DeDe McGee

Kennedy got the new Taylor Swift CD today (Uncle Jeff is a pretty darn awesome Uncle). We rocked it out all the way to Brandon to see Grandma Manns in the hospital. Kennedy realized that the CD insert has song lyrics in it. She then proceeded to read me every song title and sing every song in it's entirety. On the way home tonight, I asked "DeDe, are you still awake" only because I wanted to hear what the song was called that was playing.  She didn't answer. Both kids were snoring away. Which gave me some sort of permission to start pondering the world without any interruption. I love Escaping in the Escape...

First thought: I need to come up with something amazing for tomorrow's class to make up for my awfully sickish day today (But I am feeling better now, thank you).

Second thought: I need to pack lunches...why oh why didn't I just pick up some Timmies?

Third thought: "WHY AM I LETTING SCHOOL CLOUD OVER MY OTHER THOUGHTS ALL THE TIME?!?!?!?!"

- Squirrel - A deer was in the ditch.

New Topic: DeDe... It flipped out of my mouth so fluently. I call her DeDe all the time. No one else really does. Why does it work for me? When we were pregnant with her (who are we kidding, when I was pregnant, not WE), we had played with her name and contemplated what sort of nicknames could be made out of such an awesome name. Kenny just never worked. Ken never worked. One day when Kennedy was a baby I showed her some chickadees outside. After imitating them for her a few times, I flipped out with "Kennedee dee dee dee." (because I am bit 'like' that). It stuck. DeeDee became DeDe became DeDe McGee...and I am one of the only ones that gets away with it. Rory even gets put in his place if he calls her that. And yet, no one seems to stop me.

Jeff calls me Reg. Not Rej..."Rag." I have never even really payed attention to it but I did notice it when someone else called me Reg. I kind of stopped in my tracks and thought "WHAT? Only JEFF calls me that."  At the same time, it is an endearing thing that only special people in my life flip out with.

I have no intelligent conclusion to make about this. Just my thoughts. Nicknames can be very endearing and I am so pleased to have my grown up DeDe singing songs to me from the backseat. Watching this large DeDe unfold from her chair at the table, or drink tea with a blanket wrapped around her on Sunday mornings makes me take time to ponder with amazement about the young woman she is becoming right before my very eyes. If you don't have a DeDe...you need to get one!

And I just spent 1/2 hour thinking about something other than school.

The Last Minute A-Type Personality

I have decided that I have the best of intentions to get things done WELL in advance. I had the best intentions to do all or any of the following today:

1) Make homemade bread.
2) Make homemade Nestle Quik syrup for Rory.
3) Do ALL of the laundry.
4) Have my entire week planned out at AES.
5) Work with Rory on his letter sounds and start some sight words.
6) Do one project off of Pinterest.
7) Cook a chicken.
8) Sweep and Wash all of the floors.
9) De-clutter my bedroom.
10) Finish the amazing book that I have been reading since the summer.

Even with the best of intentions and an uninterrupted weekend, I did the following:

1) Made to-do lists.
2) Made an assessment chart for the unit plan I wanted to get done (charts look cool and make me feel organized).
3) Made a grocery list.
4) Piled the books beside my bed that I promised I would start on Monday.
5) Did all but one load of laundry.
6) Went looking for Rory's skates and then got distracted finding a pair of mittens and his Jets jersey that I had forgotten about.
7) THOUGHT about the meals I want to prepare for the freezer for when Sandra has her knee surgery next week so I can help out.

See?! I have all the qualities of the A-type personality. I WANT to be organized. I THINK about being organized. I PIN all sorts of organizational ideas for my home and life. I RESEARCH unit ideas.

Meh. Who am I kidding? I thoroughly enjoyed my weekend of road tripping to Grunthal, drinking home made wine, going to bed when I wanted to, and attending the APAC supper and being pleasantly surprised to see my Great Aunt Alice there. I got lost on the NASA website, I ate nothing I had cooked myself, I made Kennedy practice her guitar. I texted my husband. I played Monopoly Jr with Rory. I listened to Kennedy read. It was awesome.

