Tag Archives: day

Snow day…again

Last night the meteorologist predicted that we might have up to 8 inches of snow through out the night. Most of the snow was to be from 8-10:00pm. It turned out that ALL of the snow was during that time. So, in its usual Southern style, there was only .5 inches of snow on the ground this morning and most of it was really just slush. Schools were cancelled as of last night and now they are delayed/cancelled for tomorrow. This is due to the fact that Charlotte has only two snowplows (I am guessing) and the snow melt will freeze tonight. If the buses can’t run then the schools all close. Depending on what I had planned to do that day, sometimes I am excited about schools closing and other days I am not. I wasn’t supposed to work today anyway so I would have loved for schools to be open. I was rather looking forward to going to Bible study since it was cancelled last week due to ice.

We woke up bright and early this morning and were out in the yard by 9:00am. The kids played with Ella across the street and then her dad, Erik, came out and had a snowball fight with Wilson. Erik is a big kid and is great at giving Wilson another boy to play with since the girls aren’t into snowball fights. Because we only need gloves once a year, we don’t have the proper equipment for playing in the snow. No one had waterproof gloves on (only padded cotton ones) which meant that the throwing of snow only lasted a few minutes before everyones hands were wet and frozen. I am vowing to go find some gloves on clearance so that we will have them for next year. Here are wilson and Erik…..

Wilson and I threw a few at each other as well. Of course, I went to take a picture and he threw one right at me with perfect precision. Can you see it coming at me? Hit me square in the chest. Nice one, Son.

My shadow for the day. Adorable, but overly persistent….

In the end, Miller got tired of the snow and we went back to doing what we do everyday that we are home together and outside…..play baseball.

As you can see, the day started off well, but as it wore on I grew tired and cranky. Miller did not leave my side all day. I love him to death, but it is difficult to have someone at your side constantly throughout the day. By 3:30 I was yelling at him to get his shoes on so that we could take Faith to gymnastics. I think I yelled at everyone. Thankfully, no one said a word during the ride to gymnastics. I think that they knew better than to speak. This was the perfect time for me to sit by myself, enjoy the quiet and to reset.

The rest of the night went well. I had a crockpot meal ready when we returned home. It was delicious and super easy. It was Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. I don’t typically like mushrooms but it was very good. And the best part was that all three kids ate it. A miracle! It is from my new favorite website: 100 Days of Real Food. https://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/04/04/recipe-chicken-wild-rice-slow-cooker-soup/

Looks like we will all be home together again tomorrow. I think it will be the perfect day to go to the YMCA to either workout or just sit around by myself. We may even drive by some houses that I found on Zillow that look very interesting.

A day with wilson

Friday ended up being “Wilson Day” because Faith was at school all day, I didn’t have to work and I only had the boys. I don’t typically feel that I give wilson his fair share of my time so yesterday I did lots of “Wilson things”.

We started the day with a water gun fight at 8:30am. We filled the super soakers and chased each other around the car. We snuck up on each other and quirted water on the other person. We both ended up completely soaking wet. It was pretty fun.

At 10:00am I dropped Miller off at my parents’ house and took Wilson over to his preschool so that he could see his classroom for next year. He found his cubby and his name tag at the table right away. Some of his friends were there from last year so he went right to playing with them. His teacher is Miss Keri whom we love because she was Faith’s teacher a few years ago. Deep down I wish that I could keep Wilson at home with me like I did with Faith. He has only one more year before he is off to kindergarten and then he will be going to school everyday for the next twelve years. I would love to spend Tuesdays with him and then bring him with me to Bible study on Thursday mornings, but I can’t. His school requires that he go four days this year. Whenever I consider changing his schedule I feel unsettled about it and know that keeping him at home is not what he wants, but what I want. Wilson loves school and he really enjoys being with his friends. I know he wants to be with me but I can’t keep him entertained like he needs to be entertained. Tom says that I should just enjoy my time with Miller, which I will do, but I can’t help but feel guilty that I should be spending more time with Wilson too. We will start the school year as planned and change it if needed.

After meeting his teacher, Wilson and I left to go and pick up Miller. Wilson asked me if I would drop him off at the top of my mom’s street so that he could run down to her house by himself. He has been wanting to do a lot of things on his own lately. I have been letting him go by himself to our neighbors house around the corner. He feels so proud of himself when doing something alone that he deems as “grown up”. We walked this same neighbors dog last week and Wilson really liked being the one in charge of the dog and taking responsibility. I am trying to encourage this behavior as much as possible because I believe that it is helping him in other areas of his life as well. So, in order to help him grow up, I dropped him off at the top of the street and let him run the half-mile down to my parents’ house. Now, just so you don’t think I let him run on a busy street for a half-mile, I have to clarify that it is a long street that dead ends and has little to no cars driving on it at all. After a few minutes of his being gone, I drove slowly towards the house until I saw him and then I stopped long enough for him to make it to the house all by himself. I consider myself a pretty cool mom for doing that!

