I Thank God For You

While we were out and about traveling for Christmas and extended family, my lovely Hayden walked into the kitchen, grabbed both of my hands, looked deeply into my eyes and very seriously said, "Mom, I thank God for you."

My heart melted, "Oh Hayden, I love you and thank God for you too!"

As I was squishing him in a hug, he manages to squeeze out, "It's no big deal, Mom. I saw it on a sign in the bathroom."

Oh, so proud...

On the way home today we were talking about how everyone's day went. It seemed a little more eventful than normal.

Middle school has definitely been a transition at our house and not necessarily the easiest. Grace was going on and on about her day and then proceeded to tell me about how during PE the coach got in several girls' faces and was screaming at them and then the principal came in and had to talk to their entire class because apparently, while in the locker room the girls were "pantsing" each other. Because of the screaming and noise, the principal showed up. At this point, of course I laughed.

"Everyone was doing it and getting pantsed." she said.

"Everyone?" I asked. "Did you?"

"Oh no," she answered right back.

"What exactly were you doing to miss out on that?"

"Well, I was playing the limbo in the back."

And that right there folks, is why 6th graders should be banned from humanity until they regain their sanity.

Then Hayden chimes in, "We were playing a new game today. They were already playing so I just tagged along."

He and his little buddies decided to take a bite out of nature. Literally. They had a taste test to see which of the following items was the most tasty. On the menu: grass, acorns, and flowers. None of them were kid approved. Their teacher informed them that a dog could have tee-tee-ed all over all of it. I don't think they really cared.

On another note, Landry has stayed on green and had excellent behavior for 10 full school days in a row. That completely coincides with the arrival of our Elf on the Shelf, Elfie. Before Elfie showed up, her behavior folder read like a novel. Here's to hoping that this new leaf will stay turned over!

This little heights thing...

Hayden was telling us about when he grows up he thinks that he may want to be a pilot.

"I think that it would be pretty great to be a pilot. Lots of fun... I'm just going to have to get over this little fear of heights thing."

Tell us a college story!

"Tell us a college story!"

We hear this a lot at the dinner table. The boys love to hear Dad's scads and scads of crazy stories of all the nutty things that he did while he was in college. Some of the stories are actually high school stories and then others are from the good ole HSU days. While he sits and tells all about his adventures, I pray that my boys will have enough sense to not repeat all of their Dad's glory. I think that they probably won't if the pictures below are any indication.

We were sitting at the dinner table the other night and they started in wanting to hear a college story. 

So, Dad told all about The Mohican.

The Mohican was actually developed on a high school youth group trip, but then reappeared during his freshman year of college. The original Mohican story was that a big group of guys on a church trip, dressed with towels belted over the appropriate areas and masks on their faces, hid waiting for the youth pastor and his sidekick in the dark. Legend has it that when this band of scary looking dudes busted out of the dark, one pastor ran screaming like a little girl, while the other curled into a fetal position on the ground. The original Mohican went so well, that Dad decided to revive it his first week of college. As male freshman students were coming back to their dorm rooms from their first classes of the week, my husband was waiting for them dressed as below and would chase them down the hall, knock some of them down, and then introduce himself. I cannot even tell you how many of his very good friends that he met this way.

I do not understand boys...

Anyway, after this story, my boys couldn't wait to try it themselves.

So here they are in all of their Mohican glory.

A Little Help

One of the greatest things about being a teacher with kids is having my kids on campus with me. My kids might disagree. I find out about everything, the good and the bad.

Landry has been adjusting to kindergarten. She has had a couple of color changes since the start of school. We have been stressing listening to her teacher and being nice to her friends. She's been working to fill a sticker chart and get in the treasure box.

Today, she passed me in the hall with her class. She got halfway down the hall, away from me, and then turned and hollered at the top of her voice, "Mom, I've been good all day!" I gave her a thumbs up and she went about her business.

Later, as I was unloading backpacks and homework, I came across her folder. Inside was a note saying that she couldn't keep her hands to herself.

"Landry? Did you have to change your color today?" I asked.

She sweetly answered, "No, my teacher took care of that for me."

A Little Yak or Yack

After dinner out with friends, we were waiting for ice cream and Hayden tells me,

"I think that I might like to try a yak tongue."

"Oh?" I said.

"Yeah, I would have to find a yak. Then I would cut out his tongue. Then I might actually yack. Hahaha!"