In the Thick of It

I have a friend who refers to this month as "May-cember." And any parent of school-age children--or any teacher--knows why: May is right up there with December as the craziest month of the school year*.

There are just so many things going on. So many extra events, so many special treats to provide, so much special apparel, gifts, cards, and on and on and on. There is SO MUCH to remember.

Let's just take the last week, for example.

We had field day for the elementary (sunscreen, athletic shorts, the special t-shirts provided by the school) and the FFA awards banquet (FFA official dress, which must be ironed) on the same day.

There was a field trip for one kid the day after (more sunscreen, a water bottle, spending money for the gift shop).

Saturday, I baked bread for teacher gifts.

A.'s winter hobby of painting watercolor cards has made it very easy to have a nice card to go with the bread. We're starting to run out of cards, though.

We went to a graduation party Sunday afternoon (card+cash, in addition to the food I made for the potluck). 

Monday, one boy woke up mumbling that they were watching a movie in class that day and did we have any snacks that would be good for a movie? So I was making maple kettle corn at 7 a.m. Poppy announced they were having a "camping" day in her class, as well as a water fight, so she needed a pillow and blanket and an extra set of clothes to change into after the water fight. The older two boys had track pictures, which required them to bring their track uniforms. And I had a meeting at the school in the afternoon. We finished off the day with the (THREE-HOUR LONG) sports award banquet, to which I brought a dessert, as requested.

Today is an overnight field trip for the younger two boys. I will help them get together their change of clothes, toothbrushes, etc., when I wake them up. I didn't get home from the sports banquet until after 9 p.m., which is why we didn't do it last night. Also, Poppy's teacher had a granddaughter born yesterday three weeks early, so she won't be there today and A. is going to substitute for her.

The two boys return from their field trip Wednesday night. Thursday is the last day of school awards assembly and staff vs. students volleyball game, and then we are done at 2 p.m.

Done in more than one way. We're all going to fall across the finish line this year, but we will make it. Just three more days . . .

* If you live somewhere where the school year goes to June, I suppose it would be June-cember, although that's kind of awkward.

Almost There

Today marks eleven days until the last day of school. And that means . . .

The countdown candy has begun.

We started the countdown candy yesterday, because we always start when there are 12 days left, and we have four-day weeks. This year's candy is peanut M&Ms.

I have also changed the boys' inspirational getting-up music from their usual "Reveille" to "The Final Countdown."

We're gonna make it, one M&M and iconic '80s song at a time.

 

Making the Grade

It's school progress-report time! These are viewed with varying levels of interest by my children. The boys mostly don't care, although all of them do very well in school, so they don't have much to worry about.  

Poppy, however, is VERY interested in her progress reports and report cards. This is the first year that she's had actual grades, and she scrutinizes them carefully*.

Her latest progress report apparently inspired her to grade me, which was one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.

Not too shabby.

So obviously my strengths are cooking and gardining. (Yes, with an "i." It's like Anne with an "e.") I do pretty well with caring, getting them to bed, and the woodstove. Cleaning needs a little work--I have to agree with that one--but the overall score is good.

I've never once been tardy. Go me. 

I'm not entirely sure what all those excused absences are. Maybe when I was gone at basketball games and so forth? I do know what the one unexcused absence was: That one night by myself at the hotel is obviously inexcusable. 

If I can get through this motherhood gig with an overall score of 99, though, I will take it.

*She also has absolutely nothing to worry about with her grades, which makes this a pleasurable activity for her rather than an anxious one.

The Countdown Begins

Many years ago--seven years ago, to be precise--I came up with the idea of counting down to the last day of school with a piece of candy for each child each day as they get on the bus. It was an idea born of desperation to get small children on the bus with a minimum of drama.

I started this tradition when I only had two children in school. We were living in New York at the time, which has school until agonizingly late in the month of June. Now we live in New Mexico where we get out of school in mid-May, and I have four children getting on the bus every day. None of them are very small anymore, either.

But still, every year when we have twelve days left of school, the egg cartons come out and the candy goes in.

Ready for the countdown. 

Come on, summer. 

