S.O.S.!!!

As in ship, I mean house!!!

I am having the hardest time balancing mommyhood, wifehood, teacherhood, and houseworkhood.  When the days seem short on time, I obviously choose to let my house take the hit...consequently by the end of the week, the house looks like a bomb went off in it!  We had a great cleaning lady but she moved and in all honesty the house is such a mess I can't bare to allow someone to come into the house to clean when they would spend most of the time having to just pick up after our hectic selves.

I know if I would just spend 15 minutes a day cleaning up after Miller goes to bad, the madness would come to an end but I just can't seem to find a way to get it done.  I don't want to spend my Sundays cleaning, doing laundry, etc.

Any tricks or thoughts?  I would be forever grateful!!

Ali

Every Little Pig is Gonna Be Alright

I love a good ah ha moment (partially why I love teaching teenagers, at that age, they have many).

Today at the Razorback Spring Scrimmage, as I watched the stadium full with Hog fans cheering on our team, I had a moment and I know that no matter what our leadership change maybe, every little pig is going to be alright. WPS!!































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Being a Boy Mom

In high school and college I babysat two sets of brothers that were the light of my babysitting life. Their gross humor, rough-housing and watching them snuggle their mommas made me want to have a son.
I am the oldest of three girls. I love my little sisters, their spying, tattling, hugs and willingness to take their big sister's solicited or unsolicited advice has been a joy over the years. I will admit though that I wish there had been an older brother in the Miller family. I always admired my friends with their funny big brothers (or little brothers who were practically my own).
When we found out the baby in my belly was a boy, I was over the moon...except that I never considered I really knew nothing about boy things. Yes, I had babysat boys all growing up but with the role change to momma, I felt pretty clueless. I'm not kidding when I tell you that I started quizzing our 3 year old neighbor on the different Transformers and trying to absorb his knowledge. I promise I got the "are you kidding me" look from sweet Lach a number of times when I would say Bumblebee was the motorcycle and a decepticon or Optimus Prim had a really kind face.
That being said, I just needed to state for my blog records that last weekend I rode on a skateboard for the first time in my life and what I mean by "ride" is I sat on it with Miller in my lap while I scooted us unsuccessfully around my in-laws' driveway.








Yep, you should be pretty impressed!
In a year's time what I've realized is the best part of being a boy mom (besides making sure he's a momma's boy for a few years) is that watching Miller grow up is like watching my husband from childhood. That boy looks just like his daddy from his sweet (non)little head to his Fred Flinstone feet. Oh my goodness, I lloovvee my boys!




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Happy Easter

As I have become older I have grown to love Easter as one of my favorite holidays. I don't stress as much as I do at Christmas and Halloween, it has so much meaning religiously (yesterday in his sermon,
Pastor McCallum of First Baptist of Hot Springs quoted someone by explaining "If you take out Christmas you would only miss a couple of chapters of the Bible, if you take out Easter, there would be no New Testament." This statement sort of slapped me with an Ah Ha moment), I adore the colors of the holiday, I could dye dozens and dozens of Easter eggs without getting tired of the activity, I love picking out Easter outfits (especially with Miller now in the mix) and its a fun, relaxed holiday to spend with family.


Friday we packed up and headed south to Hot Springs. It's always a mental hurdle for me to get prepared for a weekend out of town. I am always worried what needs to be packed, how tired we will be when we get home and how much laundry will be awaiting me at our return home, etc. I overcome the hurdle as soon l remember how much fun we always have. It's always worth it...

But I do have to remind myself that again after we have been in the car for three hours with a 15 month old who hates being in the car (I can't even tell the story as all it would be is crying on his part, me wanting to pull over to rock him, my time sensitive husband not wanting to stop and my climbing back to the back to try to entertain Miller unsuccessfully). I do need to note though that he was perfectly happy and slept most of the way home, thank you Lord for that.