I think I will make my own personality rating system...I want to be a type K....somewhere in the middle of the alphabet where I don't have to be so stressed about getting my life on a better organizational scheme and where I am not a complete and total loss. K - where 'to do' lists happen, but so does life.

Mrs. Manns Wants to Walk on the Moon

I have always been fascinated by the stars. I remember curling up next to my Dad when I was a young whipper-snapper and asking him to tell me about the stars. I hope MY kids think I am as smart as I thought he was when it came to the stars...really...I thought the man WAS an astronaut. But that is the way it should be with dads and their daughters....or what I hope will be in my case, sons and their mothers (Freud would love that I typed that).

Kennedy has always been my Volcanologist. Rory is quieter about his dreams. He wants to go to the moon.

(but will be home by supper because he is living with me forever).

But really, he doesn't have to be home by lunch because I would likely be there with him. I want the moon rocks he promises me and the pictures on the moon that he tells me he will bring back for me, but really...I think I just want to go there myself.  (Keeping in mind that going to Hawaii with Kennedy sounds fun as well).I remember that when I was a kid I spent hours pondering the idea that an Earth colonization of the moon would happen in my life time.

Just today, Rory told me some more of his plans for moon conquest. The first step in his life dream is simple:

"Buy me a toy space shuttle."

Rock on. I can accomplish this feat. I can also buy him every book I can about Space. In fact, why don't we color some space pictures while we are at? A cardboard box rocket? Sure. Bring it on. I am going to space.

But I am not spaced out.

I just spent the last 3 hours creating a unit plan on the Grade One social studies cluster; "My Environment." So far, I have a title page...and a new cool website to explore. Well, it would be cool if I was teaching Space. I have just played on NASA's website for the past 1/2 hour. I googled my house on Google Earth. I looked at pictures of Buzz Aldrin Jr. I am so very engaged in this research that I am doing for some future trip to the moon. I think my space shuttle will be Artemis1*..which brings me to say...Apollo was a sun god and none of the shuttles named Apollo were visiting the sun. Just sayin'.

However, the moral of the story is this: I just became very excited about space again. I had forgotten how interesting this topic was to me. How often do little kids have big dreams and we teach them the 'reality' of small town life? I remember when I decided that I couldn't be an astronaut. I remember realizing that I had to be a stellar math student to be an astronaut (and giving up on Math).

 I remember deciding to be a teacher so that I could encourage and support students on their journey to the stars.

(oh, and no worries, I am pretty good at math..don't worry about your students in my future classes)

* Artemis is Apollo's twin sister and was Goddess of the Moon...so why were the Apollo missions not named "Artemis" ???

Regan's Awesome Book

I wrote an entire "Awesome Book" post...and then deleted it. How awesome is that?

Instead, I will leave you with this quote.

But before I write this quote I promise I will have something exciting to write about soon. I know that I cannot push my writing and so I am going to stop trying tonight and accept that this week has not felt so inspiring (up until today, that is).  TODAY, I DID feel inspired. So inspired in fact, that I haven't gotten it all sorted through in my head. Perhaps I will share my revelations at another time.

In the meantime...


that quote I was telling you about:

"Work is the greatest thing in the world, so we should always save some of it for tomorrow."
 Don Herold

'Nite y'all.

He-Man build fire. She WOMAN Build Better One.

Recipe for the Ultimate Sunday:

1 slightly motivated mother

2 eager children

1 small tank of gas

Wet wood of various sizes

One page from Steve's Cooperator paper...shhhhh!

2 matches

Marshmallows

One Fancy Fiskars Ax (In fact, we call it the Jesus Ax. Because if Jesus had an ax, it would be this one).

Weenie Sticks

Lawn Chairs.