Alien FFA Day

One of the unfortunate results of our school being under construction for two years now is that we have only one space big enough to gather together for assemblies and activities. It's the old gym. It's incredibly echo-y and loud, but also, it has the most unfortunate lights ever. They buzz and hurt your eyes, and for some reason, any photos taken in there turn out green.

But it's what we have to work with, and so we soldier on.

Last Wednesday was FFA Day. Our FFA chapter took the opportunity to present an Ag. in the Classroom activity for all the elementary kids. They all gathered together to talk about what FFA is and then they made some butter. They did this by giving each student a half-pint jar of heavy cream and telling them to shake it wildly.

Can you imagine the excitement for little kids? They have permission to spin around, jump up and down, shake and shimmy, and generally go wild AT SCHOOL! And then! There's butter! Which they got to choose mix-ins for--cinnamon/sugar, honey, chives, garlic powder, etc.--and eat on rolls.

Best afternoon ever. Even if it was green.

Seriously. What is up with this lighting?

Online Educating

It's fair to say, I think, that I am something of a Luddite. I don't like technology, I am not comfortable with it, and I use just as little of it as I can get away with. 

This is sometimes a challenge, though, because of course it's very hard to avoid technology in our current culture, and most especially in education. Even more especially, in online education.

Our school has an online program in which I help students with special ed. accommodations in English. This year, for the first time, the program has a regular writing component. The students are supposed to write a two-sentence reflection at the end of each lesson. In our brave new world, we of course have had to specify that any student using AI to generate an answer will receive a zero on that assignment.

They do it anyway, but it's pretty obvious and several students have in fact failed their assignments because of it.

Something else that should have been obvious to me but wasn't came to my attention yesterday when I was working with one of my students. This particular student doesn't appear very frequently for our scheduled meeting time every week, but he was there yesterday. He happened to be on a quiz in his coursework. I can't give him the answers, of course, but I can read it to him.

So that's what we were doing. There were a couple of questions he asked to skip and come back to later, because he wanted some time to think about them. When we got to the end of the quiz, we went back to those two questions. 

I read the first one again. Silence. I read it again. And this time I hear, "Hey, Siri . . ."

What?

"Ty!" I exclaimed. "You can't ask Siri!"

"Why not?"

"Because that's cheating. You need to know the answer on your own."

"But I don't know it."

"Well, then, take an educated guess. But you can't ask Siri."

Honestly, it never occurred to me that students do this. But of course they do. I mean, it never occurred to him NOT to do it. For these kids, the answer is always available if they just talk to their phones or whatever.

In the end, he chose his answers and got a 75% on his quiz. This is a pretty good grade for him, so I was able to point out to him that yes, he can in fact pass his quizzes without the help of a computer. 

Not that I think he'll never ask Siri for the answer again, but I guess he knows now not to do it in front of a teacher.

God Bless the Teachers

Ever since I started working at our school five years ago as an elementary Educational Assistant (what we used to call a teacher's aide), which morphed into librarian, online English tutor, and frequent substitute for both elementary and high school classes, people have been asking me if I'm going to get my teaching license.

No. Nope. Not gonna do it. Louder for the folks in the back? NO, I DO NOT WANT TO BE A TEACHER.

In fact, I started college as an elementary Ed. major and switched to a plain old English degree after one semester because I disliked the education classes so much. It's just not for me. And working at a school has only strengthened my conviction that being a classroom teacher is not a good idea for me.

It has also given me a great gratitude for real teachers. I honestly do not know how they do it, but I'm so, so glad they do.

That said, I'm teaching this week because our 4/5/6 teacher is sick. I was her substitute yesterday, and will be again today. There are only 11 students in her room, but that's one of the bigger groups at our school, and there are unique challenges to dealing with three different classes of students in one room. To say nothing of the individual needs of each student within those three classes.

Personally, I find teaching three different math lessons within two hours to be the most challenging.

So that's where I'll be today: Pretending to be a teacher, and once again mentally thanking all real teachers for their choice to fill such a demanding role.

Or maybe actually thanking all real teachers, because I know at least some of you are real teachers. If you are: Thank you. You are so appreciated.

Also, what's your best classroom management tip? I can use all the help I can get.

