Stories of Bedtime

I have the best discussions with Will at bedtime! About a year ago we sponsored a little boy through World Vision named Charles. He is 8 years old and started the 1st grade last winter. Our family is SO blessed to be a part of his precious life, but that's another post. We received a picture and note from him today, something we always celebrate! In the picture, Charles is holding a goat and there is another goat standing beside him. During my prayer time with Will, I said something like, "Thank you for Charles and his family. Please help them to take care of their farm and goats and give them Your protection." Once I ended my prayer, Will said, "Mom, I'm pretty sure they eat that goat." Oh, dear. Me: "I don't think they eat goats, Will. I think they use the milk the goats make. We do eat the meat of some animals but not others." Will: "Yeah, we eat cows and pigs." Me: "And chickens." Will: "Chickens? Mom, we don't eat chickens!" Me: "Well, where do you think chicken comes from? Will: "Mom ... pigs!!!" We moved on from that and talked about a few more things. Me (getting up and walking out of the room): "Sleep good, I love you." Will: "I love you too, and I don't eat chickens!!!"

An Apology to the Parents of my First Grade Students

My mama raised me right ... say you're sorry when you need to. So, here goes.

Dear Parents of my First Grade students,
Hi. It's me, Mrs. Schloss. Yes, it's been 6, 7, 8, or 9 years since I was your child's first grade teacher, but maybe you still remember me. I was born to teach. Every minute in the classroom was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream of mine. Truly, I loved teaching YOUR child. It was so exciting to see their eager faces at the beginning of each year and a true joy to watch them learn and grow over 9 months of precious time together. I loved them as if they were my own and I gave every day my very best.
However, there was always something that I thought was just a little odd. The parents of first graders. Some of you were "hoverers", others had long lists of how I should care for your child, and most were teary the first day/week/month of school. I just couldn't understand why you were still outside of my window 2 and 1/2 hours after school started. Or why you needed to know every detail of what happened during our school day. The kids and I were just fine with each other, why did you feel the need for one (or five) more hugs!?
We-e-e-ll, fast forward 6 years. Guess what!?! I am the parent of a 1st grader. This Thursday will be his first day of 1st grade and the first time that he is in school for a full day. I've been dreading this (yes, dreading!) all summer long. I know that he is ready for 1st grade. He loves to learn, he loves to be around other children, he LOVES recess, and most importantly, he loves his Spiderman lunchbox! It's me. I haven't been ready to let go. I've loved learning with him, seeing the world through his eyes as we've had so much time together. I've loved coordinating play dates and finding new places for fun experiences. I've loved our time at the park and the playground and on the swings in the backyard. I've loved eating lunch with him for the past 6 years. And while I am happy for him, that he is about to embark on an incredible adventure, I am sad for me.
So with tears in my eyes, I need to say that I'm sorry for thinking you were odd. And with a smile on my face (even though there are tear-stained cheeks!) I'd like to add that I now think you were perfectly normal. And just to make you feel even better ... tonight was "meet the teacher night." Will has the sweetest, young teacher. This will be her third year of teaching. As I started to go into my list of all of the special things about Will and how she could teach him best, and wanted to show him everything in the room (where his desk was, where he would hang his backpack, where he could find the trashcan...), and started to think that I should probably be prepared to "hang out" a little bit after the drop off time, I noticed that his teacher was looking at me as if I were a little bit odd ...

With greatest admiration,
Mrs. Schloss

The Happiest Place on Earth

Did you think I had fallen off of the bandwagon already? Nope, I'm really determined to keep blogging this time!! We have just returned from the Happiest Place on Earth. Now let me just say that there were many people there who didn't look or sound all that happy ... but I get what WDW is trying to accomplish. John's parents treated our whole family to few days in the parks and a 4 night Disney cruise to celebrate their 40th anniversary. That's my kind of celebrating! It was SO much fun and it was HOT and exhausting. We made some wonderful memories with our family, here are some highlights:

