Another Tolerable Tuesday!

Okay.....I'm thinking thanksgiving. Today I gave my kids a writing assignment. After their first shocked response -"But this isn't writing class!!!!?" - I explained the assignment. Instead of the typical pre-Thanksgiving writing piece, What Are You Thankful For? (or is that, For What Are You Thankful?) anyway, I didn't want the canned "I'm thankful for my parents and dog and toys and house and nice clothes" and yadda yadda yadda, I wanted them to really think about thankfulness. I based my assignment on two Bible verses.....

Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
-1 Thessalonians 5:18

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him.
-Romans 8:28a

They had to think of an event in their lives that didn't go according to their plans, but looking back, God used the situation to bless them.

They really surprised me with their responses! I am a proud teacher today. =)

The fact is, it is so easy to thank God and feel blessed when everything in our lives is smooth sailing. That doesn't take much faith at all. If we truly believe what Romans 8:28a says, we need to be thanking God for the times when things don't fall neatly into place. That's not such a simple thing. Exercising those "faith muscles" can be painful and draining; especially when we're used to getting our way. However, as with all muscles, the only way they can grow stronger is with exercise. God wants us to give thanks in all circumstances. He doesn't ask us to give thanks only in good circumstances. Because in all things God works for the good of those who love him.

So this year I am thinking outside the box. I am going to make a concentrated effort to try to see the silver lining God always places in those storm clouds.....and remember to flex those muscles!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Tuesday? Tolerable at best!

Tuesday. I can't help it, but I just don't like Tuesday. What is there to like about Tuesday? Really.

Monday I can get excited about a new week. I enjoy getting back to school and hearing what my kids have been up to over the weekend.

Wednesday is "Over-the-hump" Day, so what's not to life about that?

Thursday is one step closer to Friday...

And Friday is, well, FRIDAY!

But Tuesday? Where does that day fit into things? What's to look forward to? (Anna would say, "Mrs. Cole's Art class!!") If you happen to see me wandering the halls of Providence on Tuesday, my typical response to that all popular greeting, "How are you?" Would be, "I'm okay....but it is Tuesday."

Now I'm on a quest to see the silver lining in my Tuesday cloud, and turn it from tolerable to....well, terrific might be a stretch.

So, here goes.....

1. I am thisclose to finishing midterms! Which is pretty amazing considering I was absent most of last week.

2. Study Hall....the reason why #1 happened. =)

3. Happy students. I love listening to the kids get so excited over math games and geography songs. It's great!

4. Coworkers who are also awesome friends.

5. Having Anna at school where I can see her playing with her classmates and talk to her teacher for updates every day!

6. Libby's greeting when I pick her up at the end of the day. There's nothing in the world better than being greeted by a happy toddler!

7. Tacos.

8. Early bedtimes. (for kids)

9. Chocolate Chip ice cream....MMmmmmm.... In fact, I think I hear it calling to me right now.

I hope your Tuesday is more than just "tolerable", too!

Lyrics - by Anna

Anna loves to sing. Anna doesn't always know what she's singing. Anna makes it up as she goes!

These are some of my favorites:

"Little Miss Muffett, sat on her tuffet, eaaaaaating her tuuuurds awaaaay. Along came a spider and sit down beside her and frightened Miss Muffet away!"

Or Sleeping Beauty... "I knoooow you, I walked with you once uuupooon a dreaaaaaaam. Iiiiiii knoooooow you, the gleam in your eyyeeeee is sooo familiar and ugly."

Her newest musical obsession is Mamma Mia! the soundtrack. She loves to sing along. A few days ago she was listening to "Man After Midnight" and turned to me and asked, "Who's Samantha?" I said, "Uhhhh.....say what?"

Anna said, "Samantha? From the song? You know.....gimme gimme gimme Samantha for midnight? That Samantha."

Oh.....THAT Samantha.

Is there a better start to a weekend?

This morning I was able to enjoy one of the best moments of life - not waking up to the sound of an alarm....or crying baby....or persistant kindergartener....or....you get the picture. Just pure sunlight filtering through the curtains. And my first thought, upon waking, was not "Uggghhhh...it's morning AGAIN?!" or ""You've gotta be kidding me! What time is it?!" or what was a common thought this week "I think I'm gonna die!" Nope, instead my first thought was "Ahhh. I feel rested!"

