Dinner at the Mexican restaurant

Tonight Andy had a meeting so I asked the kids where they wanted to eat dinner and both shouted "MEXICAN"!
We are regulars at the local Mexican restaurant and tonight wasn't any different than any other night. Ordered the usual, kids ate well and we went to the counter to pay. They just added a candy machine at the register. As I was standing at the counter trying to explain what we had to eat because the waiter couldn't find our ticket Tanner and Drew were playing with the knobs on the candy machine. I wasn't really paying attention to exactly what they were doing but I knew both were next to me and not running around in the parking lot. All of the sudden I notice this lady and her son burst out laughing. I look down and see that Drew is eating a few M&M's which I figured ok, he found two at the bottom of the machine - gross but not unexpected for Drew. I looked back at the lady and she's still laughing and says "Do you know what they just did?" I said, "No, what did they do?" Well, right above the candy machine was one of those stand up displays with quarters for people to donate to the leukemia society. My children were taking quarters from the display and putting them in the machine to buy candy! I was so embarrassed and explained to them the money wasn't theirs and that was stealing and that money was for sick children. Drew quickly responds by wiping his snotty nose and coughing and saying "well, I'm sick". I then explained these children were really sick and in the hospital. I told them we were going to go home and get 4 quarters each out of their piggy banks and come back to the restaurant to put in the display. So we did and I think it was a good lesson learned. Still gave me somewhat of a chuckle...those sneaky little devils!

p.s. to end on a sweet note Drew now tells me "Mommy, you make my heart feel super happy" - melt.

What is your job?

Several nights ago I was bathing Tanner and Drew. We have oversized bath tubs and sometimes I think Tanner and Drew think they are swimming pools the way they splash and swim around. It's cute and sweet but once the water starts coming out of the tub momma ain't happy!
Once this began I explained to them that Mommy and Daddy had jobs to earn money so that we could pay to have a house, food and nice things. I told them it wasn't nice to splash water out of the tub because it could ruin the floor.
Tanner quickly responded "This is my tub and I can splash if I want to." I told her it was OUR tub and that Mommy and Daddy made the rules and were in charge and that she was not allowed to backtalk or splash so much. She once again responded with, "This is my tub."
At this point I am done being nice and reasoning. Lets face it, I have 650 students that I reason with all day long and sometimes when I come home I am done reasoning with little people. So being the smarty I can be sometimes I said "Tanner did you pay for this tub?" She said "Yes". I then said, "Tanner, you need a job to pay for a tub - do you have a job?" She once again responded "Yes". I said, "Well, sweetheart what is your job?" Tanner said
"I help you make cupcakes!"
Thank you my sweet cupcake for putting a smile on my face, giving me a laugh and putting my little impatient attitude in its place!

Where the idea originally started

Before I was an elementary school teacher I taught middle school. There are plenty of humorous stories that I will recollect in future blogs.

The next story comes from a former teacher friend who teaches P.E. In middle school students are expected to purchase Physical Education uniforms. Most people do not call the class "Physical Education" they call it "P.E." or "Gym". Most of the chuckles we get are from students but every now and again it's the parent that gives us a laugh. A student brought her money in one day to purchase her physical education uniform. The money was inside an envelope. The student handed the envelope to the teacher and the teacher looked on the outside of the envelope. The envelope read
"Money for Sally's Jim Shorts"! 

This P.E. teacher was very organized and she started a binder notebook to save all of the notes she confiscated or found throughout her teaching experiences. It was quite humorous to look through them. She decided that one day when she has enough content her goal is to write a book and the title would be  "Jim Shorts". 

If you happen to come across this book in the future please purchase, it is sure to be a hoot!

"Can't wait until....."

In the stories I tell from my teaching experiences I will not be giving any names. In some cases I may create false names. Some of the stories happen in my classroom, some do not, I hope you enjoy the one that I heard today.
An Instructional Assistant at our school was telling us about two students with special needs that she works with during center time. The little boy and little girl were sitting at a 1/2 circle table with the I.A. and during the lesson he looked at the little girl and looked back at the instructor and said "she got a pee pee?" The instructor said "do what?" The little boy quickly responded louder "DOES SHE GOT A PEE PEE?" The particular student is somewhat hard to verbally understand. The instructor acted confused and in trying to divert the question said "I don't know what you're saying, lets get back to our center". The little boy let the instructor teach about two more minutes and once again "DOES SHE GOT A PEE PEE?" The instructor said "You are a boy, she is a girl and you need to get your work done". The little boy got a big grin on his face and looked at the little girl and said "I can't wait until you get one, you gonna love it!"

"Hey Mom, what's up?"

"Hey Mom, what's up?" is what my 2 year old son, Drew said to me this evening as I walked into the family room. It took me by surprise because I have never heard him say "what's up" and the way he used it so casually made me feel like I was listening to a teenager. Then again, this is my son, my two year old who thinks he is twenty-two. The same child who thinks all of his "gull-fwiends" are his cute little high school babysitters. I can only imagine what he is going to be like as a teenager in about 10 years - sheesh!

Stories that make us smile

It seems these days there are many blogs out there. I attempted to create a family blog over the summer but was discouraged by the fact that I was 3 years late starting. I wanted the blog to highlight my children's lives from day 1 to current. Needless to say I have not kept up with that blog and by now I have already forgotten the username and password - typical for me.
I wanted to create something where I could write many of my daily "stories", many of which are quite humorous and very touching. As a wife, mother & teacher I am blessed to have the opportunity of being around some pretty special folks. I love listening to stories, telling stories and who doesn't love a good laugh? Throughout any given school day, evening or weekend at home with my family something humorous or sweet always happens. I hope to recount these moments through this blog and give you a chuckle or smile.
There is a place for everything and with so many "Mommy blogs" out there that honestly sometimes irk me a bit I wanted to do my own thing.
In a perfect world of organization and lots of free time, neither of which I have much of - I would post a blog daily. Lets just say I will post my stories as often as possible.

Everyone "criss-cross apple sauce, spoons in the bowl" lets get ready for story time!