Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

1. I did not have to move two clips and write two bad notes on my first day of solo teaching.
2. I did not have a child throw a tantrum when they had to sit out for misbehaving.
3. I did not have to have a conference with said child's family after school.
4. I did not buy my very own large pepperoni pizza after school.
5. I most certainly did not eat half of the aforementioned pizza all by myself.
6. I did not tell my sweet husband that I wanted and needed some quiet time to talk and be loved on.
7. I did not fall asleep before my husband made it to bed.
8. I certainly did not fall asleep before my child.
9. I did not fail to read to my baby and kiss him goodnight. A good mother would never do that.
10. And lastly I did not, would not say that I was ready to set the "mean girls" straight if they mess with me.

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

1. I did not have to move two clips and write two bad notes on my first day of solo teaching.
2. I did not have a child throw a tantrum when they had to sit out for misbehaving.
3. I did not have to have a conference with said child's family after school.
4. I did not buy my very own large pepperoni pizza after school.
5. I most certainly did not eat half of the aforementioned pizza all by myself.
6. I did not tell my sweet husband that I wanted and needed some quiet time to talk and be loved on.
7. I did not fall asleep before my husband made it to bed.
8. I certainly did not fall asleep before my child.
9. I did not fail to read to my baby and kiss him goodnight. A good mother would never do that.
10. And lastly I did not, would not say that I was ready to set the "mean girls" straight if they mess with me.

Ramblings of a Blessed Mom

Life has a way of giving us unexpected moments of joy. Tonight as I sat working at my desk my boys flew through the house riding G's plasma car. They were both scrunched up on this tiny little car, whizzing around the house, bumping into walls, doorways, cabinets and furniture all the time giggling with unbridled joy. It is times like these that make me wish they were closer to the same age. That is one thing that having my children so far apart has caused me to miss. Yes, I missed the fighting, well at least some of it but I also missed out on seeing my children play together in the yard. I have been the playmate to two "only" children of sorts. Although this was of my own choosing I find myself wondering what if we had chosen to have them closer together. There are, however, many benefits to having them so far apart. It is definitely a benefit to have my oldest be able to pick up my youngest from school. I have never been required to hire a baby sitter, and even though they are separated by almost 12 years they are definitely buddies. I also have been able to devote my undivided love and attention to them individually. I have had the privilege of snuggling up with them on cold rainy days (and warm sunny days, and cool windy days, hot summer days, snowy days, stormy days) and take long afternoon naps (my favorite pastime in case you didn't figure it out). I have shared many late nights with my boys watching late night television. Some of my favorite memories are of watching "The Nanny, The Golden Girls, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Rosanne" with my sweet boys up into the wee hours of the night. Those late night experiences are something that have been mine alone. I am the night owl and it is then that I have had them all to myself and they have had me all to themselves. My favorite memories of my mother are of the last couple of years that I lived at home. We would sit up late into the night watching the George Burns Show. That is what I missed the most when I got married. I still find myself missing those sweet times curled up on the sofa all alone with my Mom. It was during those times that I had her all to myself. I hope my boys remember the times we have shared with the same fondness that I hold for the moments I spent with my Mom.

I am sorry but this post has taken on a life of its own and I am now blabbing about things that I didn't intend to when I sat down to write tonight. I really intended to write about the funny things G said this night as we were practicing his sight words. So, here goes:

My Sweet G can come up with the most precious things to say at the most unexpected times. We were practicing reading his sight words tonight and as always he was being silly. He was beginning to get bored and I was getting creative with ways to keep him focused on the task at hand. We came to the word "old" and J, who was looking on, said, "this word is what Nana is." The next word was "take" and J said, "Gramps has to (blank) Nana to the doctor." "Cat" was the word that followed and I said, "This is what Gramps calls Nana." Sweet G then replied with a giggle, "I love Wayman, (his gramps and my dad) everybody loves Wayman." The boy is too funny. He uses a play on words often but this was too cute to forget.

When we came to the word "before" I said, "I loved Daddy before I loved you." G turned to J and growled, "We are fixing to get "angly". That is his newest favorite saying, "Look at me, I've got my 'angly' eyes on you." He says it as he touches his eyes and then points his fingers toward you. Oh, how I do love that little boy. I think I can rest assured that there will never be a boring moment in this house as long as my two boys are around.

