Kindergarten

This will be my 26th first day of school. My first one was in 1989. I remember my mom took me a day early. My hair had been fixed, my dress pressed, my backpack full of all my supplies. When we arrived and discovered we came on the wrong day, my mom and I both sat on the front steps of the school and cried. Neither one of us could wait for me to go to kindergarten. I have always thought back on this memory full of admiration for my mom. Most moms got weepy and clingy about things like kindergarten, middle school, prom, moving out - my mom was always overflowing with excitement. If she had any tendency toward weepiness, she never showed it. (Except of course on that day she brought me a day early to kindergarten.)

Now it's my turn. In two days, my son will get dressed, brush his teeth, grab his backpack, and begin one of the most important journeys upon which he will ever embark. 

We've been doing all sorts of things to prepare. Buying school supplies: 

Working on sight words:

And counting down the days:

I am mostly like my mom. I can't wait for him to go to kindergarten. I know he is going to love going to school, carrying his book bag, playing on the playground, eating in the lunchroom, having a classroom job, learning how to read. But a small part of me is like the other moms. I wonder where the time went. It doesn't seem possible that my little baby is not a little baby anymore, and in fact is ready for school!

Tomorrow we go meet his teacher and put his school supplies away. And as the details start getting closer and closer, I find myself wondering how he will do. How will he handle the first time he trips and falls on the playground? Who will his friends in his class be? How will he do in the lunchroom? I'm sure these are all normal, natural things to feel and wonder. And I'm not fretting. Truly. Just wondering. And praying that God will protect and use our boy!

And That's Why You Don't Voice-Text a Blog Post

Husband just read my man weekend post. He was like, "Dude, did you forget how to spell?" I looked over his shoulder and, sure enough, the post was riddled with errors. Why? Because I suck on my phone. Like, I really suck. When I'm typing, I'm upwards of 80 WPM. When I text, I frequently embarrass myself because, well, I just suck. And I send without proofreading, which often leads to questionable messages. So I voice-text 95% of the time. I dictated that entire post through the Blogger app on my phone (I think because the computer was out of battery) and then I forgot to proofread. I'm actually surprised it didn't look worse. :/

Husband told me I needed to post a retraction. So here it is, and the original post has been rectified.

Kids, this is why it pays to proofread.

MAN WEEKEND

In the spring, I had planned to take Sister to Oklahoma with me and leave the boys to have MAN WEEKEND. That plan fell through when Sister PUKED IN MY CAR before we even left the driveway. I ended up leaving her with Husband and taking Brother with me. He had a good attitude about it, but he wanted assurance that MAN WEEKEND would be rescheduled. Which we tried to do several times this summer, truly, but circumstances kept pushing it back. The Royals weren't in town that weekend, Brother had to have a tonsillectomy, we were going to Oklahoma, etc. Finally, it ended up that the last weekend of the summer was the only option. Husband planned everything out, but he only filled Brother in on parts of the weekend. When Friday morning dawned, you could say the boy was a little excited. I sent him in to pack, and he came out 10 minutes later with his backpack already to go. Except for the fact that he was still in his pajamas. (And, Husband discovered later, forgot his toothbrush and underwear.)

They started man weekend by building stuff with tools. Appropriate.

Then they stopped by for a round of miniature golf before heading out of town.

Dad let him pick where to eat. Subway. Duh.

They also stopped and got a new hat (because who goes to a Royals game without one?) and a Lego space shuttle set.

And who stays in a hotel without going swimming?

And taking advantage of the 7-Eleven inside the hotel?

And of course, we need to build the spaceship.

Ta-da!

Cheering on the boys in blue! It was Friday, so they stayed late for the fireworks. Brother said that was his favorite part. I am told he slept very well that night. Sister, on the other hand, did not. When she realized both Daddy and Brother we're not going to be there before she went to sleep, she cried and cried and cried. We had to call on the phone and hear both of their voices before we could calm down enough to go to sleep. It was sort of cute.

Next morning, apparently they had root beer for breakfast. They swam at the hotel and then went to Legoland, only to find out that the soonest they could get in was 530. Now Dad had to find a way to kill four hours, so they went to the movies, through pennies in fountains, and wandered around.

