Who knew you could have this much fun outside?

My memories of elementary school Field Day are pretty sparse. I know there was some running involved. And ribbons were handed out at the end. And I usually didn't get any.

As most of you know, I'm not very athletic. Or competitive. Or outdoorsy. So the very notion of Field Day really had nothing to offer me. Until now.

Now, I get to enjoy the fun and frivolity without having to do much of anything. My first order of business was collecting signatures on my t-shirt. We never did this when I was in school, but it's a pretty fun tradition. Everybody, students and teachers alike, gets a Field Day shirt and the first thing you do is have everybody in your class sign it with a Sharpie. Since I teach computer to almost every kid in the school , they all wanted to sign my shirt. I didn't come close to collecting everybody's signature, but the end result made me feel pretty popular.

The rest of my day consisted of cheering everybody on in various events. The Little Ocho had been honing her skills for a month. She'd been running laps in our living room to prepare for the 50 yard dash. But she fell short.

And she jumped rope in her bedroom every evening. But the jump rope relay held no glory for her.

And she kicked a soccer ball all over our back yard. But the soccer ball kick victory was not to be.
She also didn't fare very well in the wheel-barrow race. But I enjoyed watching her try.

She mostly enjoyed hanging with her best buddy J.
She did manage get second place in the basketball throw. I suppose that's because she'd never thrown a basketball. In her entire life.

All the kids really enjoyed the 60 foot inflatable obstacle course our principal rented this year. (And I will admit that after school was over,the Ocho and I took a turn on it together. And I beat her. I'm just sayin'.)

But the highlight of the day was the end. That's when all the classes gather together on the front lawn and compete in the egg toss, the water balloon toss and the tug-of-war.

My friend Tabby had been trash-talkin' me on Facebook about the egg toss so when the time came, I threw down the challenge. Then she started whining about salmonella poisining and chickened out. So I was forced to humliate her in the water balloon toss instead. Better luck next time Tabby. : )

During the tug-of-war, each grade level competes with each other which put the Ocho's class at a distinct disadvantage. You will remember that they're called the Princess Class because there are 14 girls and 0 boys. The other second grade class has 6 boys and 7 girls. They might have lost, but it wasn't for lack of effort.<>

Once all the competition was over, the PE teacher started hurling water balloons at all the kids. And then they started hurling them at each other. Here's the Ocho after catching one right on top of her head:

It was a hot, sweaty, exhausting, fantastic day. And as much as I enjoyed the sports, the sunshine and the thrill of balloon toss victory, what I really enjoyed was the reminder of how much I love air-conditioning.

Killing me softly

You remember that Roberta Flack song? The one where she's in some nightclub and the guy starts strumming her pain with his fingers? And singing her life with his song? Of course you do. And don't give me any of that "before my time" jazz cause there's not an oldie's station worth it's weight in Beatles songs that doesn't have it on heavy rotation.

Anywhoo.

Yesterday Mandisa became my Roberta Flack. And she was KILLING ME. Softly.

Allow me to explain.

It all started when I opened up my friend Melissa's BLOG to read about the song that her friend Ronnie Freeman and Mandisa had written based on Melissa's experience with her son Elisha. Since our experiences are similar, I knew better than to watch that music video at 5:45 in the morning. But I did it anyway. And it killed me. Softly.

Then I watched it again on my lunch break. And it killed me again. Softly.

Then I got home and downloaded the entire CD and played it in my car on the way to the softball field. And I came to the realization that it wasn't just one song that was going to be the death of me. It was all of them.

You see, I hear God's voice in all the usual places; prayer, the Bible, sermons, Beth Moore videos and congregated worship. But I tend to hear Him better, more clearly, through music. I suppose it's my love language. And last night, Mandisa was the vessel He used to speak. Softly.

"He is with you when your baby’s gone and your house is still, and your heart’s a stone. Cryin' God, what’d You do that for?' He is with you"

"I was so helpless. Where did the light go? I had no hope left deep down in my soul. I was watching. I was waiting. I was praying. I was staying down on my knees. That's right where You found me"

"When all that I can sing is a broken hallelujah. When my only offering
Is shattered praise. Still a song of adoration will rise up from these ruins. I will worship You and give You thanks. Even when my only praise is a broken hallelujah"

Song after song told my story. Spoke my heart. Took my breath away.

And then, just when I was ready to toss it out the window for some sweet relief came Track 11. And the tears poured like rain. And it was OK.

I couldn't find a music video but I did find this on YouTube. I'm pretty sure this song will forever be the one that comforts me and kills me all at the same time. Softly.

Photographic Evidence

Thanks to our good friend JT, I finally have my computer back.