After we picked up Miller, we went to Sardis Park which is right next to his school. We drove to the playground, spent a few minutes on the playground, and then walked through the woods back to the parking lot of his school. He played on the dry mulch piles, walked through other woods by himself and then he discovered the long trailer bed with nothing on it. This flat trailer bed served as our “ship”. Wilson worked very hard dragging logs up onto the trailer. He then started piling up the mulch. Once again, it was all about Wilson so I played in the baking hot sun in the parking lot doing whatever it was that he wanted to do. It was nice spending that time with him and doing something different. Eventually we did go play on the playground for a little while since it was in the shade.

After we got home we had another water gun fight. He chased me around the yard squirting water on me and Miller. It was great because I could actually squirt him back (sometimes in the face) and he didn’t mind at all. He loved it!

Because Wilson got his “love bucket” filled all day, he let me take a nap on the couch. I put Miller down for a nap and then snuck out to the couch for a little nap of my own. Wilson came into the house, got a squirt bottle full of water, and went out to wash the porch windows. He never once came over to wake me up or ask me to get him something. He just entertained himself. It was fabulous!! In the end, Tom’s dad came in and let Wilson watch a TV show so that I could sleep a bit longer. I love a good nap and generally need one.

I truly enjoyed playing with Wilson and doing the things that he loves to do. It was nice to do some different things as well, I am getting a bit bored with sword fighting. Wilson is growing up fast and I know that he needs some “Mommy time” every once in a while. It typically takes a lot of energy to play the games that Wilson wants to play so I am glad that I had the energy and the dedication to focus on him for a day.

Last Day of Work!

I have been working three mornings a week at the Little Church on the Lane Preschool since the beginning of November. It has been a bit stressful at times, especially when Tom is out of town. Because the church is towards Uptown I have to give myself thirty minutes to get to work, where as it usually takes me only fifteen minutes on Sunday mornings. The traffic was definitely a drawback to the job, but now I have come to enjoy my time in the car, listening to the radio or just sitting quietly after the chaos of the morning. It was an adjustment, especially since having the other two start school this year, but I have grown to really enjoy my job. I am looking forward to going back again next year.

When I first started the job, I thought that I would just be teaching two-year-olds and receiving a check for my work. I didn’t even consider a major benefit of the job: working and talking with other women. I get to talk and laugh with other women three mornings a week! I love it! This job has been such a blessing to me. Not only do I make money, but I get to have fun at the same time. The kids are fantastic and I enjoyed teaching each and every one of them. I also had the pleasure of working with Yolanda Chisholm every day. We had so much fun together! I feel so blessed to have been partnered up with her. We like each other so much that we are going to do it again next year. I had a hard time saying “Good-bye” to her yesterday. I know that we will see each other over the summer, but it won’t be the same as spending every other morning together.

Here we are in our brightly colored, yellow room….

All that being said, yes, I am ready to be done teaching for the summer. Mostly, I am just tired of having to get up in the morning and have to be somewhere by a certain time. I am tired of packing lunches and trying to get everyone (and myself) ready by 7:45am each morning. It will be so nice to wake up, drink a cup of coffee, and have my peanut butter and honey toast at the table instead of in the car or while standing up at the counter. Now that both kids are in school and I am working three days a week, I can understand and appreciate the need for summer vacation. It is a time to play together as a family and slow life down a bit. I am looking forward to going to the gym again, which I haven’t done that in many, many months. I actually went today for the first time since I started the job in November.

Little Church is so good to me. I get to worship there on Sundays with my church family and now I have another family there during the week. I am a very lucky/blessed girl!

Wilson’s last day of school

Wilson had his last day of school at Cross and Crown on Thursday. He had a great school year. This was Wilson’s first year at school and I am so glad that it was a good one. His teacher was Miss Michele. She was fun, relaxed and encouraged the kids to get dirty and have fun. It was the perfect combination for Wilson. Whenever we were late she just said, “Who cares! It is preschool!”. She also loved Wilson for who he is: an energetic, silly, caring, smart and fun little boy. When I tried to get her to switch him to writing with his right hand instead of his left, she just told me, “He will be fine. Don’t worry about him switching. His handwriting will improve and he can still be a lefty.” She was right! His handwriting finally did start to improve and he continued to use, and insist on using, his left hand. It is just part of who Wilson is as a person. He is unconventional in almost every way.

