Children

Welcome to Company Coffee Girl Blog Hop.  I am getting to meet some wonderful bloggers through this blog and this is a great way to meet more.  Posts have been about all sorts of things so I decided to spend a moment (the time it takes to have a nice cup of coffee) to think about children.

Children are the greatest people on Earth. They speak from the heart, make no judgment about a person based on physical features, and have a knack of making me smile even at my darkest times.

Children don’t come with a handbook, which can lead to a number of issues with their upbringing and dealings in general. Despite every attempt at reading the Mommy Handbook, Parents Guide to Babies, How to Raise Kids who Love Themselves, etc…you could never find one book that actually gave you an answer to the particular question you had at the time….and there have been many questions!

Children grow and change.  Again…no handbook for this!  Children have their own point of view and you have NO idea where it came from….surely you made YOUR point of view very clear about respecting others and their differing opinions?  Why isn’t the message getting across like YOU want it to?  Why does your child insist on thinking and doing the opposite of what you want?  Oh yes, because you are trying to raise them  to think for themselves!  Now, where is that handbook?

Children are exhausting!  They can run faster and longer and with a much higher pitched squeal than you ever did.  They can function on minimal intake of nutritious food and need less sleep than those books we now store in the garage say they MUST have in order to be human!

Children also love to REALLY need to have the latest and greatest gadgety thingy that has just been advertised, just like all the others that now lay broken in the garage along with the handbooks!

But what children REALLY are cannot be put into words.  The first smile, gummy and drool filled.  The hand that fits so snuggly into yours as you walk along the beach collecting shells.  The excitement of Christmas, the Tooth Fairy, the night before their birthday.  The scraped knee and the knowledge that only YOU can really make it better.  The kiss goodnight, sleep tight, mind the bedbugs don’t bite!  The words that come from the person who loves you most in the world…”I love you Mommy.”  And the knowledge that this little person means more to you than anything in the world as you utter, “I love you too!”

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Organizing For the New Year

Source: google.com via Gems113  on Pininterst.

Thinking about the New Year, I am plotting a redesign of my entryway. I have a relatively large space which gets overrun with bags, shoes and jackets.  Then, to add to the mayhem, I have random toys, mail and keys to deal with.  I do have a lovely Pottery Barn pin-board with hooks…but it just doesn’t cut it.  There is mess everywhere.  Okay, I admit I do have to train the troops better…they are all slobs!

I rather like the idea pictured above.  The backpack issue would be resolved, and there are baskets for all the junk that accumulates on my tiny table near the door.  Some adaptations to the bench would mean I could have a station for shoes also.  The height is perfect for Peanut and Button….no excuses about not being able to reach!  To top it off (sorry for the pun) the shelf on top is perfect for me to add a little of my taste with a display for the season (I do like to change things up between summer and winter).

Of course I have the hardest job to do first – getting Hubby to change the paint color as I really dislike the one we just put on…you know, the one I chose…wish me luck!

The Best Christmas Present Ever!!!

Boxes!  Yep, you read that right….the oldest joke about gifts is coming true in my household today.  Peanut and Button have way too many gifts to even know where to begin playing with them (as ever), and they are deeply engrossed in building fortresses and myriad other imaginary things with….old cardboard boxes from the garage!

So, next year, I will skip the madness, avoid the parking lots, save my dollars, and wrap up several differently sized empty cardboard boxes on Christmas Eve.  Well, I won’t, but it soooo tempting!  Meanwhile, I’m off to play with the Legos 🙂

Christmas Binge!

Having danced in public on stage, enjoyed a few weeks of well-fitting clothes, and generally satisfied that I looked pretty good, I did it again:  I blew it all over Christmas!  Why did I do this?  What was I thinking?  Why don’t my tight jeans fit anymore?  Was it worth it?

To be honest, it was worth it…provided I can get back to where I was soon.  And, as far as why I seemed to let it all go?  Well, there are a million reasons for that.  Work has been more stressful than I can ever remember of late.  The students are lovely, I love teaching, but the changes being put in place often make me feel like the powers that be had severe ADD and can’t make up their mind what they want us to do.  On top of that, there are family members with ill-health, and then there is the general craziness of Christmas…no need to go into THAT!

Being a working mommy who is a teacher does give me one fabulous perk….a week off to enjoy the kids!  (My kids, that is.)  Christmas Eve was a blur of getting things ready, doing ALL the food shopping for Christmas, wrapping most of the ridiculous amount of stuff Santa was bringing, going to a friend’s house for Chanukah, and baking cookies for Santa with Button (Peanut wanted to stay late at the party)!

Christmas Day was a joyous festival of the oohs! and ahhs!  Of gift opening, roasting and glazing, and family cheer.  I was a happy mommy, my family was happy, and we had fun.  Tired but happy, we wished everyone a Merry Christmas and waved them off until we get together in the new year.

So I rushed around, laughed, played and had fun….I also ate WAY too much chocolate, cake, tiramisu, and roast lamb with mashed potatoes filled with Stilton!

The jeans can take a break,  I am ready to enjoy the rest of the week: visiting the city to show the boys the tree and lights, seeing TinTin at the movies, and probably eating way too much of things one only indulges in over Christmas and New Year !  Yippee!!!