Mr. Sensitive & A Little Rascal

     Yesterday was Parent/Teacher Conference Day since it was a holiday and there was no school.  I have never been to one before because I am a big baby and I send Phillip instead.  This year though it happened to land on a Friday and since Phillip is off on Fridays I decided it was my time to go and face the teachers.  When I was in Elementary I was extremely nervous around teachers especially if I was reprimanded in the littlest bit, I can still remember the knots I would get in my stomach. I guess this has never gone away because whenever the guys get a frowny face or a note sent home I freak out! Lol.

     If I was a teacher(thank the Lord I am not!)I would automatically assume that any bad behavior shown by a student would be because of their home life and/or how their parents were raising them.  Am I wrong?  So, when my oldest says a bad word or "potty word" as they say in school I think, "oh great...I am the potty mouth mom and that's all my fault! Now I do believe there are some exceptions, for instance I do not dig in my nose and eat boogers like a certain child that lives under this roof and neither does Phillip.  I know, yuck! But...aside from that kinda stuff I think it's safe to assume that your kid is a reflection of you, maybe not the whole reflection but definitely some specks. 

     Jacob's teacher meeting was first and I got to speak to both of his teachers, who seem like the perfect Kindergarden duo.  They started sharing some funny stories with me about Mr. Sensitive right away.  He has always been an emotional little guy so hearing this didn't shock me.  Apparently Jake asked to go to the restroom one day last week and he was gone longer than normal.  Another teacher had found him sobbing, sitting in a corner in the hallway on top of some boxes and she brought him back to class. Jake told his teacher he was crying because he had no money for the school store.  I had given both boys money that day for ice cream and Jake's teacher suggested that he could use his money for school store instead but he wouldn't get ice cream if he did.  He said no to that idea real quick. Hah!

     His teacher's told me he is a sweet boy and it breaks their heart to see him cry.  They said with most kids crying is a way to get attention and it's usually fake because they stop when they're told but with Jacob he has to cry it out because he wears his heart on his sleeve for sure.  Of course his Daddy says this is the result of too much "titty time" as a baby, haha!  He nursed until he was 2, longer than any of the other boys. I was pleased to hear that he does really well in school, he loves learning, and is very excited to be reading.  The teacher's were glad that I get to help chaperone the upcoming field trip.  Of course I volunteer to go see The Nutcracker on stage. ;)
After that was over I was able to exhale and calm down a bit, but not for long since I had to walk down to Jesse's class and do it all over again.

     Jesse's teacher is hilarious!  She makes me feel ancient since she is 23 years young.  This is her first year to teach as a homeroom teacher, she'd only been an aid before so I don't think she's burnt out yet. Lol!  She does seem like a really fun teacher though and you can tell she loves her kids by the way she talks about them.  She cracked me up with her ability to act and sound exactly like my Little Rascal!  She said Jes is one of those students who is quick to learn everything but it's a matter of getting him to sit and do it.  He loves math the most, and he soo did not get that from me.  He's not a big fan of artwork like coloring or drawing, he gets frustrated if whatever he's drawing isn't perfect and gives up.  Apparently I was the only parent who didn't get to take home a portrait because that turkey head didn't complete his the day before!

     We laughed a lot about his mischievous side and she told me she wished she had a punching bag or treadmill in the corner of her room so he could get his aggression all out; implying that he was "all boy".  She informed me that he comes up to her and hugs her during class and even sits by her at lunch often sharing his chips with her because they're her favorite. I dunno if he has a crush or if he has figured out how to be naughty and nice at the same time.  It sounds like the same kinda stuff Daddy does to get out of trouble with me! Lol!

     I walked out of the school smiling and laughing to myself but I was so relieved to hear good things about Mr. Sensitive and Little Rascal.  I told Phillip I dunno how we did it but so far the first 2 are turning out okay, haha!  ;)

Boys of Fall

     Everyone knows I am not the biggest football fan but now that Jes is playing I keep saying I need to learn more about it.  At Jesse's first game last week I realized just how clueless I was.  Everyone started clapping and I joined in knowing that obviously something good for our team had occurred but I hadn't the slightest idea what it was. Right after that a young girl in front of me turned around and asked, "that was a first down, right?"  My reply was a dumbfounded look.  Haha!  Luckily I was beside Phillip who gave her the answer so I didn't feel too embarrassed in front of a 5th grader. 

