There Are No Words

I've been thinking over the last few days how best to mark this Mother's Day. I wish desperately that my muse were hanging around and I could write a poem. Or that my laptop were working so I could compile a video. Or that I had more than 5 bucks in my pocket today and could do something fabulous for my girl, the mother of our 3 beautiful children.

So, I'm sitting here trying to draft some clever, amazing blog about this woman I love so dearly. After all, she is the world's greatest mom. She has always said in our relationship and marriage that she loves me 4th best, because her kids will always come first. I can't think of any sweeter thing she could say to me and I certainly wouldn't have it any other way.

Since my wit and humor abandoned me last night while I tossed and turned, and since I am flat broke, without a laptop, and without a muse all I have is this brief blog. I think, perhaps, the following photos could describe my wife's amazing relationship with her children better than I ever could anyway.

ps-Be sure to send some love to the mom in your life that you're so proud of!

The Sun Made An Appearance

I drank up lots of sunshine today. Too much Vitamin D has made me hurt.

The thing about sunburns is that they can only be felt a little bit until they are all the sudden really bad.

So here's my skin now.

I'm not complaining, btw. I am happy I got a jumpstart on my tanning for the summer. See, I have to burn several times, then peel, and then I get a deep tan that will last until November. I'm the only tan person at Thanksgiving.

And on a side note...

I have to have a minor with the major I changed to. I did not want to spend the extra time to finish any traditional minor. I found out I could appeal and be awarded a minor area of concentration instead of a minor.

Basically the same thing but saves me a LOT of time.

I had to fill out a form stating all the classes I took under that heading. I wrote down my science classes and asked for concentration in science.

The requirements state you have to have 15-18 credits and at least 3 must be upper division (300 and up)

I ended up putting down like 29 credits in science ranging from chem 100 to mbios 305.

They approved it.

So now when I graduate my diploma will say "Human Development, Early Childhood Education with a minor area of concentration in Science".

AWESOME!

Also, it saves me a year.

One Fine Year

It has been said that the first year of marriage can be the toughest on a couple. I don't buy it. I've spent the last year of my life relishing in the fact that I wake up every morning next to my best friend and the love of my life (they are the same person, by the way).

Through all of the insanities that life has thrown our way, we've grown closer, fallen more deeply in love, become better friends, and laughed all the while.

If I could come up with a way to thank you for making it the best year of my life, I would. For now, all I can do is write and share with the world how lucky I feel to call you my wife.

I still, and always will, find myself imagining our future. I love watching our children grow with you. You ground me so often and remind me to relish the little things they do. You keep me sane when the house doesn't seem clean enough. AND you've managed to teach this OCD clean-freak to put down the rag/mop/scrub brush and spend more time with the family. And I sincerely thank you for that.

I'm so proud of all of you done in school the past year. I know we made a tough decision when you changed majors, but I look forward to watching you change children's lives. I really look forward to getting summers off with you.

So, in my own little way, thank you for what has truly been the best year of my life. I look forward to the next one that will be filled even more love, laughter, and friendship. You are the most important person in my life and I am thankful every day to have you by my side.

I love you, Holly.

Staff Meeting

Today I got to attend a staff meeting at 8 a.m. Which, dumbly, was fun for me.

Well, the thought of it was exciting. The reality was kind of boring and I'll spare you.

At the beginning of the meeting the principal had my "cooperating teacher" (aka the teacher I'm shadowing) introduce me. It was very on the spot but she did a great job making me sound professional. Then the entire staff had to go around and tell me their names and what they do there (teach 4th, lunch lady, music, etc). I'm hoping no one expects me to remember any of it.

After they all found out who I was and why they have been seeing me around ALL WEEK, Alex's teacher from last year, who I love(!), leaned over to me and said, "so you're not just hanging out".

I had told her I was hanging out for the week during lunch on Monday. I didn't realize she'd think I was really that crazy!

PS Kindergarten is awesome, still. And the best part is if the morning class is nuts, the afternoon makes up for it. Other teachers get a crazy class one morning and are stuck all. day. long. with them.

Yes, I realize it could go the other way (morning awesome and afternoon awful) but I'm focusing on what happened today.

Cancun? Nawww.....

