Friday, February 12, 2010

Happy! Happy! Happy!

Boy, am I glad it's Friday. I knew this week was going to be brutal and it WAS. I don't do so well when I'm away from home most of the day and every day this week was like that! Blech.


But today begins our four-day weekend. I slept in a little--7am is late for this mama! And I drank my coffee in bed! John has today and Monday off as well and I don't know who's more excited--me, the kids, or John!


In a little while, John is going to pick up five of Will's friends and take them all out for lunch at FiveGuys. It's a belated birthday celebration. Will has such a great group of friends. They've all been buds since about third grade. They go to different middle schools now, but they reunite several times a year to celebrate birthdays. Should be fun!!! The girls and I are going to meet them for lunch and then we're heading home while the boys all go see The Lightning Thief. Will (and Sarah) loved that book series and have been looking forward to the movie for such a long time. I know they'll enjoy it!


We're also pretty jazzed about the Olympics beginning tonight. The Winter Olympics are my fave. I'm sure I'll be getting less sleep these next two weeks because I usually stay up and watch all the late night coverage! I'll just have to manage on less sleep.


I'm also excited about Valentine's Day! John and I planned a weekend date over coffee this morning. SO happy about that! It's nothing big, but any time to ourselves is exciting.


Abbey's class had a fun Valentine party at school yesterday. Valentine's is my favorite school party! I love seeing all the fun cards that they all give each other. We bought Abbey's Valentine cards this year (she's obsessed with Wizards of Waverly Place) but I was pleasantly surprised that almost half the class made their own. We played a fun version of Tic-Tac-Toe and she's already begging to repeat it here at home. I taped a giant tic-tac-toe grid on the classroom floor and let them toss Beanie Babies (dogs vs cats) to try to score. You just need some masking tape and five of each stuffed animal. SO fun. I told them we'd play while the boys are at the movies.


I complain sometimes about being busy, but most of the time I'm really not. When I am busy, it's because I'm doing stuff for my kids. This week I found myself feeling thankful for my busyness. Thankful that my husband works hard so I'm free to volunteer in their classrooms and be at their class parties. Thankful that I'm the one who drops them off in the morning and picks them in the afternoon and gets to hear all about their days. So yeah I had a busy week, but I was busy investing in the people who call me "Mom". John gave me a custom card for Christmas that had an old photo of me with my dad and this quote on it:

Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. --Garrison Keillor

It's so true, isn't it?


I'd love to say and chat (still working on that brevity thing) but gotta get showered and ready for lunch with the boys!


I hope you have a fabulous weekend!


Oh wait, I wanted to ask if any of you have any fabulos-o ideas for celebrating Lent with your kids. Ash Wednesday kicks things off next week and I haven't put much thought into it. Please share if you have some ideas. I need some fresh ones.

10 comments:

O Mom said...

I too sometimes am so busy and have that feeling of being a HOMEschooling family that is never HOME... But all my busy-ness is because I'm doing something for the kids and it's such an honor and I always keep in the back of my mind that this isn't going to last forever, so enjoy.
What a nice card to receive at Christmas.

Gretchen said...

I'm a walking zombie during the winter olympics because I stay up waaay too late!

Happy Heart Day!
Enjoy your long weekend!

Tree Frog Creations... said...

Love that quote! So true!!!!

Gretchen said...

You can start feeling sad for me, for I don't have a Five Guys. ;)

Sounds like a fun way to spend a b'day.

I hear you on the busyness. One day, I know I'll wake up and be wistful b/c there aren't any more lunches to pack or field trips to chaperone. But today...I'm awfully tired of the ski lodge--waiting on kids.

Happy Valentine's Day.

Trish said...

I'd love to hear what the guys thought of The Lightening thief. Those are Ben's favorite books and he wants to see the movie so badly that it makes me a little sad that he has to wait until it comes out on video since we have no theatre here. He has read the entire series three times!

Is 5 guys good? they just opened one five minutes from our old house in Washington!

His Girl said...

I've never even SEEN a 5 guys, hadn't heard of the lightning thief, and have never celebrated Lent.

I learn so much from your blog, and I love reading about your thoughts and traditions- small and big.

I especially am holding onto THIS right now:
Nothing you do for children is ever wasted. --Garrison Keillor

Gina said...

Hey, so, the magnetic wall paint is just primer- but you have to use a WHOLE LOT to make anything stick- and then you paint over it. The magnetic sheets that advertisement magnets come on stick the best for some reason....

Kecia said...

Hey Mer! I was completely away from computers on our entire Disney vacation, so I missed your book give away. But I am intrigued by the fact that she used my quote...wondering which one. I'll just have to find a copy! :) Hope you're enjoying your long weekend...I'm still in my jammies & morning breath.
We missed Magnolia's snow, by the way--but I'm not complaining!

Gretchen Magruder said...

Thanks for the comment - -and understanding that even thought I sometimes want to kill my children, I really do love them :)

We've given up several different things for Lent over the years, and last year our oldest daughter suggested that we instead ADD something to our lives....so we added a special devo time together as a family every morning before school. Each person in our family also gave something up (soda, video games, facebook, etc), but I loved the family time together every day!

Anonymous said...

I love that Will has a good group of guy friends and I love that you all have encouraged those friendships even though they're in separate schools. I think it's so important for our guys to have those kind of relationships.