Pile small sticks in the center of fire pit over top of the crumbled up piece of cooperator. Light the paper. Begin chopping wood with the Fiskars ax. Place larger wood on the small sticks. Upon realizing that the wood is a bit wet, tell the 2 children to step away. Pour small amount of fuel on the fire. Smile and look smart as the kids ooohhh and awwww over your instant, massive fire. Brag about Moms being JUST as awesome as Dads when it comes to making fires. Provide children with weenie sticks and marshmallows. Declare a contest to see who can make the best marshmallows. Declare yourself as judge of said contest. Sit on chair. Eat brown, white and blacker than black Jet-Puffed offerings. Sigh. Shed a tear that the Summer is over. For an added twist, add one dog named Charlie.

A Decade Worth of Wisdom

I remember when my Aunt and Uncle made 10 years of marriage. I was dating Steve at the time. I remember thinking "Wow! That is FOREVER! How exciting for them!"

And now I am at that milestone with my husband. We are too young to claim it has been FOREVER. I am not old like they must have been at 10 years of marriage....

So, with our 10 years of married wisdom, I have decided I have no right to tell anyone what makes a perfect marriage. I am too young to be that wise. I will also likely be too young after 40 years of marriage to tell you what makes it work.

That being said, I have a pretty good notion that 40 years will be upon us in the blink of an eye. So here is my wisdom at 10 years. I will compare this with my wisdom at 40.

How to Stay Married When you are Complete Opposites:

1) Lace underwear.

Just sayin'

2) A healthy sense of humor.

3) CELEBRATE your anniversary EVERY year in some way.

4) Sing in the vehicle together.

5) Try new things. (Okay, get your mind out of the gutter, this is NOT related to the lace underwear. I was meaning more 'Take a Trip to Vegas' ... oh wait! There is a lot of lace underwear in Vegas....)

6) Be the most stubbornest couple. When someone says you can't/won't...say "we can."

7) Accept that even though everything is "ours," that the Escape's radio system belongs to your wife. In the truck, it sometimes belongs to the husband.

8) Have your anniversary carved into the mirror above the sink (and then casually bring up what the date is during the entire week in advance)....don't judge, I got a dozen roses for the first time ever with this technique.

9) Force yourself to go on shopping trips as an entire family...those kids you made are a huge part of your marriage...and this is a great activity for helping you appreciate the quiet moments a bit more.

10) Surround yourselves with good role models.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Steven who doesn't even read my Blog. I am looking forward to our night out celebrating tonight (and I especially love the roses!)

Midterm Study Guide

On Wednesday I have two exams. And a few assignments come due this week. And I need to get myself prepped for student teaching to begin next week.

This is how to NOT get ready for two exams on Wednesday...

1) Have a kid that doesn't like taking medicine get sick and require penicillin that tastes so bad that he vomits it back out unless it is hidden in orange juice.

2) Have Mother Nature not provide enough rain for the pasture and a husband who decides to bring cows home and all of sudden have to cook a meal for a whole whack of people. Mmmmm.....ham.....

3) Open a Google Doc and invite your table mates to join you in creating a study guide together. Then creating that study guide while those friends are online. If you know google docs you will understand. A whole lot of people can be typing at the same time and you can see what the other people are typing as it gets typed. It goes a little something like this...

Definitions:

Inuit: ooooooooooo....I am haunting your page....ooooooo......

Britt, get back to studying I am trying to type a definition of Inuit....

I am so bored of studying....

I am almost done typing out definitions.

I think Jolan is on here too

Jooooolllllllaaaaaannnnnnn....are you lurking on the google doc?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

(delete, delete, delete)

Inuit: I am going to come back to this after I take a break.

4) Go have coffee with a friend.

5) Write a blog post with nothing intelligent in it.

School Pictures...Such Fun!

I had a great blog title all ready for tonight but then my brother gave me a hard time about skipping last night's "Blogtober" Post, so I changed my mind. I dedicate this blog post to my youngest brother.

I am disgusted with my daughter. She really has no fun in her sometimes. Sometimes she even rolls her eyes at me. You would think that I am the worst, most embarrassing, most ridiculous mother on the planet.