First Day of School Thoughts

I can't be the only one who still has to think hard for a second while looking at the little arrow that denotes "greater than or less than" in math to remember which way it's supposed to point. The way I still remember it is that the greedy alligator eats the bigger number (the open part of the arrow faces the bigger number). I figure if that's what stuck in my head almost forty years ago, that must be a good mnemonic. So that's still how I explain it to the first graders.

One of my duties in the lunchroom is serving the elementary kids from our well-stocked salad bar. Some of the students were really surprised that I didn't remember exactly what they like on their salads. As if my brain is still in its prime and can keep the individual salad combinations of 28 kids on file over three months of summer. Give me a couple of weeks, though, and I'll have "Andrea=lettuce+cheese+ranch dressing+ham bits" taking up valuable space in my memory again.

I spent almost an hour trying to set up four Zoom meetings for the semester. This should have taken me about ten minutes, but every time I set the time parameters and saved them, the ending time would inexplicably change to the same as the beginning time. Over and over. It was so frustrating. I kept changing things in settings and re-scheduling the meetings until eventually it worked. Why did it finally start working? No idea, but at least I got it done. And that's pretty much my technology experience in a nutshell.

We have a couple of very spirited teachers, bless them, who always come up with a theme for the beginning of school and decorate accordingly. This year's theme is Hollywood, mostly because that was the prom theme last year so we already had a lot of props and decorations for it. 

This is by the front office.

They laid out a long length of red paper on the path leading to the cafeteria where all the kids go in the morning so they could "walk the red carpet," gave them all VIP bracelets and star-shaped sunglasses, and had the staff act as the adoring crowds lining the red carpet and being all excited to see them.

Most of the kids loved it. A few did not. I get off the bus with the kids, so my role in this was actually to reassure our one new first-grader that this was not as scary as it looked. She sort of believed me. At least she actually went into the school, which didn't look like a given when she first saw the scene outside the cafeteria.

The first day is so tiring. Everyone in my house went to bed early last night. Let's hope they'll be well-rested and ready to go for the second day.

No Food, Just a Milestone

Today is Tuesday, and I should be posting something about my garden at the moment. Instead, however, I must share with you something sort of momentous.

Yesterday was our first day of school. 

We have a construction theme this year.

I now have children in grades 8, 6, 3, and kindergarten. Poppy, of course, is my kindergartener. And because our preschool is only two days a week, that means this is her first year of full-time school.

My schedule at the school is unchanged, so I'm still working Mondays and Wednesdays. I worked yesterday on the first day of school, but I do not have to work today. So I am home today. But none of my children are.

For the first time in 13 years, I will have whole days at home to get things done without working around any of my kids.

Of course, most of the things I have to get done are still in service to those same kids, but it's a new experience to be able to just do what I need to do when I need to do it. 

Time marches on. And we march right along with it.

Love (And Oreos) Is in the Air . . .

Let's pause our garden series so I can wish you all a happy Valentine's Day! Also so I can talk about Valentine's Day treats.

As the mother of three children who are still in elementary school, I'm still in the thick of class valentines for all. And being me, I refuse to buy cards for my children to sign. Or, perish the thought, the new option of individually wrapped candy with a spot printed right on the wrapper to write the recipient's and giver's names.

Not that there's anything wrong with giving (or getting) a heart-shaped Reese's peanut butter cup! I just like to make my kids work a little harder than that.

Of course, this also means that I have to work a little harder than that.

Just like last year, we raided Cubby's stash of origami paper so the two younger boys and Poppy could make cards for their classmates.* Also like last year, I carved the world's wonkiest hearts on the ends of potatoes so they could stamp correspondingly wonky hearts on the outside of the cards.

Now, we won't pretend that it's the cards kids are excited about getting on Valentine's Day. Of course it's not. They're all about the treats that come with the cards. And for us, that means crispy rice treats.

I've made these enough years in a row that they've become a tradition. And, because our school is so small, I actually make them for every elementary student--even in years when I don't have a kid in every classroom--AND all the staff.

Honestly, I think the staff is more excited than the kids to get a Valentine's treat.

The only downside to these treats is that they really don't keep all that well, so they should be made the day of or the day before. I'm subbing at school today, so I made a recipe and a half after work yesterday. Making them takes no time at all. Individually wrapping 40+ of them is actually the most annoying part. Poppy was happy to help, though.

