Another Month Remembered

Slice of Life Day 31

Another month complete.  Added to years of doing this challenge.  A moment frozen in time to look back at my family and kids to see our comings and goings.  To see my kids grow from itty bitty babies into tiny little humans.  Life is always so busy, and that will never change, but I enjoy finding the small moments in the month of March that may otherwise be fleeting.  It makes me stop and hone in on the moments worth remembering and the moments that would otherwise be forgotten.  Another month complete.  Another month of memories to be remembered.

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Planning ahead for a trip

Slice of Life Day 30

Planning for a trip with kids, especially a road trip, takes a lot more planning and preparing for many more situations. 

First, the snacks! My kids complain they’re hungry while driving around town let alone driving to a different state! Snacks for the car packed and ensured that there are enough for both because asking them to share is walking a very fine line and could easily cause a meltdown.  I also need to think about early morning snacks before we can eat breakfast too!  My daughter, especially, takes after me and gets hangry! We want to avoid this at all costs.

Then, planning the activities for the car.  I have a secret stash of word puzzles, sticker activity books, magnets, new sketchpads, scratch art, card games, and books. I am keeping it all in one bag thinking these items can be shared, I may regret this decision later.  I do have separate bags for scratch art and coloring utensils.  These I know will not be shared well.  When all else fails, Nintendo Switch with two controllers and two iPads each with their downloaded movies of choice.  Headphones are packed too otherwise we will have a battle of the iPads with an all out volume war. 

Yesterday was spent making reservations and purchasing tickets: museum, zoo, boat tour, cave tour.  Scouting out where we can have breakfast, stop for lunch, and go for dinner.  Phone calls and reservations made.  My husband really doesn’t care, but I always run the plan by him and talk through the timing just to be sure.  He then laughs when I rethink the plan and talk through it for a second time.  Once again, he doesn’t really care.  

Packing for this will be easy.  It was all the preemptive laundry that was not.  

I think I have thought of everything and if not we’ll figure it out.  May the drive be easy, our patience plentiful and our moods enjoyable! Road trip here we come!

Ode to Candy

Slice of Life Day 29

Sour Patch Kids, why are you oh so good?! The fun size bag is never enough at Halloween, I always end up eating two.  Where is the regular size bag? Never to be found! So, of course, I buy the bigger bag. I’ll only eat a few.  I’ll only want a few.  Hah, yeah right!  Blue, red, orange, yellow, green.  I love you all.  So soft and chewy.  Sour and sweet.  I just can’t get enough.  I’ve rolled up the bag and put it away three times.  Every time I have taken it back out.  I have now eaten the whole bag.  I am not surprised at all.  They are just oh so good!

Hidden Park

Slice of Life Day 28

I love finding parks in the middle of the hustle and bustle.  It’s a quiet oasis filled with tranquility.  The morning sun peeks in and out of the clouds. A gentle breeze blows carrying the fragrant smell of the flowers with it.  The water sparkles and ripples as the fountain creates white noise in the background.  Birds and ducks call to eachother enjoying the morning too.  It’s nice to walk outside the hustle and bustle of the city to the slow paced sounds of nature waking up.

No Plans

Slice of Life Day 27

“We’ll just see where the day takes us,” I said. 

Brunch in an outdoor courtyard shaded by the morning sun. World famous Bananas Foster.

A stroll through the French Quarter looking in windows, souvenirs for the kids, lunch to go for later.

A walk down by the river. Ferry boats churning and swirling the Mississippi River. Musicians sounds and vocals float away with the breeze.

To the park in the Square. Palms, pink flowers in bloom, beautiful moss covered trees. Art vendors displaying their talents.  

Beautiful architecture, cathedrals and history.  

A beautiful Sunday to wander and see where the day takes us.

Vacation Eve

Slice of Life Day 26

Checked into flight. Reservations confirmed. Bags somewhat packed.  List made with most crossed off.  Travel documents set out. Fridge fully stocked for kids.  Anticipation awaits!

My husband and I have not been away on a trip, just the two of us, in I don’t know how long.  We randomly picked a destination: New Orleans. I made a dinner and brunch reservation.  I have the names of a beignet and a lunch spot.  I looked up a couple places we could go wander, but otherwise, we are just going to wing it and see where this long weekend takes us.  I can’t wait!

