Friday Five: Graduation

1.

I may have graduated in to the worst wife/mother ever this week. I've only cooked one meal in the last two weeks (kudos to husband - he's been killing it on the grill) and it was this: chicken salad. Granted, it was the best holy bajoly chicken salad you've ever had in your life. Maybe, for once, it was the simplicity that made it beautiful: 4 cans shredded chicken, 2 cups sliced grapes, 1 cup sliced celery, 1 cup mayo.

2. We are graduating from preschool. WE ARE. After a lot of discussion, we've decided our youngest-student-in-the-class son needs to move on to kindergarten. He's reading letters - AND WORDS - and eager for "school" stuff. As a boy, he has no problem sitting still and focusing and following directions. For the last day of school (today! sniff...), Mark the Magic Man did a performance for the whole class - ending with the grand finale of turning them into kindergarteners...and making balloon animals. Not sure which one held more of an impact! We are excited for summer and already excited for next year.






3. After one of our many parenting conversations, we've also decided that dinner time needs to graduate to the next level at our house. Dinner time is usually wind-down time. While eating, we surf the internet, read, watch TV - blatantly ignoring all of the Disney commercial suggestions to eat as a family and talk to each other. Now that Mellow is growing up and we are really realizing the full affect that our relationship with him and with each other has on his well-being (long story, really), we've decided to do dinner time right. He not only graduated to the big table (he's been eating at a kids card table), but also with a big plate and big silverware (goodbye plastic crap!). We spent most of dinner last night explaining how to have a conversation: Daddy, how was your day? and using manners to interrupt: excuse me! and being patient until it is your turn and STAYING IN YOUR SEAT UNTIL EVERYONE IS FINISHED and putting your plate in the dishwasher. It was a lot to take in at once, whew!

4. I've become an app addict this week. Have you checked out "Heads Up!"? B and I played, sitting in bed, for an hour the other night. Don't get me started on "Candy Crush." And, "A Beautiful Mess" picture app has me obsessing over photos again (like that needed any help!)

5. We've also FINALLY graduated to summer weather. I am so ready for swimming lessons and pool visits, for popsicles on muggy nights, for camp outs and smores, for lots and lots and lots of sunshine. Even though Mellow is done with school, I have two more official weeks. A student asked me the other day, does time really seem to go faster when you are older. I swear it was just Halloween. And the resounding answer is yes and no. Time flies and stands still. Those moments, tucked in bed, snuggling that fuzzy head are still the same as they had been for the last five years. On the other hand, my graduate of the class of 2026 is about to embark on the rest of his life.  Adventure awaits.

Mamma.

1. Happy Mother's Day to me, from him and him.

2. Happy Mother's Day to me, from preschool.

3. Happy Mother's Day to me, from the dragon.

4. Happy Mother's Day to me, from the leader.

5. But most of all, Happy Mother's Day to her.

Friday Five: It's THAT time of year...

1. Now and about two weeks before Christmas is often referred to as "THAT time of year." There are a number of reasons for this. Freedom is nipping at us for the summer, the feeling of having days on end without structure or plan. Spring is a infection of the sinuses (ick) and of the limbs (sunshine). We have worked hard and been diligent and are feeling deserving of a break. I can never decide who is worse: teachers or students? As a parent/teacher - how do parents feel?

2. Mellow has a new found love of food. He has been trying to imitate his father in everything he does, so if Daddy has and eats all of his salad - so does Mellow. If Daddy packs a salad for lunch - so does Mellow. If Daddy rides his bike down the stairs giving me a heart attack - so does Mellow.

3.  I've been shopping for a new makeup case for about two months now. I just added a routine of new makeup to my Bare Minerals and Juice Beauty skincare and now I am in desperate need of more space. Somehow, like shopping for anything you have a notion about, I just can't seem to find the right one. I know it's not a life or death situation, but I'm fading fast.

 4.Mellow's new favorite toy is a pair of scissors and our magazines. If I leave him alone for ten minutes, he cuts and sorts and organizes all sorts of things that he finds. Yesterday he cut out a "dinner" for me and left it on my placemat: a can of spagetti os,a package of gum, and some stuffed animal magazine pieces.

5. Of all of the things to worry about, the actual graduation was the last thing on my mind. I fussed about dinner and snacks, pickup and drop off times, families coming in to town, hair appointments, THE black dress, and a hundred other inconsequential things. I nearly backed out of walking in the ceremony last minute because I was afraid I was making a big deal about nothing. Turns out, it was a big deal. I've been trying (and waylaid) to get to this point for eight years. I started my MA in 2004 - to be put off by teaching certification and pregnancy. I started this program, never actually thinking that it would come to an end. Being "hooded" in the ceremony was one of the coolest feelings of accomplishment.

It's the last Sunday of April...

1. Once again, I am facing the end of a school year. Moreover - and more importantly - I am looking in the face of a kindergartener (something that I duly hold over his head, all grown boys in kindergarten certainly brush their teeth before bed). He isn't growing up too fast under my tutelage, though, and is as silly as ever.

2. After cutting my husband's hair for the last six years and my son's hair for the last four years - I am officially no better and no worse than when we started. I just hope they both remember that I am the one holding the clippers when it's all over with...

3. Even though I don't have a millimeter of greenness in my whole body, I've been working hard in the yard for the last month. At the beginning of April, I dropped some serious money to purchase trees - in honor of our anniversary - a river burch, a red maple, and a crepe myrtle. I also planted a bunch of azaleas and lantana and monkey grass and oleander. The irises and roses and crocuses have all multiplied and bloomed. Spring has been kind.

yellow striped flowers for our yellow door

4. An amusing inventory of my purse: wallet, keys, sunglasses, baggie full of leaves and flowers, small seashell, roll of bubble tape, three rocks, two matchbox cars, bank-donated lollipops, a medium size dirt clod, markers, checkbook, and a spiderman ring. B looked at me and was all, why do you need to carry all of this around with you? Because I do it on purpose, that's why.

5. I graduate with my Master's in Educational Leadership of Friday. It's crazy. Glad I did it and glad it's over. I'm sure my family would like their wife/mother back instead of a stressed out student. We have family coming in Friday to celebrate and I am really, really, really looking forward to it.

Word for Wednesday: Family

I know that the "subway art" theme has been overwrought this last decorating season (and since pinteresting!) - but how else do you cram so many things in one place? Because we have been working on a lot of character-building traits, I decided to compile them all in one place. I say these things multiple times every day, especially "do it right the first time" and "say please and thank you."

Want a copy? Here:

DOWNLOAD HERE

What would you add to your family rules? What are you always trying to instill in your children? It's a hard world Mellow and our children live in - a gimme-gimme world that will wring them out if we aren't careful. This kind of education, I always believe, is the best kind of education.