This week is Spring Break for the college. AWESOME, right?

Except I am in a class which requires me to shadow a teacher for 5 full consecutive days. Thus, spring break became kindergarten. It was either that or my first week of summer school. And let's face it, I can't afford to skip summer school, they go FAST!

Anyway, I am shadowing Annie's teacher all week. Bless her heart she has not asked me to leave and never return yet. I don't know how she feels about my being there but I asked and she said yes.

And thank GOD she did!! I am having more fun this week than I ever had before. I swear, it's just awesome.

I'm kind of sad I don't get to do this for more than a week. By that time, though, the novelty may have worn off and I'll see the kids as kids and not the magical imagination monsters I see them as so far.

I doubt it.

Drawing on the Griddle

In preschool they do this thing where they will put paper on a hot plate and let the kids use crayons on it. There's lots of supervision so don't freak out.

I keep saying I want to try it but I am too bad of an artist to actually let the teacher I work with watch me do it.

Last night we had pancakes for dinner so I thought this would be a great time to draw on the griddle. If you decide to try it, I found that 250 or 275 was a good setting. If you go slowly at first the crayon warms up and it's slicker.

I highly recommend it.

What I made:

Here's Ashley and Alex. Ash can't not look at the camera. She started changing crayons every 2 seconds once I got out the camera.
Alex's
Ashley's

Aiden didn't even know I was taking the picture.

Annie is posing at not posing.

What she made:

Friday the 13th. Yes it was.

I had a test today at noon. It was for my class in which we talk about development of kids through age 8. I think I have a pretty good handle on the material so I put off studying until last night. The studying never got to happen. (it all turns out okay as I think I aced the test)

Yesterday afternoon I went to my 2:50 class but got there 15 minutes early. As I was sitting in the super comfy seats (y'know, the desks with the unmovable table-y desk part that was made for super skinny peoples in 1950?) waiting for class to start I felt a familiar tingle.

No, I didn't have to go potty. I had a sore throat. Again. This is how my last cold started a week ago only then it was bilateral (both sides).

Actually, this is how my last cold since I was 8 has started. It is probably how my gall bladder attack started and potentially it is how my water broke and I went into labor. I am honestly surprised I didn't have C-sections via my tonsils. Yep, they are that great.

By the time class started my left tonsil was shooting pain into the left half of my brain and down my throat. I managed to not throw up during class, got through the bus ride home, took my friend home after dinner and made an appointment at my doctor's office for this morning. Then I went to bed.

This morning I noticed my tonsil didn't hurt as much, but that is not saying anything. I threw up and had the runny nose and itchy ears (way deep inside like your tongue should just be able to fix it for you. You guys know what I am talking about, right?).

I went to the doctor's appointment after my first class and she said my lymph node was HUGE on that side. She decided to run the rapid strep test which came back negative. She's pretty sure it's wrong as they miss 5% of the time and wanted to run the longer one for a more accurate result. I didn't think that it was necessary because by this point it didn't hurt like strep hurts so I figured it was just some virus. again.

She said if I start getting worse this weekend to call and they will just phone my prescription over to the pharmacy without even looking at me. Apparently I've probably gone through this horse and pony show enough times to know if I need antibiotics.

So now by my own stupidity and bravado I get to spend my weekend popping Advil for pain, gargling salt water (it dehydrates the viruses and/or bacteria and makes them DIE), and helping Halls have a better stock on Monday.

I also get to write a speech, a paper, and study for 2 tests.

Maybe in my free time I can google how to remove your own tonsils at home. Anyone want to come assist?

...and mine.

1. Holly needs some more details to fireup her own fantasies. (hi, Mom!)

2. Holly looks like a femme fatale lounging on her red lounge. Kind of regal like. (what I aspire to)

3. Holly says that the focus on her décolletage doesn't concern her. (work what you have, right?)

4. Hef's Holly Wants Less Plastic in Playboy. (This Holly doesn't care)

5. Holly does have a strange build. (it's called FAT)(I had to go through 3 pages to get past some porno that also starts with "Holly does". Awesome.)

6. Holly hates fur on her back... (I edited this sentence because it was about Hef's ex again so there was a less than savory ending.)

