September 3rd

Wow, I accepted a challenge to blog every day and I already blew it on the second day! Whoops. Since I forgot to blog yesterday, here's a synopsis:

I took Harrison shopping for school supplies. Luckily we didn't need much, since we've accumulated a lifetime's supply of pencils, red pens and graph paper. But then we ventured to the clothing. Shopping with a boy is so.....different than shopping with a girl. Basically, I hold stuff up, he says yes or no and we toss it in the basket. Not much thought put into it. Easy peasy. When we got home, I was really tired and entertained thoughts of taking a nap, but that never happened. What DID happen was that I washed a bunch of dishes, made dinner, made lunches, cleaned up the kitchen, watched a bunch of Criminal Minds and finally forced myself to try to sleep around 11 p.m. Because I knew that alarm was going off early in the morning and summer was O.V.E.R. 

Jeff's alarm went off at 5:30 a.m. I lay in bed until mine went off at 6:00. I haven't been up that early since last spring. I love working at a school and having summer off. It's REALLY hard to go back to school after a long, lazy summer off. I feel for the kids. Arlie was up and getting ready and I had to scramble to get "the sign" ready for the requisite first day of school pictures. We've used the same old sign - black letters on a yellow posterboard - since about 2007. I just add the year on a piece of matching yellow paper each year. I remember worrying that I'd run out of that particular yellow paper before my kids finished school. Today I realized I have PLENTY of it left, since we only have four more years before ALL MY BABIES ARE GRADUATED....WAAAHHHH.

Sorry. Momentary insanity. Anyway, I took pictures of Arlie and then she DROVE OFF TO SCHOOL! BY HERSELF! Ok, her dad was in the car. And she only has a learner's permit. But STILL! She DRIVES! WAAAHHHHH.

Sorry again. I then drove Harrison to school, along with his friend, Isak. Such a nice kid, that Isak. The boys were going to school today to be "web leaders" and help the incoming 7th graders adjust to the new school. Ain't that sweet?

I found myself an hour and a half early for work at that point. So, Starbucks. Duh. Also, I was smart this time and requested my chocolate croissant NOT be heated. The last two times, I've had a chocolate disaster. Still, I dripped my mocha which, thankfully, landed on my seat belt instead of my white shirt. Note to self: pack an extra shirt in the car for just such disasters.

I had enough time to go to Target this morning! Omg! Target before work? Unheard of. The reason I went to Target was to find steel wool. More on that later. And P.S. they didn't have any.

I had a FABULOUS day at my new job. I mean, it's my old job, but a new position. I'm working with the most amazing teacher in a kindergarten class, which is my most favorite age. The kids were cute, sweet, funny and happy, which is about as good as it gets for the first day of kindergarten. The parents were like the paparazzi - I saw more cameras at elementary school than at the VMA's. But I forgive them for being so obsessed with their offspring. I remember being a kindergarten mama. It's like throwing your baby to the wolves! You spend the first five years protecting them and teaching them stranger danger and then you drop them off for half the day with a stranger! There were some tears. Not from the kids. And the teacher had to shoo the parents away from the windows.

After work, I ran an errand but before I got into the store (because I was talking to my firstborn on FB and sat in the car forever), I got a call from Arlie saying she didn't know which bus to ride. Since I was pretty close to the school, I offered to pick her up. THEN we ran my errands - one stop at Big 5 where I didn't find what I wanted but found Arlie $100 worth of yoga pants, booty shorts for gymnastics, yoga capris and a hoodie. Yikes. Then, we went to Freddy's where I DID find steel wool. Victory!

You're probably wondering what the steel wool was for. Today is our 7th anniversary, and also our "Familyversary" which is the day Jeff and I married, blended our families, and became the family we are today. We like to celebrate this day with the kids by going out to dinner, which we did. But before that, Jeff and I exchanged gifts.

Here's the thing: Jeff researches each year's traditional gifts and always gets me the most creative gifts based on the traditional color, flower, item, etc. He is AWESOME at it and I SUCK at it. I am the worst when it comes to gift-giving. I just never come up with clever ideas. I like to shop from a list of requested items. Every once in a while, I hit the jackpot, but those times are few and far between. So, Jeff always wins when it comes to gifts. This year, I figured if he was going with the traditional items (wool and copper) then so was I.

But, seriously, what do you get a GUY? Especially my husband, who pretty much buys himself all the weirdly obscure hunting and fishing items he wants. I wouldn't have the first idea. So, here's what I came up with: wool socks, wool gloves, a jumbo package of Duracell AA batteries (COPPER TOP - get it?), copper pot scrubbers, and STEEL WOOL! Get it? All items I knew he would use. For sentimental reasons, I did throw in one handmade item - a wire-sculpture fish I made with copper wire and beads. It turned out pretty cool - like something you'd see at a craft fair or farmer's market. I even put a hanger on it so he could put it in his truck if he wanted.

Here's what he gave me: wool socks, wool gloves (can you tell we both shopped at Fred Meyer and the socks were buy one, get one half off? And the gloves were on clearance?), copper wind chimes, a copper wind ornament, a copper wrist cuff bracelet, and a bundle of cool copper bracelets. See? He's awesome. And so clever. We also took the kids out to Olive Garden for dinner and stopped by Dairy Queen after for mini blizzards. Good times with my sweet family!

Tomorrow Harrison starts his first day of 9th grade and everyone will be back in full swing for another school/work year. I'm loving my new position and part-time hours. I'm hoping the kids will love their freshman and sophomore years.

But I will NEVER love making lunches. The end.