it's the little things...

...that I miss when I'm at work.  I worked 3 school days in a row, with a busy weekend in the middle, so I went into this week pretty tired.  Physically and emotionally drained.  I'm grateful for a few days to work at home, and I'm working on shaking the tired.  Yesterday I didn't have time to go to Bible Study (I'm pretty far behind in grading, unfortunately, it seems to be a theme right now)...but I also didn't have time NOT to go to Bible Study.  I'm glad I went and had some time with other busy ladies; I was reminded that I have so much to be grateful for and I need to focus on that and not on being tired or being behind or work stress or whether or not to clean this house...so I did.

I'd actually gotten a pretty good start yesterday morning; I didn't have time to bake for the kids' lunches this week so I cheated and ran to HEB and got some plain sugar cookies for them to decorate.  After breakfast they made a whole family of pumpkin cookies, and it was a fun start to our Wednesday.  Sweet Noble decorated one especially for his teacher and carried it so carefully to school for her.  I noticed as I was putting it in the container that it was the container with the cracked edge (which normally I'd throw away but I can't find these anymore and they're PERFECT for lunch boxes)...but the point is, I sent it anyway.  I've known this sweet teacher for a long time and I figure she could handle seeing that our plasticware isn't perfect.  And you know what?  It was pretty freeing, sending that imperfectly perfect cookie off with that happy boy.

After a few hours, I put the cookie family in their new home.  Seeing them on the counter makes me happy, and I let go of the guilt of not baking this week.  

When I'm working, one of the hardest things is figuring out where the kids will go after school, who will pick them up, etc.  It's easy because we have such great support, but it's hard because after school is my favorite time of day with my knuckleheads.  It was such a treat yesterday to do something as normal as carline.  We've brought back pizza Wednesday, which I'm feeling conflicted about so we are doing HEB pizza instead of $5 pizzas in hopes that it's a little healthier (shh...I know).  After carline at both schools, we headed off to HEB for a pizza.  We ran into Heather and the boys, and that was probably the best 10 minutes of my day up to that point--I've missed them!

After a few days of a different schedule, it felt weird to get home in time to do regular stuff AND fun stuff...but we loved every minute of it!

I love our kids and how responsible they are...they know (usually without reminding) to come right in, unpack lunchboxes and head to the table with their homework.  I'm such a creature of habit, and I'm trying to help them build good school habits (like signing Noble's folder as soon as we get home each day and going through papers, putting stuff away to file, etc...it's worked since Kayci was in Kindergarten and eliminates the lost papers, can't find it, I forgot it).  I love listening to their conversations while they work, and hearing that little guy read.  Kayci's always been very independent when it comes to homework, and I was a little worried that Noble wouldn't be motivated to get it done on his own.  So far, though, he's following in her footsteps.


Remember these?  After we decorated for fall, I got canvases out so Noble could finally make one and Kayci could make another one (how have we NOT done that these past few years?).  Anyway, the kids painted them last week and the poor canvases have been floating around the dining room, waiting to be finished.  Yesterday was the day, finally.

I was pretty surprised by how Noble just sat down and started painting--and he painted exactly what he told me he was going to paint 2 weeks ago.  You know, with the teeth like this (imagine his little arm going up and down and up and down).


I let him choose where he wanted it, and I figured he'd hang it in the dining room or somewhere pretty visible.  But nope, he wanted it right...there in their room, right above his shelf of special things.  And lest you make the mistake Daddy did, the black part is NOT the teeth...the teeth are the orange rectangles, see?


While Kayci finished her canvas, Bubby spent some quality time with a healthy snack (um, root beer and popcorn with candy corn mixed in).  Judge away--I was just thrilled to be at home with my kids!

Kayci wanted her pumpkin to have a mustache, but ended up with a full beard.  She seemed happy with it, though.  

I made the same offer, hang it anywhere you want...and she chose the bathroom.  You can't tell in this picture, but the bathroom clock has had a mustache for the past couple of years.  Maybe that's why?  Regardless, she's happy with her bearded pumpkin.  After we hung it up she commented, you know, I always end up with the face off to the side of the pumpkin.  I assured her it was art and that it didn't matter.  And you know what?  It doesn't.  What matters is that proud smile!


The OTHER thing that's been floating around the dining room waiting for us to have some time at home is our Fall Thrill Points Poster.  We bought the poster 2 weekends ago and have worked on it for a couple of minutes here and there, but it's been driving me nuts seeing that blank spot on the locker where it should be hanging.


I love how the kids work together on things like this--Kayci does most of the work, and Noble feels like his contributions are the most important.  Sounds about right, no?  Kayci kept a tighter reign on his point assignments this time...I think 20 points was the highest.  Our summer points got a bit out of hand, and we made that goal in no time.  This time we set the goal a little higher so they have to really think about it, since they decided that the payoff is a trip to the Galleria for ice skating (they've been really excited since we went to the Galleria a few weeks ago!).


Noble was crashing around the house and I finally got smart and said, GO OUTSIDE!  So we did.


Last night was Noble's favorite day of the AWANA year:  Crazy Hair Day.  He was very specific about what he wanted, and we had lots of fun getting his hair just right.  Then it was off to AWANA for him, and Kayci and I had some time at home, just the two of us.  (Daddy is doing some work for a local blogger--I'm so proud of him for using his talents to support projects he believes in, not just projects that will bring in lots of money!)

That was our day yesterday.  I hope someday our kids read these posts and that what I'm writing matches up with what they remember.  Or reminds them of the little things we did/do to make every day count around here.  :) Oh, and remember how I started October with such great intentions last week?  That cool box I bought still looks exactly like it did on October 1st--I haven't had 15 minutes every day, or any day, since then.  That crate on top is the work I brought home to finish before Staff Development on Monday...sigh.  And that open drawer?  Kayci did a cool trick with an index card last night...it drives me CRAZY that she doesn't shut drawers.  I'd say that's a pretty good problem to have if it's the biggest one, right?
Here's to a productive Thursday, friends.  So far I'm sucking at it, as I was supposed to be up 2 hours ago and have a class graded by now.  Whoops.