the block a couple of times. Now that I'm grown up, I realize that she had some hard knocks in her life...but she always seemed at peace to me. She was never in a hurry.
Both of these women are in heaven now. And I don't know if they ever knew how much they impacted my life. I just hope there are little girls and little boys around here who will someday grow up and think fondly of me.
Who are you mothering?
And who mothered you?

First Day

So here we are...the first day of school has come and gone.

My husband's hurry to get out the door did not prevent me from immortalizing the moment with my camera. You can't tell it from this picture, but he was grumbling "I don't see you posing for first day pictures." Well, I might if he had the camera in his hand.

First day - first hour outfit (suitable for practicing with marching band)

First day - 2nd thru 7th hour outfit (suitable for impressing friends and turning heads...even if you do have trouble walking in those shoes).

First day I'm-wearing-this-because-it's-comfortable outfit (suitable for being oneself in).

In other news...the start of a new year means meeting with new teachers to try to explain Parker's dyslexia and classroom accomodations. The teachers all seem very nice, but I'm always nervous...trying to convince them of what a wonderful kid he is and making sure he gets what he needs to succeed while at the same time not coming across as one of those parents who is high-maintenance and overly involved. I wish I knew the magic words to say. I wish there was no need for magic words. I wish I could keep him safe.

But it's not my job to make his path smooth and straight. It's my job to make sure he has good shoes and a walking stick...and to cheer him on as he climbs the path himself. He is smart. He is strong. He is capable. He is funny.

And I am proud.

One Woman

My grandma passed away recently. She was 80 years old. She lived a long, full life and died peacefully with a smile on her face and surrounded by her grown children, who are living their own long full lives.
As hard as it is to say goodbye, her death brought the whole family together in the same place at the same time. What a jumble of ages, stages, personalities, and hairstyles! We hugged, we caught up, we laughed and cried....and we made people pose for pictures!

She had seven children...

Twenty-five grandchildren...

And twenty-nine great-grandchildren.

Don't even get me started on the "extras" (spouses, etc)

You don't live for 80 years and produce that many offspring without leaving a lasting impact. She was just one woman from a little town in Arkansas...but I think she changed the world.