7. Holly asks if Eve is going to kill her, since everyone will know it was her. (note to self, no friends named "Eve")

8. Holly likes to sing (yes, yes I do)

9. We wonder how much Holly eats (more than you, that's why I am fatter than you.)

10. And Holly wears the crown. (of course she does!)

11. Holly was arrested for shoplifting in Puerto Rico, while visiting an old pimp daddy, and was locked up in an old dilapidated jail. (at least it requires a lot of story, like everything I do!)

12. Holly loves the sea. (it kept her man safe and spit him back out so she could find and marry him)

25 Random Things. Fine.

I have been tagged by multiple peoples both on here and on Facebook. I finally committed to do it on Shaila's blog so...

1. I bought my first car when I was 18. With my mom and dad's help I talked the dealership down from $6500 to $4550. I have never made as great a deal on a car since then. CLEARLY I need to take Dad with me for all car purchases.

2. I got married at 19 because I had moved to Pullman for school and I got lonely waiting for my roommates to move over. Not a reason I suggest to people for getting married.

3. I wouldn't take back getting married because I got the three best kids in the world from it.

4. I am married to a WAY more controversial type of person now but I love him more than I ever thought a person could love someone who wasn't their own child or parent.

5. I think life would be really fun (which is my goal) if it was like a musical. Could you imagine people randomly breaking into song to explain things? Awesome.

6. I have kids who are just like me. I'm sorry, Mom.

7. I get a sick pleasure from taking tests. I will miss this part of school whenever I graduate.

8. I always think I am going to fail tests. Aiden no longer lets me stress before tests by saying "I'm going to fail" because then it always goes like this:
"I'm going to fail".
"you always say that, no you are not going to fail".
"but I mean it this time. I really really mean it".
"you always say THAT, too!".

9. My favorite things include falling asleep to a good book, watching movies with my family, singing, and attempting to understand how Aiden is not as jazzed by science things as I am.

10. The last part of #9 is usually done as I am in the throws of trying to explain something to him. I think I am doing it in really simple terms or maybe drawing off a term I previously explained. Eventually I notice the blank stare on the randomly nodding head and give up.

11. I wish I was magic. Secretly I imagine what I would use my powers for (always good, generally cleaning or transportation).

12. I am a gossip. I try not to be malicious about it but I don't know if I always succeed.

13. I smoke.

14. I harbor delusions that I could be a professional singer. But I am often too shy to sing in front of people and do a good job. I will purposely not do my best.

15. I would always choose to laugh over cry. Unless I'm sick. Or stressed. Or mad. Or... seriously, I almost never cry.

16. I cannot stand sitcoms like The Nanny where the jokes are so obviously set up. But I still watch them if I come across them on TBS or something.

17. I hate Reba McEntire's music (mostly) and I CANNOT stand her movies from the 80s or 90s or whatever but I LOVED her show REBA on WB.

18. I would totally have an affair with David Boreanaz but not from his Buffy days. Only Bones.

19. I like looking up my favorite movies (or movies I hate)(or any movie I am currently watching) on imdb.com and read the goofs and trivia.

20. My feet grew almost 2 full sizes while I was pregnant and now they are down to just 1 full size bigger.

21. I hate being pregnant but wouldn't say no to a baby being given to me.

22. I have tried to die during childbirth twice. Sort of.

23. I lettered in drama and football in high school. I managed the football team with a friend of mine and another kid. The team took a vote and had my friend and I letter in football and the other kid (a boy) got to letter in football management. ha!

24. I skipped my high school 10 year reunion last summer because I HATED high school.

25. I still don't feel like the grown up most days. Every once in a while I have a kid jump to attention when I say something to them and I remember I am almost 30. whoa.

Tag yourself if you want to do it. I'm stealing Shaila's idea on that since I also don't like to be put on the spot. but if you haven't done it, do it. It's hard and probably builds character or something.

That's Enough Already

My poor wife got hit with a sciatic nerve attack tonight and hobbled to the bedroom before we had even tucked the kiddos in for the night. She finished her book during a nice session with the heating pad.

I've been trying to watch Cinderella Story for the past few days, as I never saw it when it was still a big deal. I finally put it on tonight while folding the last of the laundry. Half way through the DVD stopped working. In fact, it stopped working to the point I thought it was going to take the DVD player down with it. I tried it in the laptop but it started making sounds that scared the cats.

