Teacher Appreciation

In honor of teacher appreciation week, Wildman and I signed up to bring his teacher breakfast this morning.  I got the boys up early and we headed to Starbucks for Mrs. Lacy’s venti sweet tea and chocolate chip banana bread.  We had breakfast there too.  The boys each got a slice of lemon pound cake and a kids hot chocolate.  They sat at the bar looking so cute.

I also worked with our class mom on a gift from the children.  We decided to make a shadow box with all of the students’ initials in it.  We wanted something that wasn’t over-the-top teacher-y because Mrs. Lacy is retiring this year and will not have a classroom to display the gift in anymore.  The shadow box ended up being understated and kind of abstract.  Something she could possibly hang in her home.  Also, I found the cutest owl gift wrap at World Market to wrap it in!

Wildman and I also spoiled her with this cute flower arrangement.  Mrs. Lacy really is a tremendous teacher!  I’m very sad that Cutie Pie won’t get the opportunity to be in her class.  The elementary school just won’t be the same without her.

In other news, the children are hosting a Mother’s Day Tea at Wildman’s school on Thursday afternoon.  Mothers only was on the invitation 🙂  Luckily, my mother-in-law is available to watch Cutie Pie.  Wildman has a couple of lines to learn for the program that he’s doing with his class.

“S is for snacks, we’ve tried quite a few”

“P is for puppets and playing rhythms on drums”

I cannot wait for Thursday!  Isn’t the classroom Mother’s Day bulletin board adorable?  I couldn’t resist taking a photo of it this morning.

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Spring Family Fest

Some local beachside churches in our area got together to host a Spring Family Fest on Saturday evening.  We didn’t have any plans so we decided to head over there when J got back from kiteboarding napping at the beach…  Big Red tagged along since he had his boys this weekend.  We put up with him because of the boys…

The event took place in the parking lot of a semi-abandoned strip mall where one of the host churches resides.  It was not the most picturesque location what with all the heavy equipment, piles of dirt and boulders strewn about but it was fun.  And I certainly can’t complain because it was free as well!

The boys immediately made a beeline for the pony rides.  The same lady from the Spring Festival last weekend was doing the pony rides for this event!  She must be on the church festival circuit 🙂  The older boys rode the horse first.  Big Red completely missed this because he had to run to the bank for dinner money…

The little dudes entertained themselves with the tortoise while they waited for their turn.

They thought the horse ride was pretty fun too:

All four of the boys were thoroughly amused by the pig in the “petting zoo”.  I put that in quotations because it was basically a pig and a goat tied to a Jeep.  There was a table set up with a caged rabbit and a caged iguana in addition to the tortoise in the tub.

There were the usual fair activities like the bounce house, a bean bag toss game and the sno-cone station.

Then there were some more unique things like the foosball table (could not tear the boys away) and the surf video.

After we’d filled our bellies with yummy food from the booths of two local restaurants and finished watching the surf video, we headed over to Starbucks for a special treat.  The boys either had hot chocolate or chocolate milk and the dads had dark chocolate cherry Frappucinos.  I was too full from dinner so I just took pictures 🙂

We had a great evening and ended up seeing lots of people we knew at the festival.  It was nice to catch up with old friends and spend quality time with our children.

Tanning Bed Blues

I’m frustrated.

I’m annoyed.

I am drained.

My frustrations with Steph can be summed up by one incident involving a tanning bed.  I cannot tell you how much I loathe tanning beds.  For the record, I have never been to one and there is no way that I would ever go.  But Steph goes.

Frequently.

And it makes me nuts.  She’s an RN for Heaven’s sake!  You would think she would already understand the dangers, and she probably does, but chooses to ignore them.  That’s the worst.  When intelligent people behave stupidly.  I’ve taken to calling it the “cancer bed” when I’m around her because I sound like a broken record every time I get on my soapbox about the dangers.

So, the incident…

There was a time when our friend, B, Steph and I would get together on Wednesday evenings to scrapbook and chat.  We would meet every week without fail.  Rain, cold, sleet, hail- whatever- we would get together.  Then we took a break because life got busy and we had gotten a little burned out on scrapbook, quite frankly.  Our break lasted about a year but lately B and I have started missing our weekly visits.  So, in January the three of us convened at B’s house just like old times.  It was great!

This week I decided that we needed another scrapbook session (at my house) since two months had gone by since our last meeting.  Steph immediately made the excuse that she would not be able to come because Big Red would probably work late.  I told her that I would ask him to come home to watch the kids so she could come over.  “Uh, ok…” was her response.  As if, my request to Big Red was completely absurd.  I agreed that it was a long shot but I figured why not ask and see what happens.

So, I texted Big Red and, much to my surprise, he agreed to come home.  When he arrived home he informed me that Steph was already in bed.  At 8:15 PM…

I sighed but figured that it was typical of her behavior these days.  She’s depressed and I totally understand that given the stress of the impending divorce.  So, I thought no big deal.  She had blown me off many other times when I’ve invited her to do something so this came as no surprise.

Not 10 minutes later, G texted again with the message that Steph was up and was heading to Starbucks for a latte then going to the tanning bed.

Um…

So, I asked her if she was coming over and, of course, the answer was no.  She was heading to Starbucks and the tanning bed.

I had specifically arranged for her husband to come home to watch the children (which is pretty much impossible these days) so she could have some free time with her friends.  Instead, she took advantage of the free time and blew me off.

Again.

Now, I know there are many, many ways to look at this incident.  The fun activities she used to engage in are less than appealing when her life is in turmoil.  Hanging out with two happily married friends is not her preference.  Scrapbooking happy times when everything in her world is torn apart is not something she can face.

I get it.  I do.  But B and I are the support system that she’s chosen for herself.  She’s involved us.  She has asked for us to be there for her. But when we try to do just that we’re pushed away.

When you deal with almost daily drama from someone, you watch them engage in self-destructive behavior, you are at their beck-and-call for babysitting without so much as a thank you,  and they ask for help but won’t take it, the situation gets extremely old.  Steph does not realize what an emotional roller coaster her divorce has been for me and B.  I care about Steph so much.  I want her to make the best decisions for herself and her children.  But she’s not.  She’s floundering.

She’s being rebellious and self-centered as well.  There are so many other examples I could give but I’m not here to spread her dirty laundry out for the world.  I’m just trying to express my feelings on a situation that is suffocating me.

I need a break from the circus.  I’m tired of trying to reach out to her only to be shot down.  I’m tired of just being the babysitter and dumping ground for drama.  My psyche can’t take much more.

Perhaps I need to revisit my resolution for 2010…

Sorry to unload all of this here but writing about it helps me deal.  *sigh*  I hope to get back to regularly scheduled fun posts soon.