I made something different for Poppy's class. She doesn't have preschool on Tuesdays, so her class party was Monday. I didn't want to make a tiny batch of crispy treats just for her class, because she only has two other kids in her class. 

I had a bunch of Oreos left from making the chocolate-cookie crust of Cubby's birthday chocolate cheesecake. I also have a big tub of sprinkles left from Poppy's birthday cake decorating (thanks, sis!). What I did not have was any chocolate chips to melt and dip the cookie in to make the sprinkles stick.

The Internet had an alternative, though! I used a mixture of powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla to dip the cookies in and then rolled them in the sprinkles. The milk in the dipping mixture did soften the cookie a tiny bit, but certainly not enough to make them unappealing in any way.

Poppy was very pleased with her semi-homemade rainbow Oreos.

There's also a party for the elementary students this afternoon, but I am thankfully not signed up to bring any food for that. I pretty much maxed out my Valentine's spirit with the Oreos.

Regardless of whether you have children or not, I hope this Valentine's Day is filled with love for all of you.

* Cubby has aged out of the valentines-for-all stage, a fact that Poppy found quite upsetting. She does not understand why anyone would choose to forego making and receiving cards and treats. 

A Significant Weather Event

 

We need to talk about the weather. It is insane. Like, "had too many drinks and has a lampshade on its head" out of control.

I can't even count how many times in the past two months we've had temperature shifts so dramatic we practically got whiplash. Such as the temperature dropping forty degrees in 24 hours. Or the temperature rising forty degrees in 12 hours.

One thing we have not had, however, is any kind of precipitation. Dry as a bone here on the high plains for months now. This is nice in a way, because we haven't had to worry about hail or tornados this year. Not nice, of course, because drought of any kind is Very Bad for an agricultural community.

So when we saw snow in our forecast, we were initially very happy. Moisture! Hooray!

Then the forecast developed a little further, and we saw that the snow was going to be accompanied by 20-mile-an-hour winds. And that the temperatures at night were going to be in the low teens. And it wouldn't get above freezing during the day. AND that this was going to continue for three days.

Be careful what you wish for, I guess.

Yesterday was the first day of the stormy weather. We woke up to 15 degrees and snow blowing around, but no significant accumulations and school wasn't cancelled, so off to school (or work, in my case) we went.

To find that the elementary building's furnace wasn't working.

Yes. A non-working furnace on what might be the coldest day of the year.

Luckily, the kids at this school all live on ranches and definitely do not spend their days in climate control, so they're pretty hardy. Unluckily, it was 46 degrees in the school while I was sitting there going over long division with the fifth graders. 

I repeat, 46 degrees.

I was extremely grateful I wore my warmest wool coat (this one!), because I didn't take it off all day. 

Meanwhile, one of Cubby's classmates was sitting there calmly doing his math work in short sleeves. It was 46 degrees!

Incidentally, did you know that dry-erase white boards don't erase fully when it's that cold? I didn't either, but now I do.

Anyway. 

Random break for an old photo of Poppy in her snow gear.

Ready for a school in which the furnace isn't working.

There was working heat in some other classrooms around the campus, so I spent some time shuffling kids around, letting them all have a chance to thaw out away from their refrigerated classrooms while the poor maintenance guy had what is undoubtedly his worst day of work in awhile. 

There is no calling a service person when you're a hundred miles from anywhere. He was on his own.

He did eventually get everything working in the early afternoon, although the building never really had a chance to warm up before school was dismissed an hour early due to the worsening snow. And the fact that several of the kids had a couple of hours of driving before they would be home.

Thankfully, we don't have school today, so we can all huddle in by the woodstove as the children get on and off the various Zoom classes they are now expected to attend, thanks to the laptops provided to them by the school. Whee.

So, how's the weather where you are? Anything dramatic?

No More Pencils, No More Books

And this officially ends the most bizarre school year ever.

School ended this year via distance learning on Zoom, because that's what life is like now.

Charlie had his last Zoom class meeting at 8 a.m., during which his class had a pet show and everyone got to show off their pets. The other five students in his class all showed off their dogs. Charlie chose to introduce everyone to Dorito, the chick that Charlie named and that we're pretty sure is a rooster. Not a pet for much longer, I guess.

