2010

This year has been one crazy ride!  We have made more memories and done more as a family than I ever thought possible.

In February Pig Pen turned 3.  Being 3 is a lot harder than being 2 and she has had some growing pains this year that I am not sure any of us were ready for.  She is the funniest child you have ever met who is obsessed with animals, her tricycle (she rides it in the house), and getting her way.  In early September her sister gave her a hair cut so she went from having beautiful long blond hair to short short light brown hair over night.  That change is the hardest for me because I still can't believe her hair is so short.  She isn't as far along academically as Peppermint Patty was when she was this age, but I know Pig Pen is smart and will get it in her own time.  She is stubborn like her mama (who would have thought) and she doesn't like to be pushed to do anything she doesn't want to do.  I am excited to see where God takes her over the next few years and how her personality continues to develop.  She truly is a special little girl and I am so proud that she is mine.


On March 7th Peppermint Patty turned 5.  The baby that took 9 months and 14.5 hours of labor with 3.5 hours of pushing before she would come out turned 5.  The baby that I still don't know where all the time went turned 5.  I am still not sure I am over her turning 5 and she will be 6 right around the corner.  She loves fishing, riding on the tube, swimming in the pool, getting tickled, and playing with Nylah the dog.  She is still timid when she is in big crowds or around people she doesn't know but that doesn't slow her down for long.  She is funny, smart, quiet, bossy, and a good friend.  She has grown up so fast and I can't believe I have a kindergartner!  She is a girly girl who Big Grasshopper is already trying to figure out how we are going to pay for her expensive clothes and hair some day!  LOL!  She is one of a kind and I am so glad that God has put her in our family.

The weekend in between the girls two birthdays we had a joint birthday party on the Tumble Bus.  That is one pretty cool ride that I would definitely recommend for small parties.  Everyone had a great time and the girls enjoyed having their friends at our house.

In April Big Grasshopper turned 36 and I turned 32.  We are old.  I don't want to talk about it.  I don't want to think about it.  I don't even think I should have mentioned it here, but it is definitely a milestone that must happen in order to keep the dash going.  Getting older is one of those strange things in life.  I look back at when I was the girls age and think I thought my parents were so old at the age I am now....and guess what....I think I was right.....they were old and now I am kinda feeling old.  32 is not THAT close to 40 but it is way farther away from 22-23 than I feel possible.  I am hoping the closer I get to 40 the less old I will feel....maybe?

The Summer....aaaaahhhhh.....the summer that was 2010....filled with camping, boating, swimming, tubing, hanging out with friends, fishing, more camping, more swimming, more hanging out with friends, more enjoying 100 degree heat, eating, drinking, camp fires, and more hanging out with friends.  What an amazing summer!!  I am really not sure summer 2010 will never be beaten in my mind.  Peppermint learned to swim without her life vest or floaties in the pool.  She still has to always wear her life vest in the lake, but she is so proud of her swimming abilities in the pool.  We camped out so much that I think we were camping more on the weekends than we were home.  The girls and Big Grasshopper really love fishing and I have bragging rights that I am the only one that caught my limit when we went Stripper fishing while BG's sister and her boyfriend visited for a few days.  We enjoyed the boat more than any people ought to....but my mind still goes back to those days of rafting and having fun as a family on these cold winter days.  It truly was a magical summer that will not soon be forgotten.

August 19th.  The day I have been dreading since March 7, 2005.  The day that Peppermint Patty started to school.  I cried most of the summer when I thought about PP going to school.  She didn't get into the school near our house due to over crowding so we have to drive her across town to the overflow school.  I may not like the drive but I like the school and her teacher is absolutely amazing!!  I can't say enough about the experience PP is having this year.  She is learning so much and has come so far.  I can't believe by the end of the year she will be reading and writing in complete sentences with some accuracy.  I am almost in tears just thinking about my baby who isn't a baby anymore going to kindergarten but she loves it and loves her teachers so I am so proud of her. (Thank you Peppermint's teacher....you know who you are and you know I LOVE YOU!!!)

Sometime between September and the end of October we lost our camera....with A LOT of pictures on it.  Still hoping to find it and this is the one low point of the year that I can think about.  If you want to get us a gift...now you know what to bring us. :)

Between August and now is just a blur of driving everyone to everything every where.  My car is always completely trashed out and always smells of milk, fast food, or some chap stick that Pig Pen thinks she needs to coat her lips in.  BG and I are trying to keep up as best we can with all the demands of having  2 crazy girls and a life that seems to be getting faster.  Don't get me wrong...it is crazy but I wouldn't have it any other way!

I am not sure what 2011 is going to bring.  I am having an itch for something but not sure what.  I am going to be putting out fleeces and letting God lead me through this instead of me leading God....well....I am going to try anyways....Whatever happens I know this.....Geoff and I love each other, love the girls, and the girls love us.  Nothing is better than that and I am so proud of the family we have built.  Ups, downs, whatever happens, we have each other in 2011.......Happy 2010....Hopeful for 2011.

Just Be Human

Doctor's and Teachers are very much alike.  Both have degrees, are professional, and deal with the public in both the best and worst circumstances.  Both work hard everyday to make sure who they see is taken care of and should go beyond the call of duty when necessary to see that who they are taking care of is taken care of and they are the best "OK" they can be.  Both also deal with more paperwork and bureaucracy than should be necessary and if given the chance to hold a bonfire and burn all the paperwork, most would not hesitate to bring the paperwork and lighter fluid and do a dance as it burns.  I think for the most part both teachers and doctors go into their profession with a whole hearted thought they can make a difference and then find out that medicine is not like what we see on Grey's anatomy and teaching is not what is depicted in after school specials.

As a teacher on sabbatical I know first hand the carnage of teaching. (As I am not a doctor I won't say it is hard but watching from a far I am pretty sure that it is difficult.)  It is hard.  It is difficult.  There are long hours.  There are tears.  There is heart ache.  There is a lot of sacrifice of one's self.  However....this is only if you are good....no great....the greatest....you are human.  You care.  You love.  You laugh.  You dance.  You sing.  You put yourself out there.  You are yourself.  You make mistakes.  You are kind.  You speak from the heart.  You look people in the eye and are honest.  You take time to explain what is happening with the other humans that you are dealing with.  You treat others the way you would want to be treated; the way you want your kids, wife, husband, mother, father, etc. to be treated. 

I think this is what a lot of doctors and teachers have forgotten.  We have forgotten that we deal with humans and to deal with other humans we have to also be....drum roll please.....human!!!  Since when did it get so hard to take a few extra minutes to feel for others?  Since when did it get so hard to try to understand someone's plight? 

I have struggled for the last 10-12 days being sick.  I am not expecting miracles when I go to the doctor.  I am not even expecting them to make me be better in one day.  What I do expect is what is expected of me as a teacher when their child is in my classroom - I want a human.  I want someone that is kind, considerate, compassionate, understanding, and takes an extra 30 seconds to be friendly and helpful even if there isn't much they can do.  I also want them to look me in the eye and try to help me the best way they know how.  Is this too much to ask?  Maybe....but if I have to be a "human" when I am teaching their child, than I expect that of my doctor when they are doctoring.

Human...nothing more....nothing less...Human.  Just Human.