Cross and Crown has been such a blessing in our family’s life. They are so sweet and caring at that school. I am so glad that we decided to send our children there. Wilson will be there for TK next year. He will go four days a week (which will be hard for me as a mom because I want him to go less) but I know that he will like it.

Here is Wilson and Miss Michele. He insisted on keeping the lollipop in front of his face…..of course.

Mother’s Day

Each year Mother’s Day is very different. Some days I spend it with my family, some times with friends, and sometimes alone (by choice). This year is was a mixture of things. A few weeks ago Faith was invited to a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese on May 11. I think that the family sent out the invitation for the party and then realized that it was on Mother’s Day because a few days later a message was sent out that said Fathers were to bring all the kids in each family to the party so that the moms could stay home and nap. Brilliant!! I took them up on the offer. Right after church Tom took kids to the birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese while I drove home to read my book and rest. I felt guilty for a short moment, but was then told that this was my day to spend it how I wanted. I am really into reading now and am enjoying re-reading “The Good Earth” by Pearl Buck. I read it in high school and remember enjoying it so I thought it would be a good one to read after all of my light “Hunger Games” novels. It was an enjoyable few hours and am glad that I chose not to go to a loud, kid filled birthday party.

After Tom and the kids arrived back at the house they gave me the presents that I had bought myself the day before (although the kids didn’t know that). I had gone to Rack Room and bought two pairs of sandals. Oddly enough, they were wedge heel sandals. This is odd because I never wear heels, although I do like to buy dressier shoes in hopes that I will wear them. I know that they are cute, but just never put forth the effort to wear fancy footwear. I keep buying them in hopes that I will be motivated to wear them and find them comfortable…and because they are indeed “cute”. These are my next attempt. I also went to a consignment store and bought myself a new pair of shorts, a skirt and a belt. I have to brag and say that I bought all of this for under $65. Not bad, right? (We will see if I keep the shoes)

Mother’s Day is a day to be shown love by my kids and also to reflect upon the achievements and love from my own mom. Being a mom myself makes me appreciate my mom so much more. No one can understand how much work goes into being a mom until you become one. Moms work, worry and pray 24/7 for their kids. It is a never ending job. I am grateful that my mom is such a role model for me. I have learned how to be a good mom by watching her and learning from her. Thanks mom!! I love you!

Here is a video that we saw at church about moms. It is really cute and shows how much we really do. Check it out…..

https://www.imigpro.net/IMPRO/worlds-toughest-job/

Moms, muffins and Manicures

I went to Wilson’s preschool for the Mothers Day Muffins and Manicures event. It was very cute. When we arrived we found Wilson’s name and our spot at the table. First we put together a picture of him that had been cut up into puzzle pieces. Then we ate muffins and drank juice. We were seated across the table from each other so that we could see each other and then he could paint my nails. After the muffins he got to work. Orange nail Polish was sitting next to us so we used that one. I had a cocktail party to go to that night and was considering wearing orange so it was fine. Because wilson has an older sister he actually has some experience with painting nails. (He used to paint his own). He did a pretty good job with the first hand but had run out of patience by the sixth finger. Needless to say, I had much more orange on the fingers of the second hand than the first. I definitely had a bit of cleaning up to so before my party that night. Wilson was still happy with his work. Even two days later he is checking my nails to make sure they are still colored. I am not sure when I am going to be able to take it off without hurting his feelings.

Wilson and I don’t get to do too many things together just one-on-one. This was a fun little event for us to spend some quality time together and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

A Day in the Life

I was going to write about our night last night, but thought that writing about a “Day in the Life of Becca” would be more appropriate. You can see exactly how crazy my life is. Today was a busy one and I wanted to write about it before the exhaustion and the humor of it all wore off.

To give an accurate picture, I must start the day about an hour after I fell asleep last night…..

Miller woke up at 11:00pm whining and crying for me. I got up, gave him the water that he was asking for, held his hand, and sang him a few songs until he was ready to go to sleep. He did drink the entire water that I gave him so I felt that the whole episode was worth it and a valid reason for him to wake up.