Cubby had his last Zoom class meeting at 10:30 a.m., during which his class showed everyone the kites they were invited to make and fly this week. Cubby insisted all week that he didn't want to make a kite--it wasn't required, so I didn't insist--but then decided an hour before his meeting that yes, he DID want a kite.

It was made from a coat hanger, a trash bag, and duct tape, and amazingly, actually flew about twenty feet for ten seconds on his sixth try running down the road to launch it.

Jack had his last Zoom class meeting at noon. His preschool class had "Cowboy Day" for their last class, which was hilarious because the teacher showed a bunch of photos from her own ranch and all the kids basically dressed in their, uh, clothes. Since 80% of them actually live on working ranches.

Jack's cowboy outfit is not his everyday apparel, but we do at least have all the correct items.

He was very excited that I let him borrow my hat, which I do not ever let my children use unless it's for a very specific purpose. Because anything they use gets broken.

Then we celebrated with some banana bread. I felt like I should make them a treat since they were missing their end-of-year sugar-binge parties.

And that was it. It was pretty anticlimactic. 

Our daily lives will change very little now, except I no longer have to nag the older two to do their math or force my very reluctant boys to sit still for Zoom meetings on Mondays and Wednesdays.

Ah, summer. You came none too soon.

Life As We Know It

It has not escaped anyone's notice that life as we know it has changed.

For instance, this is now our classroom:

All the comforts of home. Because you ARE home.

The boys now meet with their teachers and classes in that spot right next to my bed, for the sole reason that this room has a lock inside the door and thus can exclude any unwanted siblings. Which is all of them.

They use A.'s work laptop to do this, because we discovered that of the two laptops and one desktop computer in our house, A.'s is the only one with both a functioning microphone and webcam for video conferencing.

So for the moment, the three boys are using that laptop for their school meetings, I'm using it for my online teaching, and A. is using it for his law practice.

Convenient.

On the plus side, our food supply situation has actually somewhat improved. The school decided to temporarily allow community members to place orders for limited items through the school's Sysco delivery. This means that every Wednesday, a truck arrives ten minutes from my house with gallons of milk and pounds of ground beef, potatoes, rice, flour, sugar, butter, and all kinds of other things.

Unfortunately, that list of limited items doesn't include fresh vegetables, but I can get four gallons of milk and 36 pounds of butter, so that's fun.

Also, Rafael stopped by yesterday with a box of food for us that he couldn't use:

Cubby helpfully sorted it for me.

It was mostly a lot of dried beans, brown rice, and Cream of Wheat, although there are two bags of  instant dry milk, which is a pretty hot item these days I understand.

We have watermelon seeds sprouting, as well as some pepper seeds (FINALLY). The small tomato seedlings are growing rapidly, as are the basil plants. We expect beet seeds and carrot seeds outside to start sprouting any day, and the lettuce, radishes, and arugula are growing apace.

So that's how it is for us. How's your life these days?

Let It Be Known

The first garden produce of 2020 has been consumed.

Okay, so it wasn't much. I just thinned the arugula and added the thinned plants to my salad of roasted sweet potatoes, toasted nuts, cheese, and broccoli. But still! Fresh greens! On March 18!

A. said I had to write about it so we would remember next year when the first harvest was this year. Because this blog is pretty much the only way I remember anything anymore.

Also in Breaking Garden News, yesterday I transplanted our measly five tomato seedlings into their own pots and put a heating pad under the pepper seeds to try to encourage them to just sprout already. Today's gardening fun will probably be planting more tomato seeds, since our planned trip to the small city with a nursery has been postponed indefinitely.

And since that was a topic of very specific interest to me, how about something of more general interest?

Did you know that A.G. Thomas was a famous British composer who wrote the opera "Esmeralda"? I did not either, and neither did Cubby until he was directed to choose any entry he wished in the "T" volume of our encyclopedia to write about.

When it comes to expanding your knowledge base, the sky's the limit with a 1970s World Book Encyclopedia set and excess free time.

I suspect today's carefully-planned at-home school curriculum* will include a time to listen to that opera. If I can find it online. Because I'm all about child-led learning.