We had a wonderful time with our family in Hot Springs. Snow cones, the park and preparation for pool days this summer were our main activites. We had a delicious Easter dinner, dyed eggs and went to a wonderful Easter service. We packed up Sunday and headed to my parents for Easter lunch. We had a great meal and enjoyed catching up with the fam. Mom made a delcious meal and Miller spent lots of time playing on the swing set Poppy made. We finally headed back to the Hill (the sight of Old Main always makes my heart swell). We jumped in comfy clothes and after about 20 minutes remembered we had Easter baskets at home as well. Three Easter baskets for sweet M over the weekend, that boy made out like a bandit!!!


































































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Num3ers

*I am totally stealing this idea from one my student's monthly sports column in the school paper.  And cannot move forward without saying he is a far superior writer than his Service Learning teacher.

4: Number of Spring Break to do's I completed making me 4 for 4. Miracle!!!

2: Number of times I have been to morning workout in three weeks. Saluting myself with L-shaped fingers to the forehead.






17: Number of days my home and microwave have smelled like charred plastic as I forgot to put water in my Velvetta cup before I put it in the microwave. I think I may start lobbying Velvetta to start putting a huge label on the cup to warn myself and the rest of the Mom Brain Club that noodles are highly flammable.





118: Miles it takes to drive from Fayetteville to the Tulsa Aquarium or better known in our house as the Fish Zoo (copyright by Ruby).
Miller yelled at every creature under the sea who would pay him any attention. I absolutely loved watching him!! Lyla was a hoot as usual and gave us some great laughs including this conversation between her and Brooke:

(Setting: booth of a gourmet Mexican restaurant next to the aquarium; the booth wall has a perfectly clear mirror hanging on it)

Brooke: Lyla please do not wipe the mirror with a wipey, you are putting smugges all over it.
Lyla: okay Mommy

(two minutes later)

Brooke: Lyla I told you not to touch that mirror.
Lyla: I'm not touching the mirror.
Brooke: Then what am I seeing...
Lyla: I am not touching the mirror...my wipey is!

Oh, how I love that child!!
















2: Number of little troublemakers that belly laugh while chasing each other and try to find the easiest and best escape routes. Knox and Miller, you can look at us innocently with those big sweet eyes but your mommas know better than to fall for that trick...well at least most of the time we don't fall for it.




4: Number of babies banging on the glass door while their daddies pretend they can't hear them.






87: Days Miller Woodruff graced our world...
Endless: The impact he has had on the lives of everyone who knew him and his family and so many who did not but were inspired by his story. My kids spent Friday helping the committee set-up for Cupcakes and Cocktails. I told my friend Kate there is nothing greater than seeing purpose and inspiration in the eyes of 18 year olds about to enter the world. Miller Mac, you gave my kids more purpose and inspiration than I have seen anyone give them in the year we have been together as a class. Amazing, truly amazing.





(nabbed this pic from a friend's FB, a breathtaking sight)

7: Years old our sweet Ruby Grace has become. Where has the time gone? She is insanely beautiful and immensely kind.




21 & 34: Number of school days left with my sweet seniors and my juniors. Depends on the day you ask (I've explained before that teaching causes bipolarism: one second you want to send them to detention, the next you want to give them a great big bear hug) but since today I am writing this I can say I am going to be a very sad girl when my seniors go. They have driven me to the point of near straight-jacket crazy but have provided me more laughs then the numbers post could ever count. My Bulldogs, you will be terribly missed.  And on another note... come on summer vacation...Miller and I are very very ready for you!!




A little jam session between classes

1: Team ranking for online donations for March for Babies. I spoke to everyone for a moment about what it's like to be a NICU mom. I wore my sunglasses just in case the floodgates opened but did very well. Thank you Willow Creek for letting us join you!





761: Number of pics I have taken on my iPhone in the past three weeks...can you say Obbbbsseesssseeddd?






Happy Wednesday!!!

Love and Hugs,
Ali


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