Red Wine and a Screen Door

The Husband is a really great uncle.  He loves him some Pat Pat.  So tonight on my way home I snagged Pat Pat from tearing apart his Gammy and Pappy's house and brought him over to see his Uncle Bubbs.  They fed Cricket.  They played in the yard with Jacques and Bay-Oui (both very "French" sounding in Pat Pat's language).  They fed Cricket.  They went through DVDs.  They fed Cricket.  They went in and out of the screened in porch because that is Pat Pat's favorite thing to do here.  He loves the sliding screen door.

Well, then later on tonight-Pat Pat- you got your Uncle Bubbs and his red, red wine.  Real nice.

An Early Start

I suppose I just need it.  I'm looking for Christmas music on the radio rather than being shocked that it is here so soon.  I can't wait to start putting a 12 for the date on my checkbook.  I'm counting down the days until I get to pull down the giant Rubbermaid boxes labeled "Reindeer" or "Ornaments-fragile".  Now, don't worry, I'm not trying to skip right over Thanksgiving and not give it enough attention-no.  I do love some Thanksgiving- turkey, sweet potato pie, ambrosia, all of it.  But I just want to soak up Christmas- actual Christmas- a bit longer this year.  I need it all just a little bit longer than before.  So I guess until everyone else is with me and my early decking of the halls, I'll spend my time with Cindy Lou and Linus. 

 Just 6 more weeks left...

A Lazy Saturday

I love lazy Saturdays.  I love the moment to catch my breath and find myself again.  It takes some time to find me underneath the week of dirty clothes, stresses, pet hair, and dishes; but, I'm in there somewhere.  I get a chance to reflect on my week- think about what went well and what went wrong.  And I had lots to reflect on from this past week.  It was a long week to say the least and it felt like like everything was going wrong.  Until yesterday. 
I realized yesterday that I had created a family.  (No, crazy Nettie and hopeful Papa, no grandkids yet).  And in all honesty, I can't take credit for this creation.  It's one of those things that just seems to happen.  I have a family of students in my classroom.  If need be, I know that these youngins would go to bat for me.  Don't get me wrong- they never miss an opportunity to tell me that I'm having a bad hair day or my outfit doesn't match.  But when it comes down to it, they will always protect me and each other.   
Even though many of them have confused ideas about family, they are learning what it means to have a safe place with consistency.  My only hope is that one day (after they graduate from college and have a job), they foster their own families with the same values, honesty, and unconditional love that has emerged in our classroom.
And so now on my lazy Saturday, I hold onto that small beautiful accomplishment of my week.  I put all of the "what went wrong" to the side and stay encouraged that there are still things that are going well.