* Sarcasm. So much sarcasm.

Talk About Timing

This afternoon while I was working at the school, Jack's preschool teacher came to find me to tell me that he was running a slight fever and not feeling well. There was only about an hour left of the school day, so he spent the remainder of the day under a blanket reading books in the corner of his classroom.

He was looking pretty miserable by the time we all boarded the school bus to go home, and by the time we actually got home fifteen minutes later, he was sobbing.

He tearfully asked me to carry him off the bus and into the house. Unfortunately, that was not possible, given my load of my own backpack, his backpack, and Poppy. Cubby offered to carry him off and just as they got to the bottom of the bus steps, Jack threw up all over.

A little bit of it got on the bottom step of the bus, but most of it landed on the ground*. He threw up again while he was walking the rest of the way to the house.

As sorry as I felt for him, I mostly felt relief that he did it somewhere where I didn't have to clean it up. It would have been a real mess on the bus.

Good job on waiting until you were in the great outdoors, Jack. Your teacher and I both thank you.

* A tiny bit also got on Cubby's hand, which is really gross and a poor repayment for being such a nice older brother.

In Which the Ladies Start Pulling Their Weight

The hens--all two of them--finally started laying on Sunday.

The home eggs next to the inferior store eggs are small, but mighty.

I feel slightly less resentful now about having to trudge out to the chicken coop in the dark every morning to bring them their container of scraps and cup of purchased food.

On the same day, Jack decided to let the chickens out of their yard, which allowed us the opportunity to teach the puppies not to chase the chickens, no matter how fun it might be.

They were not convinced. They weren't sorry, either.

And in related news, the other lady in the house--by which I mean me--will be starting to earn her keep tomorrow. At least partially.

I'm going back to work.

It has been eight years since I did freelance copy editing for pay, and thirteen years since I left my house to go to a job.

I wasn't looking for a job, but I figured one would find me eventually. That's the way it goes in a small community. With a limited workforce, it's inevitable that every able adult will be expected to contribute in some way. 

In this case, it was the school that asked for help. They had a huge increase in enrollment this year*, which is great, but the teachers are over-extended. The superintendent asked if I could help a couple of days a week as an "Educational Assistant." I think this is probably what we used to call a teacher's aide.

Anyway. I don't know exactly what I'm going to be doing, other than serving as another adult to supervise children, but I'll be working at the school on Mondays and Wednesdays when all three boys are at school. A. will be watching Poppy on those days.

A. just finished up his training to become the school bus driver, as well, so starting next week he'll be driving the school bus. Which means that on Mondays and Wednesdays, the entire family, including Poppy in her car seat, will be riding on the school bus. A. will bring Poppy home with him on the bus on the days I'm working, and then back to the school in the afternoon to drive us all home and drop us off before he continues on to drop off the rest of the kids.

Lots of adjustments to be made, and new routines to figure out. Wish us luck.

* Which means they went from 28 K-12 students to almost forty, plus thirty online students. So we're still not talking your average public school, but it's a lot for teachers that were accustomed to classes of three or four students.

I May Have a Problem

My clock inexplicably lost power sometime last night, and so when I woke up this morning I thought it was time to get up. Then I got in the bathroom and saw on my watch that it was 4:30 a.m., not 5:25 a.m.

You may recall that I try never to get up before 5 a.m., even if I'm awake. So I went back to bed for a bit. But then, of course, I was just lying there thinking of all the things I needed to do when I got up. For some reason this morning, it was the thought of making and packing school lunches for Cubby, Charlie, and Jack that seemed like a crushing burden.

"I don't waaaant to," said my inner four-year-old. "It's too haaaard."

And then I remembered: Hey! They could BUY LUNCH! Yes! This is the solution! I could be lazy this morning and send them to school with notes to their teachers that they would eat the cafeteria lunch just like literally EVERY OTHER child at their school. I checked the school lunch menu calendar (which, yes, I keep on my refrigerator even though they almost never buy lunch) and saw that it was even something they would probably all eat: chicken and dumplings.

So I sat down with my coffee with every intention of ignoring the lunch bags and all those little Tupperware containers and the ice packs and the bread knife and everything else that I use every school morning to pack lunches.