Actually, I am.

I am proud of it.

Tonight I taught Rory the Gangham Style Dance. Would Kennedy try? Nnnnooooooo. She rolled her eyes.

I can accept this. She thinks she was being all cool, but I know she is going to try it when no one else is looking. In fact I trailed her for a few minutes and every time she caught me, I would say I was just checking to see if she was doing the dance. More eye rolling.

Kennedy announced to the world that she was riding home with Mom (we had two vehicles at Thanksgiving) because we would listen to loud music. I told her I was listening to romantic ballads these days.

More eye rolling. Even an exasperated *SIGH*

But the icing on the cake was when we were cruising through pictures on Uncle Jeff's computer and she commented, "Mom, you are too strange."

I thought it would be funny to have Jeff take MY school picture. Donning my BU sweater and holding an apple in my hand, I sat in a tiny old desk and smiled at the camera. My Mom's fridge is going to look SO awesome with her daughter's school picture on it. I am practically giddy to hang it up there and wait for the reaction.

But Kennedy and Rory's pictures do outshine mine :)

But going back to the icing on the cake (mmmmm...cake....) - Upon hearing that I was 'too strange' I felt like I had to explain myself. So I did. My question for her:

"Why does being a grown up mean you can't have fun?"

On the way home, we were listening to Adam Cohen's "What Other Man." After, I asked what she wanted to listen to. Her response? "You know Mom, you are having fun, and I like listening to what you listen to. Pick whatever you like."

I rolled my eyes.

What a gem.

Blogtober

I KNOW I am supposed to write something everyday for Blogtoberfest.

So here I am.

With nothing to say.

But here is what is on my mind today:

In the next 365 days....I will...

1) Become an AUNTIE!!!!! (and I take this role VERY seriously)
2) Graduate from University...but I am sad that I won't see my friends everyday...why can't we all just get a job in the same school?!?!
3) Turn 30. yikes.
4) Stand up in my best friend from high school's  wedding.... 'Bout time ;) I am so VERY looking forward to this celebration.

Which gets me to thinking about Rory and I's conversation today. He told me that someone in his class was not wanting to be his best friend. I asked him to tell me who he thought my best friend was.

He named one.

I smiled and told him that he was right. The problem was, that he missed a few. I told him that I only make the best sort of friends. They are all my best friends. He thought about this and smiled back...and answered...

"That's is a good way to be, Mom. You DO have a lot of best friends. Your friends all like me, so I think that makes them pretty awesome too."


LOL.


Oh, and I got new living room furniture today. How awesome is THAT?!

A Friendly Reminder

This is a friendly reminder that i am not always a "life is so amazing" chick. For instance, Roar had his second round of fever and headache in two weeks today. He bounces around while on Tylenol but crashes after four hours. The thing about Rory is that he doesn't become docile on Tylenol. He becomes wired. So wired that he didn't sleep at all last night, choosing instead to play with the very loud Transformer, "Bumblebee" in the living room right beside our bedroom door, at 3 am.

So I am cranky.

I also have an overactive imagination. A man called my house this a.m and asked for Dee ... Then hung up when asked who was calling.

So I am anxious.

Then, the motor on our heating system quit and caused two fires in our basement this week.

So I am scared.

I am so grateful that tomorrow will mean I will know if Rory will be better or needs to see a doctor, I will be at home with my kids, and the heat is getting fixed.

Friendly Regan will return tomorrow. Have a good evening!!!

October Weddings.

I felt inspired to write a little 'diddy' on Steve tonight. You see, 10 years ago I was prepping for our big wedding and today I spent some time helping someone else get ready for theirs. It brought back a lot of memories. I spent the hour ride home from Brandon listening to romantic tunes on behalf of the bride and being melted into a pan of mush as I reflected on the last 10 years...