• We stayed at the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was SO nice. Will and Kate loved looking at all of the animals on our daily treks (Papa figured out it was a quarter mile one way from the elevator to our room door) to and from the room. Nana and I had fun trying to find all of the "subliminal" Mickey's in the decor. We found him on our soap and shampoo, in the carpet, curtains, and shower curtain. Stephen and I even thought we saw a few Mickey shaped clouds! If anybody could do that, Disney could!
• BELIEVE the warnings outside of the Dinosaur ride in Animal Kingdom. I can't remember what exactly they say, as Will and I were running from the building once we got unbuckled, but something about it being turbulent and frightening. It. was. John joked that Will and I were in the "tuck and roll" position through the entire 2 minute and 34 second ride. Bill has a pretty hilarious picture of this ... maybe I'll get a copy, then again, maybe I won't!
• Hollywood Studios was a great place to meet characters. Will had a blast getting his picture made with Mater, Lightning McQueen, the Blue Ranger, Buzz, and Zurg. Kate L-O-V-E-D the playhouse Disney show. She clapped, danced, and yelled hooray! through the whole thing. So fun to watch your child soaking it all in!
• At Epcot, we had dinner in Mexico and it was delicious and also very nicely air conditioned (a huge plus, as we had to ring our clothes out at the end of each day!). Nana and Papa took Kate back to the room after dinner and the rest of us got to ride lots of rides pretty quickly. The guidebooks are right on when they advise you to ride rides after 6pm ... we hardly waited in a line!
• The Magic Kingdom was just like I remembered. I think this was my favorite day in the park just because there is so much to do there. Will had to be coerced into each ride (leftovers from the dinosaur ride!), but once he got on, he loved them all. Kate slept through It's a Small World, but Papa was holding her, so I think he enjoyed it even more. She liked the Winnie the Pooh ride and the Jungle Cruise. She loved The Country Bear Jamboree and both kids were amazed at the parade. It was so cute to see Kate waving to all of the characters. We were smart enough (we think!) to walk through the insanity waiting on the fireworks over Cinderella's castle and go just to the outside of the entrance. We saw the whole beautiful show AND caught the first shuttle back to our hotel. Victory!
• Next came the cruise, and I just can't say enough about how terrific it was. Everyone was so kind and especially intent on making sure Will and Kate had a great time.
  
• This is where we found out that Kate wasn't so fond of the Disney characters. After standing in line (of course!) to meet Donald, we had our family picture taken and as we were leaving, John (who was holding Kate) turned for her to see Donald and she started screaming - not crying - SCREAMING "No! No! No! No!" Wow, point made!
• Well, fast forward 24 hours and Mom sees Belle and thinks, oh Kate will feel differently about a princess! Nope. More screaming "No!" Needless to say, we do not have a picture of Kate with Mickey Mouse.
• We spent a morning at Disney's private island Castaway Cay. It was really nice, the weather wasn't. After about 30-45 minutes on the beach, it started pouring rain. Pouring. Rain. Will and Kate had almost as much fun dancing in the rain as they did playing in the sand and we didn't have to rinse off before we got back on the boat ... we did have to dry off :o).
• Finally, I have to say that we had the most wonderful, kind table hosts. Arvin and Victoria (from the Ukraine!) went way above and beyond. Arvin did magic tricks for Will and Victoria came running anytime Kate thought about fussing. They always had chocolate milk waiting on the table when we arrived and kept the bread basket full. They were a big blessing to our family!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you, Papa and Nana ... it was a dream vacation!!!

In the words of Kate

It's unbelievable, but Kate is almost 18 months old. In the past month, I feel like she has literally grown up right before my eyes. One of the things I love most about this age is how hard Kate works to communicate with us. She's like a little copycat running around the house (yes, we've already had discussions with WT about this!). So, just so I don't forget, a list of her words (as of today!):