I decided to go to bed. There was just enough light coming through the window for me to realize that my wife had finally found a position comfortable for her back. It involved both of my pillows and most of my side of the bed.

99% of the time I would rather sleep on the couch in these situations. My wife's comfort pretty much always wins out. The couch is actually quite comfortable (it helps that I'm so short and fit on it nicely). However, the cats have now awoken from their day of rest and refuse to stop terrorizing me.

Here is a brief list of some of their favorite nighttime games:

• Whine at the door until daddy attacks us with the spray bottle.
• Whine at nothing in particular until daddy attacks us with the spray bottle.
• Play hide-and-go-seek in the laundry that daddy just finished folding and mock the fact that he can't put the laundry away because if he opened ANY bedroom door in the house we would bolt through it and force him to fumble in the dark to find us. Get attacked by the spray bottle.
• Jump on the table until daddy hears us and attacks us with the spray bottle.
• Jump on the counter so we can find something to knock down onto the floor. Once the object is on the floor, wait on the counter until daddy attacks us with the spray bottle.
• Jump onto the rocking chair sending it careening into the wall, startle ourselves by this noise, jump off the rocking chair sending it careening into the wall once more, then run after each other because, well, it's so much fun.

There are a few things I could probably do (instead of whining on our blog), but all I really want to do is watch my darn movie! Plus, many of the things I have to take care of involve opening at least one of the doors. And, as previously mentioned, opening any of the doors at night around here is a really bad idea.

Maybe I'll iron. And find a different movie to watch. And spray the cats some more because that is always a good time.

Why am I doing this?! (the rant or the schooling)

I really want to be a dentist. I want my kids to see me complete this dang degree. I want to have the money in the end. I want to have the house and the car and the horses and the STUFF I feel I will deserve when I am finally done. I know it will not buy happiness but I bet it helps!

I also don't want to be in school right now. I don't want to take these stupid classes. WHY do I have to take a year of physics to be a dentist? What could that possibly help me with when I have a patient in the chair and I have to do things to their mouth? Knowing the difference between force and thrust and power and impulse (and all those other dirty words I better learn by Wednesday, 2 pm, for the test sparking this on) will not help me know where the nerve line runs.

I know, they want me to prove I can do it. Well, I can. Can't I just prove it another way? I WANT to be a dentist. I don't WANT to take physics (or a whole bunch of other classes they are going to force me to take). Because I actually am setting out to get into dental school, because I am smart, and because I will pay you a lot of money to let me come to your school, THESE are the reasons you should know I will stick with it and finish and do the very best you've ever seen. Not because you could force me to jump through these dumb hoops.

I don't want to spend my afternoons sitting in lecture listening to some woman I cannot understand going on and on about things I do not understand. I don't do well with accents. So fine, Maybe I have to take this class. Then could WSU (aka the root of all evil) hire professors/TAs/other people in charge of my life dream who speak the English? Without saying all the wrong words in the wrong order? I don't understand this stuff in English. Why are you forcing me to take the class without an interpreter? I did not get my decoder ring at registration! I feel like they should pass out those hearing aid things like at a UN conference. Are there really no other people you could hire to explain this stuff?

I'm not against foreigners or anything. I swear, I'm not. I'm just against paying a LOT of money in tuition and getting HOSED when it comes to class.

And really, don't get me started on the TAs. The only one I have ever had who was nice was for my genetics class last fall. She was totally understandable and nice. All the Chem TAs I have had here are Asian. Do they not teach chemistry in Asia? I mean, seriously! How is there NO ONE else to TA the dang labs? Grrrr!!!

My stats TA? Asian. The physics instructor AND TA? Indian. (dots not feathers) (that sounds really bad but I love that line... Good Will Hunting).

I am Irritated with a capital I. (did you see it?) I not kidding you, it's rampant here. The freakin' Spanish teacher is from Germany. (luckily not my class but the chem lab supervisor, she's from Germany, too!)

Anyway, I guess by the time I am done here I can get into dental school. That should make it worth it, right? If I end up not being able to get in I will be totally primed for a degree in linguistics.

meh.