Saturday Soccer

First, I need to be completely forthcoming and tell you that we recently bought a minivan. This morning, I was driving with my two kids, to a soccer game, in my minivan, with my hair in a messy ponytail and wearing yoga pants. Ok, I feel better now. I think if you are going to be a stereotype, you need to own it.

Now that I got that off my chest, here are some pictures from the game.



Here is AJ about to score 1 of the 3 goals for his team:



It is important that your biggest fan stays hydrated for cheering purposes.



And out of the sun.



We got to about 5 minutes to the end of our 45 minute ride to get there and AJ realized he had forgotten his bag with his cleats in it. My plan was to make him sit and watch the game anyway. But when we got there, the other coach had a bag full of cleats that a former player had donated to their church. AJ was able to find some that fit, which was great but foiled my "I hope you learned your lesson" plan.

The former player was a girl, but AJ was able to find some cleats that were unisex. Another player on the team could only find one of his cleats, so he borrowed from the bag as well. He was not so lucky.



Actually, the funniest part of the whole cleat exchange was that the other coach jokingly asked AJ if he was a good player because he didn't want to help out the enemy. I am sure you can guess who scored the first goal.

Politics

After talking to Shawn about politics, the American educational system, bureaucracy and budgets, we had the following conversation:

Me: I never want to work for the government
Shawn: Uh, Heather? You are going to be a public school teacher. You will be working for the government.
Me: Shut up.

Another Trip To The ER

My friend Kelly tells me they have named a wing of their local hospital for her son, due to the huge financial contribution their family has made throughout the years. I am thinking we are heading towards that same dubious honor.

I was on my way home when I got a message from Shawn that he and AJ were at the ER. AJ had fallen off his bike and his leg may be broken. I met them at the ER. AJ was pretty upset and seemed to be in a lot of pain. He hadn't gone to radiology yet. I had to leave to pick up Charlie before he was able to be seen. But Shawn called about an hour later with the report AJ had badly bruised his leg, but nothing was broken. Nonetheless the poor kid is on crutches. The hospital had given him some pretty heavy pain meds and he was giggling like a loon soon after he got home. At least he is a happy drunk.

He seems to be taking it in stride and is not milking it nearly as bad as I thought he would be. Although he did comment after dinner that he couldn't possibly take his plate to the sink while on crutches.

School today went pretty well but with Murphy's Law and all, they did end up having a fire drill. He is pretty tired after using the crutches all day. He has started just hopping around the house and skipping the crutches all together.

For My Mom

This is from Charlie's activity sheet at school. I am glad they practiced washing hands too.

Look What Just Showed Up At The Door

I guess when you are frazzled and look like you might jump out a window and/or drink a fifth of vodka (in no particular order), people take notice.

Guardian of the Guinea Pigs

Charlie's job is to keep an eye on the piggies while AJ cleans the cage.

Bordering On The Ridiculous

After the Christmas tree came down, I decided I wanted to have a large plant in that corner. I didn't want a real one because we are renting and I didn't want to deal with dirt, water and any possible cat issues. So I got a fake tree. (Or, as we say in the design business, "faux botanical". I know, we need to get over ourselves. )

I tried to get as nice a one as the budget would allow. And it does not look too bad. The color is good, the trunk looks realistic, etc. Here is a picture:





And here is the picture not cropped:



Please notice the insanely small pot that came with this 4ft tree. I have coffee cans larger. On the plus side, this is an excellent example of proportion and what not to do. So for the free design lesson, you are welcome.

Now I need to go find a larger pot, and somehow get the tree a bit higher. And I need to do it now. The whole thing is making me twitch.

Zucchini and Pine Nuts

In an attempt to eat more vegetables, I bought a zucchini the other day. This is big news, since as a general rule I hate vegetables. But i actually made something that I liked. In fact, I liked it so much I had it two nights in a row. I made this up as I went along so no cookbooks were harmed in the making of this side dish. (It may be an actual recipe, but how would I know? I don't eat vegetables. )

Zucchini, roughly diced
Olive oil
Garlic, about a tablespoon, minced
Parmesan cheese
Pine nuts

Throw the diced zucchini in a skillet with olive oil and garlic. Saute until the zucchini is browned. Add a few handfuls of pine nuts and cook until those are slightly browned as well. Sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese and serve right away.

Charlie's Note Of The Day

Charlie enjoyed playing the "What food is missing?" game so much today, that after we were done, he got the food back out, pretended he was the teacher and asked his friends what food was missing.

First Day Of Rotation

I started my first rotation today. As I mentioned I am doing 7th grade science. Today the kids were learning about niches in ecosystems. Soon, they will be studying ladybugs. So one of my jobs today was to create a habitat for the ladybugs in large jars. We used soil, and my teacher and I went outside to gather sticks, rocks and branches to add to the jars. We had a hard time getting the branches. There were none on our rather short trees that we could easily reach. So, we ended up picking the few that we could find up off the ground. But as we were heading back to the classroom, we passed an entire bucket of recently pruned branches. Hmm. Maybe that was why we couldn't reach anything.

It went as well as could be expected. They are 7th-graders. Enough said.

First Day

So the first day has come and gone and I am still alive. We met the rest of the group (There are only 8 of us.), went over some procedures, and even when to meet with our mentor teachers at the first rotation.

My first rotation will be 7th grade science. You can stop laughing now. Seriously, stop. It rained on the car ride over to the middle school, so no need to worry. (I'm not making that up, by the way. It really did.)

The teacher I will be working with seems great and will actually be one of my instructors this summer. I was really impressed with the school when we did the tour. We met a ton of teachers and they all seemed to enjoy what they were doing. The vibe was so positive.

I am looking forward to getting started, but know that there is an amazing amount of work ahead of me.