(Besides being a gun-runner, a super-secret Federal Agent, a Tina Turner impersonator AND Cool Shelly T's husband, JT is also a computer wizard. He got my old relic up and running so I could back-up all my files!)

I'm pretty sure I'm operating on borrowed time so I've got to work fast. You know what that means? That's right. I'm about to post pictures.

So here, in no particular order is the photographic evidence to prove those things which I have mentioned as having taken place in April did actually occur.

For instance

Yes, we did dye Easter Eggs:


And The Ocho did have a fabulous Easter dress (thanks to Champ):

And she has been a commanding presence on the softball field:


And we both enjoyed Field Day at school:

Actually, I have many more Field Day pictures (and a few stories) to share, so I think it will be getting it's own post soon.

Until next time....

The half that's made me whole

This week has been achievement test week at school and as a result, we've been dismissing at 11:30 each day. I'm not sure who invented the 1/2 day of school concept, but I will be forever indebted to them.

It is because of it that I have gotten laundry done, cleaned out my pantry and watched Food Network every afternoon. And I might have taken a nap or two.

I love that I haven't had one single afternoon of being tired or cranky.

And it's not just leaving work after only a few hours that has altered my mood. It's because I don't have to pack lunches for me or the Ocho.

Have I mentioned before how much I detest packing lunches? It wears. me. out.

And I didn't have to worry about computer lesson plans for the week. Holla!

And I didn't have to take Kindergarten to chapel. Sweet mercy and grace.

I must also add that God has showed boundless generosity by giving us sunny, warm weather to enjoy the past 2 afternoons. These are blessings I do not deserve.

Tomorrow we'll be back for a full day of school. But......IT'S FIELD DAY!!!!! And lunch is provided. And I get to wear my jean capris & a t-shirt.

I suppose I can consider this my reward for all those mornings I spent working the car line when it was 15 degrees and rainy. And I must also add that I found out my contract for next year has been renewed and I am thankful. Because now I know the truth.

I'll have many cold, rainy car line days to endure in my future. But joy comes on testing week.

Things that brought me joy this week

As I'm bringing the week to a close, I thought it might be nice to reflect on those things that truly filled my heart with happiness over the past 5 days. Here they are in no particular order:

Having Monday off from school which gave me a 4 day work week.

Watching my daughter have 4 good hits AND actually run after the ball while playing the infield during her softball game Tuesday night. (This made up for the fact that it was 20 below 0 with a wind chill of -45. In April.)

Listening to the Hannah Montana movie soundtrack on the way to school each morning. (Because it isn't the old Hannah Montana CD that I've been listening to relentlessly for the past year.)

Two words: Tax. Refund.

Dwight in a long-sleeved white shirt. Michael throwing cheese puffs at Pam. Jim hugging it out with Andy. A color-coded Rolodex. Spin Move! And "let me be your traveling pants." Have I ever mentioned how much I love this show? (There are only 4 episodes left this season and that makes my stomach hurt.)

Cupcakes.

Supervising my daughter's sleepover with a friend from school who happens to have severe food allergies. (We made it through dinner without calling 911 and I cannot begin to express how excited that makes me.)

All this and 4 half-days of school next week!?!?!? It's Utopia.

Friday sure ain't what it used to be

Back in the day, before marriage and kids, I worked for several different companies. No matter what the business was, Friday usually consisted of the same things; casual dress, long lunch, slacking off and living for 5:00 pm.

In the elementary school business, things are a little different.

For instance, this morning I spent time subbing for a kindergarten teacher. The same teacher who has what some may or may not consider to be the worst behaved class in the entire school. I had to break up 2 fights, repair a car made of Lego's, mediate a dispute between two girls, one of whom was punched in the eye and moderate the nightmare known as show-and-tell. All before 8:30 am. I was in the class until 9:15. The last 45 minutes are kind of a blur.

From there I went to the other kindergarten class to supervise their restroom break and snack time. After 5 "I don't like this!"'s and 7 "why can't we have somethin' else?"'s, I gave my famous "You Get What You Get And You Don't Pitch A Fit!" speech. Then I had to help them make a craft with construction paper, muffin cups and glue. Once they created a flower garden with the muffin cups, I had to glue cloves in the center to make them smell nice. Of course, half the boys said they "reeked".

I find it ironic that 6 year-old boys think anything reeks.

From there I went to a first grade class to give make-up tests and grade papers.

And now, I'm putting the finishing touches on lunch with a chocolate cupcake, courtesy of a 1st grade boy named Drew.

That is one of the benefits of working at an elementary school that isn't listed in your orientation packet. You can pretty much count on a cupcake at least once a week, if not once a day.

