Birthday Milestone Thoughts

It's another Saturday morning..........I'm up early and everyone else is asleep.  It might be because its 6:30???  My youngest turns 13 today!  He's so excited about it. This year, he wanted to have a party with the family--great--no problem.  I'm happy for him at this milestone age, too but the other side of it is that I'm going to be running around getting those last minute "things" like the cake and the gift card that I forget to get that I'll claim is from his brother; picking up socks that just seem to fall off of people's feet and no one seems to remember who they belong to; vacuuming up a pound of dog fur; cleaning up my hubby's grilling messes............... Maybe that is why I'm up with the sun??? 

When my oldest (now 15) turned 13 years old, he was given a cell phone.  It was given not for the WOW I'm a teenager with a cell phone factor but because he was involved in afterschool clubs and we needed to keep in touch with him for emergencies.  His younger brother some how got the notion that turning 13 meant that getting a cell phone----a rite of passage so to speak.  He's been on my case about that phone ever since so naturally, I got him a very, very basic one for his birthday today.  He'll LOVE it.

What I know is today is about my "baby" son  is becoming an official teenager and inspite of the fact that I'm dealing with family members and their crazy, the running around, the last minute cleaning and picking up of things, today is all about him and the excitement of the milestone birthday! What I know  is the happier my kids are, the more broke I become!! 

I just might need a coffe mug of wine at the end of today..........we'll see.

Field Trip to UMD

Today I took my students to the University of Maryland for a simple tour.  The bus arrived on time, my chaperones arrived on time and the kids were ready to go.  Everything was looking great.......we pulled out of the parking lot only to make a u-turn going back to the building to student meds.  I should have know that this was an omen--not a good one!

One the way, one of the drivers went the wrong way on the Beltway--not sure how that happened but eventually, we all ended up in the same place--the visitor's center at UMD. When we arrived, the wind picked up and began to blow us all over the place.  Not expecting this kind of change in the weather, we were all unprepared. The tour went great, the kids learned a lot and I got to go on a memory trip.  Things were awesome. The bus returned on time, got us back on the road---right into lunch hour traffic:(  What should have been a short 15 minute drive ended up taking us closer to 30 minutes.  The kids were so patient---they didn't really pay that much attention to the amount of time we were spending on the road.

At the end of the day, what I know is that it is important to get  your kids exposed to as many things like college at an early age. What I know is that things that as an adult I notice, my students thankfully don't see.  What I know is that spending the day surrounded by enthusiasm and genuine joy adds at least 100 years to your life:)

How I got started

A few weeks ago, I was in my local Target and met a woman asking if I could spare a dollar.  Reluctantly, I gave it to her and the conversation began. Being the talker that I am, I shared with her that I never come to the store with my kids simply because of how they behave.  She found my story humorous and asked me if I was familiar with the Pioneer Woman's blog.  I wasn't.  She continued chatting with me about how I should start a blog.  Here I am, a few weeks later starting a blog that I'm not sure about in many ways. 

Jennifer, where ever you are...........thank you!