But then, Poppy and I (she gets up early, so it's mostly the two of us in the mornings) went into the kitchen about 6:20 a.m. to start breakfast and it's like my body moved all on its own and . . . made lunches. Peanut butter and honey sandwiches, cheese, and oranges. I sliced the bread. I put it all in the stupid Tupperware things. I even peeled the oranges. And the whole time, I was thinking, "WHY AM I DOING THIS? I was going to have them buy lunch!"

I guess I figured if I had to be in the kitchen anyway making breakfast, then it wasn't that much more effort to make the lunches too.

I don't know. I think I'm just crazy. Or maybe it's just that nothing seems as daunting at 6:20 a.m. as it does at 4:30 a.m. Probably that.

I Got Spirit, Yes I Do

Okay, that's actually a complete lie. I have no spirit. Never have. I dislike dressing up, cheering at sports events, and coming up with cute ideas for theme days.

Unfortunately, I have to do all of that this week on the boys' behalf.

See, this week, in addition to being the week of Cubby's birthday and Valentine's Day, is also Spirit Week at their school, culminating in the homecoming basketball game tomorrow. So every day has a theme.

Monday was pajama day. Easy enough, although Charlie, being Charlie, elected not to participate.

Tuesday was dress as something that starts with the first letter of your name, or wear the first letter of your name and make words with your friends. Ooookay. Charlie came up with his own idea for this, which didn't make a lot of sense, but since he was willing to do it all himself, I let it ride. Cubby thought of something about ten minutes before the bus came, but it was too late and he ended up just taping his letter to his shirt.

Today is dress as what they want to be when they grow up. Super. As A. remarked, it's like having Halloween twice. And we all know I suck at Halloween.

However. I resolved to at least try.

Jack said he wants to be a construction worker.

Cubby said he wants to be a bush pilot.

Charlie said he wants to be a wild man (a survivalist without a job, that is)*.

So, with the aid of duct tape, construction paper, and various pieces of furs and random items, we have  . . .

I surpassed myself. Although surpassing myself is a pretty low bar.

Tomorrow they're supposed to dress as their school mascot or in team colors, which is fine, but they're also supposed to have mini-floats (made with, like, little wagons or strollers or whatever) for a halftime parade at the basketball game. Cubby made his at school with a classmate. Charlie told me, again, he didn't want to participate. Until this morning, when he decided he did.

So this afternoon, I will summon my fake spirit once again and help him make a float with Poppy's stroller and a "game board theme." Wish me luck.

* I resisted the urge to tell Charlie he doesn't need a costume for that as that's his natural state.

Oops, I Did It Again

Hey, remember last year when I spent three days baking an absurd variety of treats for Cubby's various birthday celebrations? That was so fun, I decided to do it again!

Not really. But I am going to be doing another crazy baking spree in the next week. This is because of a combination of Cubby's birthday and Valentine's Day. Everyone is supposed to contribute something for Cubby and Charlie's school Valentine's party. I also signed up way back at the beginning of the school year to bring a treat for Jack's class party for Valentine's Day. I have a vague memory of thinking I would be baking that week anyway for Cubby's birthday, so I should just get it all over with at once.

Remind me never to do that again.

Anyway. Here's my oven's schedule for the next five days.

I am currently in the midst of dough preparation for our usual four loaves of sourdough bread, because we're almost out. Again with the excellent timing. That has to be baked tomorrow.

Cubby's birthday is actually on Monday. Tomorrow I have to make Cubby's actual birthday cake. He requested a chocolate cheesecake this year, so I need to make it the day before to give it plenty of time to chill.

Also tomorrow I'll start the sourdough dough for the pizza he wanted for his birthday dinner. What he actually wanted was seafood, but, um, I forgot to get any when we were at the store yesterday, mostly because I was so focused on making sure I had everything for all the sweet treats I'll be making. Not that they would have had anything more exciting than frozen shrimp, but still. I owe him one. Pizza is a good consolation meal, though.

Monday morning I'll bake brownies for his birthday treat for his class. I very slyly suggested this as his treat because I really didn't want to mess around with cupcakes and frosting. He was very happy to bring brownies and they are way easier than cupcakes. And then, of course, I'll bake the pizza.

