I've never been a fan of April Fool's Day. Don't get me wrong I love a great joke, but as a teacher this day consists of repeatedly hearing "Your shoe's untied!" and "There's a spider on your back!"
Of course like a good teacher, I play along and turn around to look for the terrible spider. "Haha you got me!"
And then it happens...
Suddenly there's a snake behind your back, and bug, and a lizard, and a vampire, and a mummy, and a ghost, and everything scary that exists in the universe. Ugh. The balancing act between not crushing their little spirits and not losing your sanity (a fine line).
So needless to say, when I heard my daughters last night giggling about April Fool's Day plans I groaned inside. The next morning I woke up, got ready for work, and waited for whatever they had in store. Nothing happened. 'Great! Maybe they forgot,' I thought. We went to school, came home for the evening, and still nothing. I tucked them into bed, said prayers, and exhaled. Whew!
Around 9:30 I headed upstairs to get ready for bed. I pulled my hair out of a sloppy pony tail and reached for my hairbrush...
Seriously?!? My little stinkers had replaced my styling products and tools with American Girl DOLL styling toys! Toys! My real hairbrush and squirt bottle were nowhere to be found.
Having now been in bed for an hour, I couldn't wake up the girls up to get my stuff back. I was stuck brushing my hair with a doll hairbrush (oh yes, I really did use it). I was in awe of how clever my little 8 & 9 year-olds could be. I was also pretty proud as I realized they are inheriting a bit of their mama's sense of humor (remember Sushi Palace?).
Well played girls.
Pulling one over on your mom~ Lovely.
I love seeing the world through my daughter's eyes. What is in her heart is at the forefront of her thoughts. The words that she underlined are so sweet... "I was the first person, I cannot tell a lie, I am the father." Must be God! Who else would it be? Duh.
She caught me taking this picture of her paper and was SO upset.
"Why are you taking a picture of that? I got it wrong!" she shrieked.
"Because your answer makes me happy and I love it" I replied.
She furrowed her eyebrow and repeated, "But it's wrong."
"Being right is not always what counts."
Someday when she is a mama she will understand.
My daughter's heart... Lovely
All week my third grader has been asking to have her friend over to play. I finally caved and agreed to an after school play-date and dinner.
Leaving school I said to the 3 girls, "Let's go out to eat. There's a new sushi place I've really been wanting to try." "What?! Seriously?" came groans from the backseat.
"Yeah. Sushi Palace. It's over by Target."
As we drove on I was bomb-barded with: "Mom are we seriously eating sushi? We don't like sushi?" (moaning, groaning, whining...)
"It's Friday. Let's all try something new!" I declared as we pulled into the local 54th Street. I purposefully drove around the back, making my way through the entire parking lot. "Man it's busy! Everyone must be excited for Sushi Palace!"
As we parked the 3 kids looked at each other trying to decide if I was lying.
"This is 54th Street" someone said.
"Yep but Sushi Palace is in the back of 54th Street."
As we waited in the foyer with our pager the kids slumped against the wall. My daughter's friend stated, "I think I had sushi when I was 4 and then I puked." (Poor kid... she was really regretting coming to dinner with us.)
We were eventually seated at our table where the hostess passed out the menus.
"So can we just get regular 54th Street food?" the kids asked.
"Oh no, they just gave you that menu so you could pick your drink. They are only serving sushi tonight. Do you see by the drinks where it says "included"? That means with the sushi."
Just at that moment the lights dimmed for dinner hour. "Sushi time!"
The waiter approached our table and gave the usual, "How's everybody doing tonight?"
"We are great!" I replied. "We are SO excited for sushi night!" (kids exchange glances)
"Oh yeah," answers the waiter, "we have fish, crab, shrimp..."
The kids' jaws dropped. (Score! Best waiter ever.)
As we waited for our drinks I asked the kids what they normally like to eat at 54th Street. They ramble off things like: cheeseburger, tacos, pasta. After that no one spoke. They were clearly worried.
As the waiter came back to take our order, I quickly ordered a steak and baked potato. The kids hesitated. "I'm just messing with you guys. You can order whatever you want."
"WHAT? OH MY GOSH! BUT THE WAITER EVEN SAID THERE WAS SUSHI!! ! MOOOM!"
You never saw such happily shocked little girls. They joyfully placed their orders for their favorite foods and as the waiter departed one of the kids said, "So I don't get it. Is there really a Sushi Palace here?"
Too funny. Totally worth it. Kinda mean, but lovely ;o)
Philippians 4:8 "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy- think about such things."
As I read through Facebook or listen to people talk, I often feel that too much focus is on negative things. Believe me, in the last year of my life I have faced a situation that could cause me to be incredibly angry or incredibly depressed. Feeling those emotions occasionally is okay but dwelling on such things is not. Paul clearly teaches us to focus on things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, and admirable. He goes on to say in verse 9 that if you put these things into practice "the God of peace will be with you."
This blog is a place for me to remind myself of things that are lovely and good, and to say them out loud for others to hear and enjoy as well.
I began with the author of the blog, Cathy Whitaker. "Cathy" has been my alias for several years now. When I sign up to get something free in the mail I always address it to Cathy. I don't know why I do it, it just makes me laugh. Somewhere along the line my friends found out about it and it became even more funny. Cathy Whitaker has been known to cause all sorts of shenanigans. Who ordered that Chai Latte at Starbucks? Cathy. Who's name just went in the door prize drawing? Cathy.
Need a laugh? Make yourself an alias today. You won't be disappointed.
-It's Lovely