So, I guess the moral of the story is this. Friday's might be easier in corporate America. But hard work in the school system is always fairly rewarded with cupcakes.

TGIF.

Easter: The holiday without a witty subtitle

I can't tell you how long I've been sitting here trying to come up with a catchy title for my Easter post. After ruling out all the corny "egg" references and realizing anything sarcastic would minimize the meaning of the day, I decided to go with the obvious.

Plus, I'm on borrowed computer time so I decided to cut to the chase. The Wood Easter of '09 has been Egg-cellent. Egg-citing. Egg-ceptional.

Ok. I'll stop.

We kicked off the festivities yesterday by dying eggs as a family. It was the first year Handiman participated in the actual colorization process and, of course, he had to come in with his fancy-schmancy artistic show-offness and try to make the best ones. He did an egg-cellent (ummm....sorry) job but the Ocho showed true talent with the wax crayon/color combo. I must say our Easter egg selection this year was egg-ceptional. (oops. sorry again)

And now, I must apologize for the lack of photographic evidence. I did take pictures but obviously, I can't load them onto this computer. Maybe I'll go back and add them later, but for now you must trust me when I say. The eggs? They were beautiful.

Once they were all decorated we took to the yard for some strategic hiding. The Ocho hid first and sent Handiman and I out to search. We found them in record time and then sent her inside while we did the honors. It was at this time we found what might be the biggest irony ever to hit a major holiday at our house.

We found a dead bunny! In our backyard! While hiding Easter eggs!

How she missed it we'll never know. It was right beside her swing set in plain sight. Nevertheless, we were able to dispose of the body before bringing her out to find the eggs. Can you even imagine the decades she would have spent in therapy had we not noticed it either?

With the thrill of the egg hunt behind us, we awoke this morning to a beautiful, sunny morning. We got dressed up in our Easter finest and the Ocho received a basket of goodies from the Big Bunny before we headed to church.

Now, this is where my post might get somewhat controversial.

You see, this was the first year I haven't....gasp....sung in the choir. Well, that's not altogether true. I didn't sing in the choir last Easter either but that was because I was in San Francisco. This year I was in town. And I wasn't sick. And I wasn't mad at the choir director. I simply decided not to sing.

I know! I told you it was controversial.

I promise I still love Jesus. And I can't tell you how much I enjoyed celebrating His Resurrection from the congregation. And I promise I did sing. I sang my ever-lovin' heart out. Just not on the stage. So don't go questioning my salvation. Or my witness.

I'm not going to get into my "confessions of a choir slacker" post here. I'll save it for another day. Let me just say that I loved being home this morning to fix my daughter's hair and helping her into her Easter dress. And I loved sitting with my family and worshipping together. And I loved not being completely exhausted by 12:00.

So there.

(I will also interject here that the Ocho had the cutest Easter dress courtesy of Champ and I will post pictures as soon as possible. But for now, you'll have to trust me. The girl looked good.)

After church it was off to RubyDooby's for lunch. Turkey. Ham. Dressing. Green Beans. Corn. Mac & Cheese. Fried Okra. Sweet Potatoes. Deviled Eggs. Strawberry Shortcake. Enough said.

I thought I might try to expound on the dinner conversation but honestly I don't how I could possible communicate it to you. To say "you had to be there" is a gross understatement. I will say that I can't remember laughing so hard in a really long time. Between Papa Gator seeing visions of the Grim Reaper in a choir robe during their morning church service and RubyDooby thinking the Neti Pot is a Facebook application, I was both confused and completely hysterical with laughter.

And when we discovered that the cupcakes RD bought because they said "Happy Easter" in fact said "Happy Birthday"????....well, that one sent us all over the edge.

Once dinner was over and the laughter subsided, it was time for the egg hunt. But this isn't some sissy colored egg hunt. This is a "plastic eggs filled with candy and money hidden all over Grandma's yard" egg hunt. And it can get very competitive. This year, RD had a brilliant solution. She gave each of the 3 grandchildren instructions to hunt for a specific colored egg. Once they were all found, the loot counting commenced and, of course, The Ocho came away like a bandit. She scored cash, chocolate, socks, lip gloss and that Easter classic "Kung Fu Panda".

Since we were all stuffed and exhausted, we settled in to watch "The Masters" tournament. Or as I like to refer to it, naptime.

So there you have it. Dyed eggs, a dead bunny, a choir slacker, strawberry shortcake, the Grim Reaper and Kung Fu Panda. All the ingredients for a wonderful Easter holiday.

The only thing missing is pictures. I'll work on that.