Late Night Snack

Slice of Life Day 25

I am not a big late night snacker, but I do get hungry once the kids are finally sleeping and I go downstairs to watch TV and finally relax.  I don’t know if I am hungry because I am actually hungry or if I am hungry because I can finally eat without watching the clock or having to hop up and down catering to others.  I think it’s really the latter.  I can eat and taste my food.  Really enjoy it.  My go to, however, is usually cereal.  I think it’s because I don’t eat cereal anymore and I find something so refreshing and satisfying about the cold milk.  I also won’t lie, my bowl of choice is usually Froot Loops! I loved these as a kid so naturally, I introduced my kids to them.  I have a total sweet tooth so this is the compromise to eating ice cream or some other sweet dessert.  A bowl of Froot Loops on the couch, yup, that is a hard one to pass up!

Hand Drawn Map

Slice of Life Day 24

My mom is coming on Saturday to stay with our two kids for two nights while my husband and I take a long weekend to New Orleans.  On that Monday she will be taking my son to a day camp and my daughter to daycare.  

“Draw me a map,” she says.

I have wanted to get my mom a GPS navigation for her car for as long as I can remember and something always stops me.  She could use Google Maps on her phone, but something always goes wrong.  I told her to get navigation in her new car, but she was talked out of it.  So, I now draw her maps for going in and around town!

I get out my paper and pencil and draw the house and always include landmarks she knows: park, school, pool, library, golf course. I always make sure to color code stop signs and stoplights.  I don’t write out the turn by turn directions, I just include arrows showing the streets and turns to take.  I always get a chuckle out of making them and my mom always laughs when she sees it, but after she follows it she always says how easy it was to follow and she and the kids noticed all the landmarks along the way!

I wonder if I’ll ever get her a GPS or if I’ll just keep drawing her maps!

Another Spilled Water Bottle

Slice of Life Day 23

Every day, it never fails, someone knocks a water bottle on the ground, and at least once a week one of those water bottles is full and spills its contents all over our floor.  Today was no exception.  Today we almost made it through the day without any spilled water.  Today we made it to the last two minutes of class.  2 minutes! We were so close to today not being the day!

It happened in slow motion as they always do.  We saw it happening, but no one could stop it from happening fast enough.  A student began tapping on their desk completely unaware that the tapping was causing the packed backpack to bounce closer and closer to the water bottle with each tap, tap.  And then there was the tap that pushed everything over the edge.  The hand tapped the desk that bounced the backpack that knocked the water bottle that tipped over and spilled its contents all over the floor!  And yet the tap, tapping continued as the student was still totally unaware! How is this even possible?!

My class rang out, “Again?! Pick it up! It’s going everywhere!”

Our usual routine commenced,

someone start pulling paper towels,

someone pick up the bottle,

someone cleared the area of debris,

at least two people came closer and got in the way of the clean up! 

Our poor custodians! They know my call on the walkie talkie all too well.  

Water spill in room 130.

It’s embarrassing.  It’s shameful.  And yet the students who do the repeated said spilling never seem to care.   Case and point, the tap, tapping student did not help in the clean up, did not apologize, and did not even bother to take the water bottle home.  The student left with the first wave of dismissals and the rest of us just stood and surveyed the puddle seeping and stretching its way further away from the spill zone.  The poor non-absorbent paper towels soaked through in the middle of the spill.  

“Ahh, the water bottles still leaking!” cried another student.

There sat the culprit. The water bottle. Its last remaining contents seeping out onto another’s desk through the now visible crack in the plastic.  

Unbelievable.

Hopefully, we have met our quota for the week.

Still Wanting To Hold My Hand

Slice of Life Day 22

I could see his yellow shirt all the way at the front of the pack.  He bobbed and weaved around friends.  Picked up sticks.  Hiked with sticks. Threw the sticks.  Running, jumping, hopping his way down the trail.  I was near the back of the pack chatting with other parents keeping an eye out for the yellow shirt.  There were times when I could hear them all shouting, laughing, tromping through the woods, but I couldn’t see them.  Then running back towards us would be the yellow shirt.  Once he saw me and I waved, he gave me a big smile, a small wave, and turned on his heel to hop, skip, and run back up to his friends. This made me smile to know that he came back to look for me.  He wanted to check.  This continued on.  He ran ahead and out of sight then I’d see his head pop around the bend to give me a head nod and turn right back around.  But then, he saw me and he didn’t turn around, instead, he waited for me to catch up. As I got within earshot, “Hey bud! Having fun?”  “Yeah!” And then in a single motion, he extended his hand toward mine and slipped his not so tiny hand into my grasp.  I squeezed his hand as we walked swinging arms chatting about our hike and his wet, muddy boots.  There is nothing that warms my heart more than my not so little boy wanting to be with me and still wanting to hold my hand.  My hand will always be waiting.