Ramblings of a Blessed Mom

Life has a way of giving us unexpected moments of joy. Tonight as I sat working at my desk my boys flew through the house riding G's plasma car. They were both scrunched up on this tiny little car, whizzing around the house, bumping into walls, doorways, cabinets and furniture all the time giggling with unbridled joy. It is times like these that make me wish they were closer to the same age. That is one thing that having my children so far apart has caused me to miss. Yes, I missed the fighting, well at least some of it but I also missed out on seeing my children play together in the yard. I have been the playmate to two "only" children of sorts. Although this was of my own choosing I find myself wondering what if we had chosen to have them closer together. There are, however, many benefits to having them so far apart. It is definitely a benefit to have my oldest be able to pick up my youngest from school. I have never been required to hire a baby sitter, and even though they are separated by almost 12 years they are definitely buddies. I also have been able to devote my undivided love and attention to them individually. I have had the privilege of snuggling up with them on cold rainy days (and warm sunny days, and cool windy days, hot summer days, snowy days, stormy days) and take long afternoon naps (my favorite pastime in case you didn't figure it out). I have shared many late nights with my boys watching late night television. Some of my favorite memories are of watching "The Nanny, The Golden Girls, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and Rosanne" with my sweet boys up into the wee hours of the night. Those late night experiences are something that have been mine alone. I am the night owl and it is then that I have had them all to myself and they have had me all to themselves. My favorite memories of my mother are of the last couple of years that I lived at home. We would sit up late into the night watching the George Burns Show. That is what I missed the most when I got married. I still find myself missing those sweet times curled up on the sofa all alone with my Mom. It was during those times that I had her all to myself. I hope my boys remember the times we have shared with the same fondness that I hold for the moments I spent with my Mom.

I am sorry but this post has taken on a life of its own and I am now blabbing about things that I didn't intend to when I sat down to write tonight. I really intended to write about the funny things G said this night as we were practicing his sight words. So, here goes:

My Sweet G can come up with the most precious things to say at the most unexpected times. We were practicing reading his sight words tonight and as always he was being silly. He was beginning to get bored and I was getting creative with ways to keep him focused on the task at hand. We came to the word "old" and J, who was looking on, said, "this word is what Nana is." The next word was "take" and J said, "Gramps has to (blank) Nana to the doctor." "Cat" was the word that followed and I said, "This is what Gramps calls Nana." Sweet G then replied with a giggle, "I love Wayman, (his gramps and my dad) everybody loves Wayman." The boy is too funny. He uses a play on words often but this was too cute to forget.

When we came to the word "before" I said, "I loved Daddy before I loved you." G turned to J and growled, "We are fixing to get "angly". That is his newest favorite saying, "Look at me, I've got my 'angly' eyes on you." He says it as he touches his eyes and then points his fingers toward you. Oh, how I do love that little boy. I think I can rest assured that there will never be a boring moment in this house as long as my two boys are around.

Friendship

Recently I have found myself reflecting on why some friendships have such strong ties, ties that time and distance only make stronger. I was reunited with several of my high school classmates this past summer at our 25^th class reunion. As we began to interact with each other on Facebook prior to the reunion I could feel the bond we share pulling me closer to each of them. The common thread of growing up in our small hometown seems insignificant to most people who hear about our reunion and the renewed friendships that have come from it. Almost everyone that discovers we have had two more "reunions" in the six months following the first, are shocked.

I see a confused expression come across the faces of those I have told about the bond I share with my classmates. As I experienced this same reaction time after time I began to try and figure out what makes us different. What is it that sets us apart? It isn't the community that we come from because several of us married people from that same community. There are at least three different graduating classes represented by our spouses and they do not share the same kind of bond with the people from their graduating class. My husband's class has had two reunions over the past 28 years. We attended his 10^th reunion and he was not interested when the second one came around. My class on the other hand celebrated on the 5^th, 10^th, 20^th, and 25^th years following our graduation. We have yet to stop celebrating the 25^th anniversary even as we move closer to 26 years separating our common experiences.

It is as if time has stood still when we are together. Our bond has really become stronger than it was when we were hanging out every day in the halls of CHS. We have been apart far longer than we were ever together but that doesn't matter. Our friendships are strong. Our commitment to each other has begun to grow in a way that even we do not understand. We have many more differences than we have similarities but somehow that one common thread holding us together is stronger than all the others combined. So, as we begin to add more threads to the tapestry of our lives I find myself excited to discover the beautiful creation that is being fashioned.