At about 4:00am I woke up to find Wilson in between Tom and I, and Faith standing next to me. She was looking to get into bed too. I decided to give her my spot in bed while I walked across the hall and got into Wilson’s empty bed. Honestly, a fabulous decision on my part. It was quiet and I was alone. I was also able to sleep in a bit more since Tom was in bed with the kids who would wake up first.

I woke up around 7:30, showered, and quickly got ready for school. I am still teaching preschool on Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. I love it, but am ready for school to end…only because I am tired of going somewhere in the mornings. Today I taught eleven two-year-olds for four hours. Fun, but tiring.

After work I went to the grocery store because we didn’t have any food in the house. I had been putting off going to the store for over a week. Tom was very gracious not to get completely annoyed with the fact that he had no good food to eat all week. After the store I unpacked the food, set the timer on the oven, and took a twenty minute nap. I set a timer for everything. The oven timer get more use than the oven. The nap was just enough to get me through the day. I woke up to the alarm, packed Faith’s soccer stuff and headed out the door.

Then I went to pick up the cousins from school. Will and John were done with school at 3:00pm. I took them to my mom’s and hung out a while until it was time to take Faith to soccer practice. While at mom’s I fed the kids some mac-and-cheese so that they wouldn’t be hungry. I was actually making it part of their very early dinner.

Now, here comes the interesting part…..

I left mom’s with my three kids. As I was leaving I grabbed the boys’ shoes, Faith’s backpack, an outfit for Miller (because all he had on was a diaper and no proper clothes to wear), and the bag of food to eat at the soccer field. We left a bit early so that I could go to Trader Joe’s while I was on that side of town. As we were pulling into the Trader Joe’s parking lot Wilson announced that he had to go to the bathroom. As usual, I found a spot in the back of the building for me to pull over, open the door, and let him pee right out of the minivan and onto some bushes. As he is peeing I realize that he doesn’t have a shirt on, only pajama pants. Now, anyone that knows Wilson knows that he lives in his pajamas. I usually let him live in them unless he is going to school or church. Of course, in the winter he puts his clothes on OVER his pajamas. Not a battle worth fighting, in my opinion. Who wouldn’t want to wear pajamas all day everyday?

I found one of Faith’s soccer jerseys in the back of the car for him to wear. Then Faith tells me that she didn’t have any shoes on! I tell her that she will have to wear her soccer cleats only then realize that I had left the bag with all of her soccer stuff at my mom’s!! I couldn’t believe it. I told Faith that she was going to have to wear Wilson’s shoes at soccer practice with no shin guards. Not ideal, but I was not going to go all the way back to mom’s house when what I really needed was inside of Trader Joe’s. Thankfully, Wilson was okay with the idea of going shoeless at the soccer field. So, I got out of the car, got a shirt on Miller, got shoes on Wilson, and had Faith go into the store with no shoes (I made her sit inside the tiny cart). We were a pathetic bunch. Here is what everyone had on….

Faith – school uniform, no shoes

Miller – shirt and a diaper

Wilson – pajama bottoms, shoes and a soccer jersey

I pushed Faith and Miller around in the cart while Wilson hung on to the front. I was zooming around Trader Joe’s like my cart was on fire! People literally moved out of the way as I cut them off and smiled. It is too small of a store to have three kids with me – especially ones that looked as raggedy as mine did. The kids behaved wonderfully in the store. I was very thankful for that and praised them for it after we left. I am probably exaggerating on the speed at which I traveled around the store, but I definitely walked fast and took charge of the route that I took.

Luckily, Doug met me half way with the bag of Faith’s soccer stuff after we left the store. At the field, my friend laughed and said that if I combined all of the kids’ stuff we would probably have one complete outfit.

Yes, this is typically how many of my days go. Part of it is my fault. I should teach the kids a bit more responsibility when it comes to making sure they have all of their stuff. Faith went to church the other night with no shoes as well. You would think that we both would have learned, but we didn’t. I have to laugh and just roll with it many times. Having the wrong shoes, or no shoes, isn’t the end of the world. I am not embarrassed by my children that have on pajamas or only a diaper. I am sure people look at me and think, “Poor thing, she has three young kids…”. I will never see them again and therefore, I don’t worry about it. The thing I try hardest to do is have a good attitude about it all. i have to laugh and just go with it. I can’t change what the current situation is, all I can do is control my attitude. I definitely give them a short lecture, but we move on in style.

I finally got all three kids in bed by 8:30pm after a bit of crying and whining….from all of us. Tom is out of town this week and it should be an interesting one. This was just the tip of the iceberg!

The Dressler Family

A Day in the Life…