Mommy ... I LOVE this one, somehow seems more personal than mama to me!
Da-ddyyyyyyyyyyy ... usually screams with loud laughter when he comes through the garage
door
Bubba ... the first word she says to me when I get her out of her crib in the morning (usually
Bubba? - like "Nice to see ya mom, but where's the fun guy?")
Momly ... our kitty cat, Molly, who is typically running away from Kate
Pops, Mimi, Papa, and Nana ... she can identify all of them from a picture (so sad that we live so
far away that she has to identify them from a picture!) Funny thing about this is that
she whispers Pops and Papa
up ... which could mean "up" or "cup"
dog-dog ... her most favorite bed time buddy OR her fav real furry fella, Phelps
nack ... snack, the first word after her nap
peas and andju... please and thank you (music to a mother's ears!)
ep me ... help me - might be what we hear most during the day
baby ... she loves to "play" baby and she loves to see babies
all done ... at the end of a meal OR when she's DONE being in the car seat (can't you just picture
the two 1800 mile trips I took her on this summer!?!)
ni ni ... good night
Along the lines of food, she has versions of juice, cheese, pizza (sounds like pisa pisa), cookie, and pancake.
She can say and identify eyes, nose, ears, mouth, foot, and knee.
And for some reason, I feel like we're learning our animal sounds out of order (as if there was one!), but she can give the sound for cat, monkey, cow, and lion ... this just seems like an odd combo to me!
She "talks" in lengthy conversations, but so far this is all I can understand. Better run, I hear "ep me" coming from Will's room!

Birthday Buddies

My sweet Will and I share a birthday. When people first find out about this, they usually say something like "How sweet" or "Isn't that fun" ... but I get the biggest kick out of "Did you plan it that way?" YEAH RIGHT!!!
Will's due date was June 26th. My sweet mama flew out to California to stay with us on my due date. Because most babies are born near their due date, if not before, right!?! Well, the next week and 6 days were the longest re-arranging the nursery, re-washing the baby clothes, and re-packing the hospital bags days of my life! Finally, 12 days past my due date, the Dr said those wonderful words ... we're going to induce you. So early on July 9th Johnny and I headed to the hospital with our bags, the diaper bag, our carseat, and hearts full of anticipation. The induction didn't work, and around 5 pm, Johnny and I headed back home with our bags, the diaper bag, our carseat, and hearts full of frustration!!! I was convinced I would be pregnant FOREVER. Well to spare you all of the details ... I went into labor on my own around midnight on July 9th and after 20 hours and 20 minutes of labor, it was finally apparent that Will really was going to make an entrance into the world. The kind labor nurse leaned over and asked "Is it okay with you that your son is going to share your birthday?" I didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or scream. I surely had no idea what day it was at this point ... it's probably good I was wearing an oxygen mask! So at 8:25 pm on July 10th, 2004 William Thomas Schloss made his grand entrance and an everlasting imprint on his mama's heart!
Will, I love sharing my birthday with you. You ARE the best birthday gift I've ever gotten!
Oh, and if you are wondering ... I did get to eat cake on my 25th birthday. Remember, I told you my mama came to take care of us. There's never been a better Mom/Mimi!

My Accidental "Green" Experiment

I love paper products ... paper plates to be more specific. Can you guess where this is going? Yep, I ran out of paper plates and at the MOST inopportune time. It's been at least 175 degrees here lately and I have not wanted to schlepp the kiddos in and out of the H-O-T car not to even mention how much fun it is to shop at Wally World with my precious babies when the temperature is normal. SO, I thought I could probably get by for a few days without my beloved paper plates until I could do what every mom of young children dreams about ... grocery shop by myself!!! Well, there was a small change of plans. Some friends needed to leave town quickly for a funeral and John and I were more than happy to host their three kids for the weekend. I was more than happy until I opened the pantry to serve my first meal to five kids.

Dun. Dun. Dun. NO PAPER PLATES!!!

Well, I survived. I now know the full potential of my dishwasher. (That's the Pollyanna in me :o) And I now love paper plates even more. I somehow managed to wait a few more days after our house guests left ... still determined to get some alone time! After 1 whole week, the pantry was re-stocked and more importantly, I now have 462 dixie paper plates just waiting to be used!

Grand Re-Opening

A fresh start, a new beginning, take two ... whatever you want to call it, I've decided to give blogging another try. Over the last few months (okay, many months) one or two people have mentioned that I haven't posted anything. I had no idea ANYONE was reading this! Since then, I've really enjoyed following a few blogs but my real inspiration to give it another go came a few weeks ago when I was reading my sister-in-law's blog and noticed on the sidebar that she had a link to mine!!! I regularly click on people's "blogs I follow" list (although I have no idea how to put one on my blog ... Matt). That is the moment that I knew I couldn't have someone clicking on that link only to find a pitiful, dried up blog. So, thanks, Abigail ... really, I mean it!