     The other day Phillip recorded a football program for me to watch on ESPN.  When he first mentioned it I pictured something along the lines of a "football guide for dummies" and thought, oh great.  He told me I should watch it and I'm really glad I did because it wasn't about rules or plays at all.  Kenny Chesney directed it and it was titled The Boys of Fall.  I don't know which came first, his song or the show but the music video has clips of the show.  Seriously...who cries while watching an ESPN football special...that would be me. LOL.  I don't wanna "Tim Taylor" the whole show with my description and ruin it for anyone that wants to watch it, so I'll just say it's definitely worth it. 

     I had no idea that football meant so much to young guys (beyond the winning factor) or the values and life lessons that they take from it all.  I actually feel like I missed out on all that; I didn't do any sports in high school.  I can see how sports might have steered me into a better direction than the one I chose to go down in those lovely teenage years. Any who, you live and learn and I got a good cry out of it thanks to Aunt Flow's visit and her emotions.  I am all too aware of time by simply seeing how fast all my guys are growing up. It's so very important to live in the now.

     Alright, time to lighten up the mood now, lol!  Today was a really good day.  I took Joey and Jude and we all 3 went exploring outdoors.  Joey had a blast!  That kid loves being outside.  I parked near our reservoir and off we went, down a trail that followed a little stream into the river.  There were big trees that had fallen and made a perfect bridge across the creek. I was holding Jude while I crossed over first showing Joey how to do it and then told him, "okay your turn" my toddler jumps right into the cold creek fully clothed, shoes, socks and all. LOL! He was a mess after that and because of his wet jeans sand was now caking onto him as well.  Normally this mess would have stressed me out but I couldn't help but laugh at that crazy lil guy.  Guess he figured using the tree trunk bridge took the fun out of it all.  Hah!

     After we played around in the woods some more we had to go pick up the big boys from school and then I took them them all to the park.  I caught a first glimpse of Jesse trying to be a mack daddy!  He always makes friends with boys but today I noticed that he was all about 3 girls that were around his age.  Jes and a group of boys were playing tag and Jes kept paying close attention to the girls and would shout, "Hey girls, try to get me!"  He didn't know I was watching him and he continued to try to get those girls to play with them.  The girls were too busy holding hands and sliding down the slides together and in my head I was thinking, "smart girls, stay away from those boys until your 18". LOL.  It soo reminded me of my favorite movie, Now & Then and I secretly wished I was 10 years old again for just a second.  ;)

     They all had fun and I think we are gonna try to hit up the park once a week until the weather gets too cold because these guys have endless amounts of energy that needs to be burned up.  Also I am much happier when they aren't bouncing off the walls at home.  Jesse had his 2nd game last night and he did really good!  At one point he forgot it was flag football and tackled a kid to the ground, haha!Even though I love watching the boys play baseball it sucks big time that it occurs in May when it is smouldering outside and I literally wanna die, lol. I really enjoy football because the weather is awesome!  In my opinion it's much easier to stay warm in cold weather than to avoid being hot and miserable in the summertime!

Jesse is #9 playing center

"Family Day" on base!

The guy from Swamp People was there so they had this set up for pictures.

Pretty day at the lake

Right after he jumped in

At the park on the Lion King rock

 

Trick or Treat!

     This year we actually did "trick-or-treating" in our own neighborbood.  In the previous years we never saw a kid in sight and always assumed no one passed out candy over here.  Turns out that it all happens the further you go into our neighborhood. So yea, we felt pretty stupid for driving 45 minutes away to Vicksburg the previous 2 years. Anyways we were excited cause Phillip has a trailer now so we did the whole hay-ride thing on Halloween night.  It was lots of fun and the kids scored WAY too much candy of course. 

Wolverine and Indiana Jones heading to school in their costumes.

Jude's 1st Halloween! All his shirts look like this if he doesn't wear a bib, he drools like a dog!

My little zombie Joe Joe

The sun was not in our favor after school, lol.

 

Skeleton boy

Jake was thrilled to finally "put his face on" since they didn't allow it at school.

Itsy Bitsy Spider

All set to go!

We LOVE Halloween...ok, I really love it, lol!

Joey got the hang of it this year, not needing Mom's help at all!

The boys had anticipated this house for over 2 weeks!

After grabbing the candy inside they hauled their tails outta there like big ole chickens, haha!

Jude only went to a couple of houses but it was too funny cause the kid would not let go of his bucket, almost like he knew it was his stash of candy.

 

I couldn't keep up with the big kids.

Everytime the trailer stopped Joey said, "more candy"!

 

     I wish I would have taped what I did to the boys the very next morning but sadly I did not.  Me and Phillip were watching Jimmy Kimmel that night and he suggested video pranking your kids the next day and telling them you ate all their candy when they were asleep.  LOL.  I know it sounds terrible but the video results were hilarious! Jake cried like some of the other kids and Jes dropped his head and sighed.  ;)