Tuesday I'll make a batch of Rice Krispie Treats that will go along with the valentines Jack is bringing to school on Wednesday.  He doesn't have school on Thursdays, so his class is having their party the day before.

I had the brilliant idea of making Rice Krispie Treats and then having the boys make valentines that say "Being your friend is a real treat." So clever, right? Yeah, and I'm sure there are like a dozen tutorials for just this thing on Pinterest, but I 'm not on Pinterest and actually thought of it my ownself. I even bought a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make the Rice Krispie Treats all festive. The boys thought this was a great idea when I suggested it.

Of course, that means I have to make Rice Krispie Treats in addition to all the other stuff. Should've kept my clever mouth shut and just bought some Hershey's Kisses or something.

Anyway.

Wednesday morning I'll make the brownies that will be Jack's treat for his class party--again with that festive heart-shaped cookie cutter. Wednesday night I'll make more Rice Krispie Treats for Cubby and Charlie to bring with the valentines for their classmates on Thursday.

Thursday morning I'll make cheesy biscuits for Cubby and Charlie's class party, in an attempt to provide something other than straight sugar to the hyped-up children.

And on Friday? Friday I will wash my apron and hang it up for the foreseeable future, because DAMN, that's a lot of baking. I'm going to be going through a LOT of butter in the next week.

The Home Stretch

Last night we attended the FFA fundraiser. This is really the school Christmas program, but the FFA (Future Farmers of America) also has an auction for a fundraiser. So the elementary kids do their entertainment in the form of recited poems, songs, and dances; then the FFA serves a free ham dinner to everyone (that they previously cooked themselves); and then there's an auction of a lot of (really nice) donated items*.

As the mother of not just one but three elementary students, I got to feel the glow of maternal pride for Jack's snowman song; Charlie's Christmas poem; and Cubby's role as narrator of a short Christmas play written by his classmate, his swing dance with another classmate to "Jingle Bell Rock," and his very long recitation of another Christmas poem.

Cubby had a lot of roles in this extravaganza. That happens when just 11 kids--that is, the entire K-6th grades--are carrying the majority of the entertainment load. Good thing he's a natural-born performer.

Anyway. I failed to bring my phone (AGAIN) and so do not have a single photo of any of this excitement (AGAIN).

But I do have a picture of the cookies I donated for the senior citizens' bags that were handed out after the performance.

108 chocolate chip, 52 oatmeal raisin, and I can only hope everyone is happy with what they get because I have learned that people have OPINIONS regarding cookies.

Because of that event last night, we're having Jack's birthday dinner and cake tonight. I already brought his cupcakes to school on Monday--Grandma Bishop's chocolate cake cupcakes with M&Ms on top, because that is what I always make for school cupcakes. I brought them Monday because he has his class Christmas party this afternoon, which I will also be there for.

Today I'm baking bread for teacher gifts. As soon as the dough is out of the big pot I mix it in, I'll start another batch for neighbor gifts.

I'm also baking yet another chocolate cake for Jack's delayed party tonight. I'm well on my way to having Grandma Bishop's chocolate cake recipe memorized.

Tomorrow I'm providing bacon and cream cheese tortilla pinwheels for Charlie and Cubby's class Christmas party, and also going to the school for a meeting.

And then the older boys will get off the bus at our house at 2:15 p.m., at which point I will crawl into bed and declare myself done for the rest of the holiday season.

Just kidding. We have to drive like two hundred miles on Friday to pick up our boxes of beef at the butcher (yay!) and the Honda from the mechanic (yay!), so I guess I can't take to my bed. I'm definitely going to stop baking for awhile, though.

* This was a real auction with an auctioneer, not a silent auction. DEFINITELY not a silent auction. I've never attended an auction before, and holy hell, they are LOUD. Kind of fun, but we had to leave shortly after the auction started due to the baby starting to turn into a pumpkin, so I don't know how much the mesquite bowl my dad donated for the event went for. Based on the fact that a pan of homemade cinnamon rolls went for FIFTY DOLLARS, I'm guessing the bowl went for a lot. Also based on the awestruck reactions to the artistry of the bowl by the office staff when I dropped it off, and the FFA coordinator when she saw it. Good job, Dad.