30 Days of Thankfulness- Day 2

Today I am thankful for moms that "know". Moms that have stood where I have stood this year. That understand how you can be hopeful, mad, grateful, and scared all in the same moment. Moms that know what it means to hold your breath for a whole hour, or day, or week, or month. Moms that have held me up this year when I wanted to fall apart. I have been blessed beyond measure by the amazing women in my life this year and I am thankful for them in ways that words can not do justice. 

30 Days of Thankfulness- Day 1

Today I am thankful for Friday. It was a looong week and I am ready for a weekend at home. I am thankful that I work for an amazing principal. I am thankful that I have a fantastic aide that keeps me laughing and sane day in and day out. 

A Busy Summer - My Little Reader's Adventure

Summer days seem to just slip away. 

Our very first weekend of summer was spent in Phoenix. We drove up on Saturday afternoon and spent the weekend swimming in the pool, eating at Oregano's with Uncle Mike and Isabelle, and hanging out with Moma, Opa, Aunnie, Kyle, and Tinsley. On Labor Day we spent the morning at the Children's Museum. It was a super fun day. It was surprisingly not very busy at all. On Tuesday Ben and I were able to spend some time at the Temple in the morning while the kids explored Mesa with Moma. In the afternoon we dropped the littles off with Leslie and went to Phoenix Children's for My Little Reader's eye surgery. The surgery went well and didn't last long (about 50 min). However, waking up was HARD to do. After a few hours we were released and went back to the hotel. Thankfully she fell asleep quick and slept hard all night. The next morning we packed up and hurried down to Tucson for her follow-up. The doctor removed her patch and took a peek at her eye, declaring all good and scheduling a 1 week follow-up. 

Recovery took quite a few days. The first few days she didn't want to open her eye and struggled with light sensitivity. It was also very hard and frustrating for her that she couldn't read for many days. She listened to several movies and a story that her friend bought for her. At her 1 week appt. we asked if she would be ok to go camping and for a yes! She was so excited. It was really important to me that we were able to get a pressure reading at this appointment. Having been through the stress and worry that came with having surgery on her only working eye, I really just needed to know that it was worth it. Getting an eye pressure is hard for her. Because she already has sensitivity to light it is really hard to get her sit still with a light right on her eye long enough to get an accurate number. So. I bribed her. Yep. Pure monetary bribe. $10 to be the world's best patient. In the grand scheme of what this "adventure" is going to cost, $10 was nothing if it meant we got a number. And--it worked! During her appt. her eye pressure was at 16 and her visions was 20/50.  

Lucky for the kids they were able to spend an extra long time with Leslie. They went camping up at their property for about a week and then stayed at Leslie's house for the rest of the week while I was up at Girl's Camp. 

At her 6 week follow-up there was no bribing (we did go out to dinner after) but she still did a great job. Her vision was actually 20/20 and her eye pressure was 14. She went from 10 drops a day to just 2 (1 in each eye). And the most surprising news--she doesn't have another appointment until October! It has been a wild 5 months since that first appointment in February. 

Updating the To-Do List

OK-let's just lay it out there.

Scrapbooks-done, well...mostly done. Done except for the last page and binding. But pretty close to done and by my self imposed deadline of 5pm yesterday to boot. 

Report cards-done and submitted. I have to say that I love end of the year comments that are so much less stressful than the other 3 report cards of the year. 

Laundry- um. yeah. not so much.

Thank you cards-not even started. 

Important Book-in process, still need to add pictures.

End of year sideshow-um. yeah. not even started.

Picture cds for families-see end of year slideshow above.      

Hotel for pre-surgery family fun weekend-haven't even looked yet. 

Refinance documents-submitted! 

State of the house-sad disrepair. :(

Program for promotion-not even started. Hopefully last year's is around here somewhere so that could be an easy one. 

Cake-ordered, to be picked up tomorrow. 

Science project-worth all the pain and hassle--she got 2nd place! 

Days until summer freedom--4. Sort of. Summer will really start when we get past this surgery.      

Too much...

It still surprises me that telling someone new about My Little Reader's upcoming surgery completely knocks the breath out of me. 9 days and counting. Praying, hoping, pleading for the best possible outcome. We are so very, incredibly blessed to have so many faithful people sending constant prayers to heaven on our behalf. 

Just keep swimming...

Preschool Visit and Formal Observation. Done. Super sick that day. Fever, headache, sore throat. But the preschoolers had fun, I survived my observation despite barely remembering it (other than the part where a particular student decided to be stubborn as all get out and act like she was incapable of reading. ugh).

21 Mother's Day gifts, bought, handprinted, velumed (I think I just made up a new word), pictures taken, printed, and picked up by one of my angels. 19 Mother's Day gifts made it home unbroken. I call that a success.

Camp kickoff. Done. I don't think that in my still sickly state I was even the least bit useful, but I was there and that has to count for something. Oh. And I did fold and put away a bunch of tables and chairs-so see-I helped! And I got to see level leaders actually doing certifications like they were supposed to. I love it when people follow directions. :)

Recital done. Required 3 trips to Tucson, a semi-almost straightened house, dinner for a friend, and powering through 3 days of fever, but it is done and we survived and the girls did great. 

Scrapbooks. Let's just skip that one for now. Shall we?

Science project...killing me slowly as we speak.

Report cards...yeah we will skip that one, too.

Laundry. Survival mode, only as needed. Tonight that means chones and jeans.

Dinner. Homemade for what will probably be the last time for the next 10 days. 

Surgery. Getting closer. Some days I can still push it out of my mind. Other days not so much. Saturday was not a good day for pushing it out of my mind. Really. 

7.5 days of school left. 

I think I may be drowning...

Have you ever had so much to do that you didn't know where to start? Have you ever been so overwhelmed by what you have to do that rather than do any of it you hide away and watch a movie that you don't even care about just to escape the ever mounting collection of to-do lists? 

That is where I am tonight. Hiding. Hiding from all of it. My house looks like a pack of wild animals live in it. Never mind that I had the whole place clean and beautiful only 4 days ago. Tech week for ballet started tonight and I already have a list of three things that I have to track down in Tucson all on different ends of town of course. Princess in Training somehow lost a tiara that neither of us ever saw. The recital is Saturday, the same day as Camp Kick-Off (of course). I have a feeling that there are lots of level leaders that are eagerly awaiting my direction on what they should be doing that day (I  also have a feeling that they will just keep on waiting). 

My to-do list for school is exhausting. I want to cry thinking about how much there is to do, how little time there is to do it, and how much all this stress takes away from enjoying my last few days with some very cute kids. At the same time, there are always a few that you are ready to send up to 1st grade that make sure you never-ever forget them (or give your own child the same name) by being so delightful in the last days of school that you start eating chocolate for breakfast just to relieve the stress of it all. In a brief moment of clarity I actually remembered to come up with a Mother's Day project today. It did consume my entire night tracking down all the pieces I needed and Sugar and Spice was not a fun shopping companion. 

So let's sum this up. In the next 12 days of school I have to accomplish the following-- prepare for and rock my teacher evaluation, survive tech week, make dinner for the Miller family, recital with dessert at our house after (which means I need to do something about the state of things around here) camp kickoff, Mother's Day, slideshow, packing up the classroom, plan and pull off kindergarten promotion, report cards, not to mention all the things I do in a regular week, oh yeah--and teach Sunday School, and pack and prepare for our mini-vacation/surgery get away but somehow try not to think too much about that in the meantime. 

Ok. So now I am again overwhelmed. So I am heading back to that movie that I don't care about it because it asks nothing of me other than to be a vegetable and watch. That is something I am totally onboard with right now.