Happy Birthday, Jacob

My little buddy turns 8 today! Wow....time is going so fast! Happy Birthday, Jacob. We love you!!

Readers Advice

Jack and I would like to go away for a weekend this summer. I wanted some tips on where we could go. If airline prices are not high, we are willing to fly (we have a free ticket). We've been to Chicago, NY, San Fran, TN, FL and New York city, and I'd like to try some place different. I was thinking about NY city and then going to see the Cake Boss in NJ. Please....give me some ideas of where we could go (and not spend too much money)

Company Picnic

Sunday afternoon we were treated to a company picnic. I forgot how much I loved these, as Jack's old company stopped doing it. They had the picnic at the Angus Barn Pavilion. The picnic area was so gorgeous. It could have been closed in if it rained. The kids enjoyed all the free snow cones, popcorn and cotton candy they wanted. They also had all the drinks they could possibly want. There was also bouncies, a "mechanical bull" a log roll, etc. They could play carnival games, and they came home with TONS of stuffed animals and prizes!!! Of course there was face painting too and they had two horses taking people for rides in a wagon. The meal was hot dogs, hamburgers with all the fixins, beans, pasta salad, corn the cob, fried chicken, ribs and a wonderful chocolate dessert!! This is the type of fun the McLean family loves.....FREE....and boy did we take full advantage of it.

Baby Kara

Saturday Jenna and I took a meal over to Chad and Lauren. For those of you who do not know, Lauren was Jenna's kindergarten teacher. Jenna wanted to meet Kara, so I let her go with me to take the meal. She was so surprised when Lauren told Jenna that she could hold Kara. Jenna was so excited and talked about it all the way home. (and she was full of questions too)

A New Appreciation

I have a new appreciation for certain people. The first is full time working moms. I'm not sure how moms work a full time job, come home, cook dinner, clean house, laundry, help the kids with homework, give baths, and prepare for the next day. How do they ever do it and still find a few minutes to themselves? I am totally exhausted. I'm barely getting dinner on the table, laundry is piled up, and of course my house is not clean. The kids are getting homework done so I guess that is one thing.
My second appreciation goes to teachers. Wow.....you think they have it good....I mean they can leave by 3-3:15 every day and have summers off....wow that's easy. Wrong!! I have to be at work by 7:30 which means we are running out the door earlier. I have to give tests and homework and have that all graded and recorded. I have to assign homework. I have to work on lesson plans....I definitely can't "wing it" like I normally do as a sub. I have to give seat work, prepare for reading groups, the room has to get cleaned. On top of this, I have to get this done in addition to my other tasks (maybe that's why I can't get it all done). I've always thought my kids had great teachers at Southside, and I still do, only now I have a greater appreciation for all they do!

Catching Up

Seems like it has been awhile since I've blogged. Guess that's because I've been working. I honestly don't know how working moms do it. Between packing lunches, fixing breakfast (even thought it's just a pop tart) getting out the door, fixing dinner, homework, cleaning up, laundry....I don't know how they do it. I've taken over Jenna's class for the next 3 weeks. I had to miss Monday because Joshua was sick, but the first week went ok. Friday was field day, so I just helped and didn't have to teach. I definitely have a lot to learn, but I guess I am holding my own. It's a lot more work than I expected.....keeping up with her lesson plans, giving tests, grading papers, sending homework home.....etc. The money will be good for us....hoping to do something extra with it. I also started during teacher appreciation week, so Tuesday I got a biscuit, Wednesday a milkshake, Thursday the teachers got a lunch and Friday this little girl brought this cute basket filled with strawberries (yum) freshly picked from her grandparents berry farm (Beasley's Berry Farm) strawberry soap and a muffin. How sweet. It's nice to have some supportive parents!!

Last week Jacob's class had a mothers day lunch, so I got to spend that time with him. They made us plants. They had to do it last week because of field day on Friday.