Once they got to Legoland, they had a blast. Brother said "it was the best thing ever."

Man weekend was definitely a success. Props to Dad for organizing and planning all of it! And thanks to our friends who gave us the Lego trip for Brother's birthday!

Summer Fun, Take Two:

This summer has been a BLAST. I usually make to do lists and try to be super productive, but this summer, I really just wanted to spend time with my kids. And oh, did we have fun! Take one can be viewed here and here are some pictures from the second half of summer:

What a fun summer! Now, bring on the school year!

{Cheater's} Homemade Donuts

I saw a friend posting on Facebook that she made homemade donuts with her kids. I remember doing this once when I was a kid and it was a lot of work, so much so that I never asked again. But I did love eating them, so I hopped on Pinterest and looked at some recipes. Turns out...there is a CHEATER'S WAY. And I already had it in my fridge. Sign me up.

Step 1: Open refrigerated dough and poke a hole in the center.

The hardest part here was finding something small enough to use as a center cutter. I ended up going with the top of some hand sanitizer. (I washed it with dish soap, of course.)

Huh. Sister's shoes are on the wrong feet.

Step 2: Heat the oil and add the donuts

I hate this part. It makes my house smell like oil. Ugh.

Step 3: Dip in butter and roll in cinnamon sugar

Obviously I didn't take this picture until we were halfway done.

Step 5: ENJOY!

Oh, these were so yummy!

Sister is my sweet tooth. Brother ate half of one and said he was done. This girl ate up two. Never mind how many Mommy ate.

Kindle Book: The Kite Runner

The Kite Runner

by Khaled Hosseini

Length: 400 pages

Format: Kindle book
Price: Free - checked out from the library using the Overdrive App

How I heard about it: It's on my list

Basic Premise: Amir is the privileged only son of a wealthy Afghan businessman. He has grown up with the son of his father's servant, whom he loves and treats like a brother. Until the day he chooses not to. Set against the backdrop of Afghanistan's civil unrest and turmoil, this story is an epic tale of friendship, regret, and ultimately, redemption.

My Take: My Take: 9.5 out of 10 (scale here) 

So many things appealed to me about this book. I love reading books that are well-written. Hosseini's words were so easy, so melodic that I don't think I thought about the writing once, except to admire it. I love reading books set in other countries. This is the first book I've ever read about Afghanistan and I enjoyed all the cultural insights. I love reading books about relationships. This book focused on two huge relationships - the one with his father, and the one with his best friend. The father relationship was often complicated as Amir tried his best and, in his estimation, failed to make his father proud. The friend relationship dissolved after Amir made one bad decision - a decision he would have to live with all his life. 

And I love closing the book, feeling like I am bigger, stronger, better. After I finished this book (which I did in a movie theater while my daughter was watching Spongebob), tears streamed down my face for long minutes. While I wouldn't call this a particularly spiritual book, by the end, Amir has seen God's hand in the happenings of his life, and this story was a beautiful reminder of the way God redeems and restores. I LOVED this book.

Unfortunately, there are some graphic and abusive scenes which would make me uncomfortable handing it off to a 7th grader. Maybe a 9th grader. Definitely an 11th or 12th grader. 

List Progress:

1. I Am Malala by Christina Lamb and Malala Yousafzai
2. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
3. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
4. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher
5. The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
6. A Prayer for Owen Meany by John Irving
7. The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
8.  Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah
9. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Timeby Mark Haddon
10. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld (read before I started blogging)
11. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Díaz
12. Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
13. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (read before I started blogging)
14. Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
15. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
16. Bossypants by Tina Fey
17. Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey
18. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (read before I started blogging)
19. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (read before I started blogging)
20. Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
21. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell review here
22. She’s Come Undone by Wally Lamb
23. Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling - can we have a moment for whoever created this list? "Harry Potter" is not a book. It's a series of books. Sheesh.
24. Looking for Alaska by John Green review here
25. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak review here
26. The Kite Runner by Khaled Housseini