Listen to Eric Church's "You Make it Look So Easy" here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghtkOWTWTHw

Wedding songs have come so far in the last decade. I mean sure, we had "Truly, Madly, Deeply" by Savage Garden and "Everything I Do" by Bryan Adams but WOW! I never cease to be amazed by the wonderful selections that people choose for their wedding. Each one is as unique as the couple. I think too, that more male artists are able to put their feelings into their songs and so we have this new generation of romantic tunes that place unrealistic expectations on our poor husbands...

Download Steve singing a romantic ballad here: (we are currently experiencing technical difficulties, try again later)

Truthfully though, played periodically on the radio during the day, romantic ballads remind me of the important words we all need to hear: sung or danced or whispered or screamed at the top of a hill. Sometimes these words can be said by simply cranking up the tune and grabbing for the other's hand. 

Song Steve recently cranked and sang along too: Ghostbusters.

But the fact that he knows he can feel comfortable doing that, and chances are I will sing along....tells me a LOT about our marriage :)

I wish the Bride and Groom to Be a very heartfelt wish for some singing along to Ghostbusters, some dancing to Eric Church and some whispered I love you's. Remember to breath, to take time for one another...and that your wedding is a celebration of you, so have fun! Congrats Jackie and Jay !

Autumn Day Brain Break

Today Rory and I hid away from the wind and worked on my homework and laundry. However...we all need brain breaks.

This sand lady bug is now classified under "Things Rory says are "coolio."

The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

It all started when Kennedy was sick last. She doesn't get sick often, but this one week in particular she had a croupy cough and couldn't speak for sputtering and gagging. Lets say she was 4. Or 5. I know it wasn't yesterday so sometime before then. I felt so bad for her and offered to give her something for it. She nodded - at this point she was sick of coughing. I got out the Buckleys. Now, I have never been a parent to lie to my kids and so I began telling her that it was REALLY awful. I told her it was SO awful that she would shiver to the floor. I told her that as a member of this family, if she was going to try to take Buckley's, then it was mandatory that she do it in front of EVERYONE. She vowed. She was so willing! She grabbed the medicine out of my hand and chugged 'er. Wow. I was in tears laughing at her silly shake and the ensuing tongue hanging out of her mouth as she proclaimed "Much Better."

I began telling the world that Kennedy can eat ANYTHING. "Kennedy will try ANYTHING you put on her plate!" and "My Kennedy is such a good and adventurous eater."

At friends' houses or Grandma Jones', Kennedy would proclaim, "I eat that. I eat ANYTHING."

Now, at age seven years and six months...Kennedy DOES eat anything. She eats slowly, but she eats anything. I just got to thinking about this as I made her school lunch of broccoli and an egg salad sandwich and water. She will be thrilled with her egg salad tomorrow; Will likely be the highlight of her day.

Now. Roar. He is getting to be pickier and pickier. I comment all the time to people that Rory is such a big eater but "Rory doesn't like ANYTHING!" (say this in a Robert Munsch voice) I made homemade soup and said to his auntie who was babysitting "He likely won't eat it."

Now Rory sits down at the table and says, "I won't like it." "Mom, through my microscope I noticed a speck of green 'something' " "Mom I am pretty sure this will make me puke."

At this point I will enjoy a small giggle thinking about how he responds to Grandma's cooking...."It doesn't taste like Mom's!" I say it is Karma for all the times her son says it to me :)

I can't jog. I have too short of legs. My bad hip would ache after. It is too dusty out. I have too much homework. For 10 years I have lived up to my own beliefs. So, after contemplating the way my kids respond to our daily direct and indirect reactions, I decided to try something new. On Friday I decided I could jog. I decided that it is beautiful out. I decided that it gets my kids active by coming along on their bikes. I decided that Steve would give me lots of back rubs and leg rubs if I jogged (right?!) Tonight marks 3 nights in a row that I have jogged 1/2 mile and then sped walked 1/2 mile. Next week I know I will go a bit further because I am a good jogger.

And Rory...He is the best eater in the world. Rory eats EVERYTHING I give him. He especially loves Liver and Onions  ;)