The Race is On: May 2009

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Finished-- school, of course)

It's is Tuesday. I have looked forward to this day for a long time. Not because there is anything special about this day, but precisely because there is not. At 9:57 am my children are still in bed and we don't have to go anywhere. My house is mostly clean, we have enough food in the house for several days and I get to go to a ball game tonight that I can just sit back and enjoy. Life is good. It's called summer vacation! Maybe for everyone else it began Friday or maybe even yesterday, but for me it is really today that I get to begin relaxing.
As Rachel and Stephanie have already stated, the past month has been really hectic. Each day I thought would get better, but somebody always wanted a slice of my time (and my checkbook).
Don't get me wrong, we have really enjoyed the end of school activities and I like my job and the kids I work with, but everybody needed a break. That is why I am enjoying this morning so much. I am not going to "plan" anything (other than going to the high school boys game tonight- but that's different you know!) for today. I am hoping to enjoy many more days like this one and many of the days filled with plans as well.

Michelle's Top Ten Favorite Books

Job (mostly the last five chapters--they are a great reminder of who's who)
James (if I could only do what it says)
Pride and Prejudice
Sense and Sensibility
Dr. Seuss's ABC Book (the more I learn about my job, the more I think that this book helped my children's education more than any book I read them)
Love, Ruby Lavender (I loved reading it with my mother and daughter one weekend)
Heat (I love reading and Alex loves baseball--a perfect one for us to read together)
The Mitford Series
How My Parents Learned to Eat (a really sweet love story--in a children's book)
The Red Tent

More thoughts by Alex

As previously mentioned, Alex is a different type of thinker than the rest of us. This was once again brought to our attention as he was reading our family devotional a few nights ago. Alex volunteered to read that night and began, "As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives . . . " With the small pause, he developed a grin which spread across his entire face just as his father and I realized what he was thinking. Jeff burst into laughter as I asked him if he could ever hear that scripture the same way again. The next day I told my co-worker (who tends to also think like Alex). Of course, she enjoyed it immensely. Her first question was, "What color of olives did he picture?"
Sadly, I was not creative enough to ask Alex until Kathy had asked. Alex said they were black.

Random Thoughts

Alex has a very different way of thinking than anyone else in his household. We have always said that it must be difficult for the baby of the family to live in a house full of first borns. Let's just say he makes for an interesting conversation often. The funniest things he says are totally innocent thoughts that seem to come from absolutely nowhere. Tonight he had one of those random thoughts that we thought was hilarious. I will relay it, but it may lose something in the translation.
We lit Jeff's candles and sang Happy Birthday. As I was cutting the cake and scooping ice cream, Alex says, "I bet when they sing to Yao Ming they just say Happy Birthday to Yao, Happy Birthday to Yao . . ."