reason # 436

The minute Sydney stepped foot off the bus last Friday, she was a whirlwind of giddiness and pure joy.  She waved a handful of papers in my face, all the while telling me that she was FINALLY the "special kid of the week" in her 2nd grade class.  I'm pretty certain all of the details came out in one breath.  Clearly a big deal when you're 8, and you've patiently waited all year,....because you're the 2nd to last kid in the class to get their turn.
 
Well, she eagerly sat down right away and filled in the blanks and colored the poster that was supplied, gathered all of her special treasures that she would show the class, informed me that I needed to print a picture of her, and that I would need to bring her lunch on Tuesday.  Easy peasy rice and cheezy. I was proud of how on top of things I was.  Usually when I catch wind of these special kid things, I inwardly cringe.  Probably because my 2 big kids were born before the age of digital, so it means searching for picture after picture to scan and print.  And as Murphey would have it,  my printer usually fails me when I am truly counting on it to pull through.

I can still remember going to NYC with good friends in 2007.  A quick trip over the weekend, getting us home late Sunday evening, in time to get the kids off to school again Monday morning.  Austin was in kindergarten, and wouldn't you know, that was the week he was chosen to be Star of the week.  I can still remember coming home really late, tired from our travels and fun, scrounging for baby pictures to put on his display.  Going outside as soon as the sun came up so I could take a picture of our house, and have it all ready for school that morning.

Back to Sydney.  Monday morning came, treasures were packed, poster complete, pictures printed.  Just. like. that.  Tuesday came, and like any good mother I made my second trip out for the day with the 3 younger hooligans.  My first trip out warrants a story all of it's own :)  I promised Syd that not only would I bring her McDonalds, I would bring along a pet as well.  Dog or cat, depending on who was driving me the least nuts that morning.  Well, the cat won hands down.  Fifteen minutes before we needed to leave, Phoebe managed to grab a poopy diaper out of the garbage, shred it, and scatter it's contents over a large area of carpet. 

We made it out the door to McDonalds, and stopped at school.  I was in such a hurry to leave, that I never really processed how we were going to contain the cat.  On the ride over we had a lengthy discussion, and it was agreed that I would hold Ellery and the drinks, Stella would hold the bags of food, and Dylan was in charge of holding the cat.  Ha.  Sometimes I wish my brain would process stuff a little more before I do these things.  In the end, the cat only got away 4 times, and was petted by no less than 143 eager giddy girls waiting in the hot lunch line. I learned 3 things....cats are very frightened by school bells, trying to hold a cat and baby, when both are squirming to get down, is tricky, and always, always, bring a leash :)

Okay, back to the whole reason for this long winded post.  While I was kicking back last night, sitting around waiting for my mother of the year award, Sydney asked me "When are you going to write the note, mom?"
"What note?" I asked, not at all sure what she was getting at.

"It was on the papers I brought home.  You're supposed to write a letter about me.  It's due tommorow".

I had no idea what she was talking about.  I can remember those papers she waved in my face, but that's where the memory ends.  We searched all over for the papers, to give me some idea of my assignment, but came up empty.  I'd bet money that Syd brought them back to school Monday, and they are now safely tucked away in her desk.

So, at 9:30 last night, I found myself sitting at the counter groveling about having to write a note, not really sure of what I was supposed to do.  Clearly, not what I had in mind for the few precious quiet minutes left of the evening. Well, Tim the superman that he is, told me he'd take care of it. 

And I thought his story was really cute, and wanted to share.....

Once upon a time, in a land not so far away...a little brown eyed, brown haired princess lived. This was no ordinary, sit in a castle, type of princess. This princess had a lot of different hobbies. For instance, she liked to go bone hunting. In fact, she was such a good bone hunter or (archaologist), that she found a whole deer skull with all the teeth. She also found some leg bones and ribs....and displayed her collection in her museum.


This princess also liked to go fisihing. In fact one day she caught a 12” bass and another day she caught 16 bluegills! She also liked to put on her mud boots and go down to the swamp. Yes, the icky, yicky, swamp where the ogre’s live, and catch frogs and tadpoles. She caught frogs by the bucket full... but don’t worry, she didn’t eat them.

After she got done fishing and frogging, she would go inside her castle and bake some cookies with her mom and younger sisters....but mostly she liked to eat the cookie batter and lick the bowl. After she finished baking cookies, she would craft... and leave a trail of buttons, google eyes, paper, fabric scraps, and hot glue gun drippings as far as the eye could see.

After she finished her chores and homework (because sometimes princesses have to do chores and homework) her daddy would come home, and they would dance, and dance, and dance. Until finally her daddy would fall over and say “No more dancing little princess, it’s off to bed with you.”
So the little princess would say her prayers, hop in bed, and quickly fall asleep.
Can you guess who this brown eyed, brown haired princess is?

And that my friends, is reason #436 why I love Tim.  And I promise to add some pictures to this blog real soon mom :)