Growing the Mott: April 2015

It is spring after all. Maybe I'll wake up from this long break.

Life, as usual, has been it's lovely oxymoronic self. We've been busy and lazy, things have felt routine, but with new attitudes and skills coming out in our kids. We've been productive with home projects but cleaning has been off the radar.

Things that are new since I last blogged:

The Grass Stains and Tigers

Turns out I kinda like being a soccer mom. I've had fun learning all the kids' names and being an exuberant cheerer. Both boys have even scored!! Darling Ollie did the kid-classic-cute of scoring in the wrong goal. He was so pleased!! Seth has shown himself to be a really good defender, which has been a surprise because he usually doesn't like to get hurt. He really has not been afraid of throwing himself in front of the ball, and has made some great saves.

The boys have such short attention spans at this age though. Their actual interest in soccer is waning. Ollie's team always throws up some grass for a cheer before beginning and he told me recently that this was the best part of soccer.

I've also been subbing some. Ollie has gone to work with Jon, or Jon has used some comp time from Saturday workshops to stay home with him. I've decided that subbing is the best job in the world. I've only subbed for Seth's school and I have enjoyed getting to know the staff better, as well as the kids. I haven't subbed for his teacher, but let me tell ya, when those kindergarteners see me in the cafeteria they pretty much all go berserk with cries of, "There's Seth's mom!!! She's a teacher!!" Seth comes and hugs me and is so proud. I constantly wonder about when all that will change and be an embarrassment. I'll enjoy my celebrity status with kindergarteners while it lasts.

I also really like subbing because I like to be a certain amount of busy. When we don't have foster placements, sometimes I feel like I have too much time on my hands, but we probably won't take any more placements until the fall.

I also see how stressed out these poor teachers are with all the insanity of standardized testing, and I'm happy not to be shouldering that mess.

Even though I was an interventionist for two years and worked full time at a school with a 97% free and reduced lunch rate, I'm constantly surprised by how low some of these students are. It's a good reminder to me that it all starts at home. After subbing jobs I always go home and have the boys read to me or count coins or do some other skill that I can't believe a third grader was lacking.

Here's a picture of Ollie, dead asleep in Jon's office.

I finished this quilt!

It seems like Jon and I have been doing quite a lot of weeding and yard work for people with a parking lot for a front yard. Seth has been super helpful with this as well, and pretty much has weeded the entire swing set area. Progress is being made!!

Oh! Seth also got the Future Plainsman Award at school. It's pretty much the student of the year for his class. I used to give out this award as a teacher and I confess I was quite surprised that he was selected. Go Seth! We are crazy proud of you!

Getting his award.

One Future Plainsman from each class at Waters Elementary.

Seth also added some humor to our week by cutting his hair one night right before bed. He was reading books, but also kind of standing on his head at the same time when I came to find him and tuck him in. I noticed his hair was looking strange, but I thought it was because he had just been standing on his head. The next morning I was helping him get ready for school when I noticed his hair was definitely looking bizarre. My first thought was, "Oh no! Seth's sick! He's got some kind of ringworm/cancer thing that is making his hair fall out!" About five seconds later I came to my senses and asked if he cut his hair. "Yes." "Because I wanted to." were the answers I got.

And speaking of hair, Ollie is rocking some locs once again.

Jon's been out of town some and happened to be in Dallas at the same time as our old college friend Luke and his family. Luke is a missionary in Cambodia and has been back for a little while visiting family and home churches. I'm super happy they got to spend a little time together!