As the rest of the house still snoozed I was able to get a SHOWER. In the MORNING. First THING! Wow. It's going to be a good day!

Out of the shower, dressed, and......family still slumbers. On to coffee!

Got the coffee started, turned on the news, contemplated breakfast....still no wakeful kidlets.

Close to 8 am, Anna comes stumbling down the stairs. Her first words, "I made my bed, Momma."

Seriously! She did! Did it make you cry tears of joy, too? Okay, probably not. But it made me pretty darn happy!

My little Libby Dibbers woke up and was content to play. Before breakfast. WOW! She never does that! Usually she demands to be deposited directly into her highchair upon waking. Not today. Today is a good day. Today is a great day!

We decided on pancakes for breakfast and I was able to get them on the table without any meltdowns.

We are all on the mend from "Energizeritis" (otherwise known as H1N1 and Bronchitis) and I think it's going to be a good weekend.

It's about time!

Christmas Picture Craziness

To continue with our annual tradition, last Saturday we ventured into Lexington to get our Christmas pictures taken. Much thought goes into coordinating everyone's outfit. Although after last year's debacle (I spent many days and much money so the girls would look "picture perfect" complete with matching tights and shiny black patent leather shoes, only to buy portraits that showed them from the chest up - yeah, brillant!) I decided to scale down a bit. No tights...Libby wore hand me downs - shoes from a friend (thank you, Abby!) - a dress that came from big sis, I crammed Anna's growing feet into her shoes from last year, and we were good to go! I purposely made an early appointment since at this time of year the studio fills up fast. We all wake up a little on the ill side. Darn. Okay, it's only a few hours, we can make it. A round of Motrin for all! We pull into the parking lot right on time.....it's PACKED. The place had only been opened 40 minutes. How on earth could they have scheduled 57 families in that time?! So we wait....and wait...and wait. The girls busy themselves playing at the block table. I say a quick prayer that they won't spread cooties, but from the sounds of all the only coughing, sneezing, sniffling kids, I was pretty sure we weren't the only family packing germs.

Finally, over half an hour later we get called back. Libby is NOT happy that her play is interrupted, Anna is sporting a fake smile cheesey enough to slice and serve with crackers. Great. One bright spot is that the background is different from the past few years.

We pose, we smile, we're snapped.

A big disadvantage to getting pictures taken at the same place year after year is the SAME pose. This is one of their "classics". It's awful. Poor Earl looks like a midget crammed between the tree and the gigantic flower arrangement. Nope. We need to try something different.

That's better. Now to get kid pictures. I'm not sure how people get a whole pack of children to sit still, look in the same direction, and smile, all at once. My girls are fairly good at pictures, and it's still not easy to get a good one of both of them.

We persevere and manage to get enough for a collection to replace the Spring pictures. We're good to go! The best thing about this studio is they print pictures on the spot, so after a quick trip to the bookstore, and a spin through Mickey D's drivethrough for kid snacks, we can pick up our pictures and get home.

.....Just in time for the icky bug to really hit. But that's another story....

Not Me Monday!

This is my first "Not Me Monday" post. I have taken a page right out of MckMama's book...er...blog and decided to try my hand at it. So here goes!

Today my family and I have most certainly not spent the day in our pajamas. After all, it's not a sick day.

I did not neglect to go to the doctor to save some money so I could put it towards a new camera. That wouldn't be smart.

I most certainly do not see piles of clean, neatly folded laundry stacked in every bedroom because I haven't felt like putting it away in a week. That is not being a responsible momma!

And there isn't a crockpot full of simmering chicken soup in my garage so my house won't smell like onions. After all who cooks in their garage?!

We Smiths are in full blown survival mode here. Thank God for Tylenol! =) So what did you not do on this Monday??

One germ, Two germ, My germ, You germ....

IT has happened. The many precautions and OCD-like handwashing on my part did not succeed in keeping the dreaded Swine Flu from crossing our threshold. To be honest, I am only guessing that is what bug we all have, not sure I want to brave a crowded doctor's office to have it confirmed.

At least we managed to get Christmas pictures taken before the ICK feeling set in completely. Hopefully we didn't spread our germs all over Lexington. The photography place was so full of coughing children it could have been a pediatrician's, decked out with people in cheery holiday decor.

I am now waiting on word from a substitute teacher...very few people are willing to battle the seventh grade!