A Little Complaining and a Birthday to Make It All Better

This past week, the Thompsons have been through the good, the bad, and the ugly.  And we have survived.  Actually, I wouldn't even call it surviving. I would call it barely-making-it-out-alive.  We had 1 big move, 2 new people in new positions, 3 Lewis and Clark play productions and 4 days to fit everything in. Oh. And I was working full time. Oh. And we have a nine month old who gets into everything. And did I mention I also got sick with the stomach flu?  Yeah.  I was about to send up the flares. Which is code for calling the Grandmas and booking some plane tickets.  But instead, we said a whole lot of prayers, received a whole lot of tender mercies and I can finally say that things are starting to slow down in the Thompson home {a little}.   I should have taken a picture of our house during the chaos.  Think of your home at its very worst moment.  Now multiply that by 100.  You think I am kidding? Ask anybody who saw it.  "Buried Alive" wanted to come in and do a special on our apartment. You could not see our floor.  However, there was definitely a positive side.  Porter was always entertained.  In fact, now that our house is clean, he hates it.  He has nothing to play with.  Sorry, Portmaster.   Also, I was being so good at being a Mommy and reading my scriptures, and then I started sucking again! What the heck?! So I just bought this to help re-motivate my scripture reading.  You need to watch this video when you have a few minutes.  The first twenty minutes is where the main, good stuff is at.  I need to become what He wants me to be.  This will help me get there.   On a another note, my birthday was this week.  Twenty-three.  Gosh. I am so young! I feel pretty accomplished.  Two half marathons, one degree, one baby, and two years of teaching under my feet. Now, I just need to add some spiritual accomplishments.  Like reading the New Testament all the way through! Or having 50 scriptures memorized from the Old Testament.  You know? I hope each year when I look back, I feel accomplished.  I never want to stop pushing myself.   {To be honest, I should probably be more worried about pushing myself too far.}     I walked into my classroom on my birthday to streamers EVERYWHERE!!! There were balloons streamers, banners, and posters covering my classroom.  It was cute! The posters said Happy B"Earth"day {My birthday is April 22nd, also known as Earth Day}.  I had about 12 students out of my 21 students jump out and yell surprise.  During the rest of the day, I had students and parents bringing me gifts.  I got gift cards, flowers, plants, candy, and more.  I was very overwhelmed with gratitude and completely surprised.  Students don't usually celebrate teacher's birthdays?! I also received this e-mail.  I cried.

 

Thanks for all your work with the program, and for all your work with ------ this year. This morning ------ set his alarm to 6:00 a.m. (30 minutes earlier than normal), got his own breakfast, and got himself ready for school so that he could go to school early to surprise you for your birthday. As we were getting ready to drive him to school, he noticed that some friends were already headed to another friends house (they’d planned to all go early and surprise you). So ------ just told us that he didn’t need a ride and ran down the street to that friends house to ride with them.    As his father and I watched ------ navigate all of this on his own, his father commented that ----- couldn’t and wouldn’t have done that last year. He would have been too unsure about participating, about going down to his friends house unannounced, and about getting himself ready. We attribute a lot of this growth to you and your classroom. Thank you for holding him accountable for his work but for also giving him confidence to take risks. Thank you for making school a positive experience and helping him be included in so many aspects of the class. We had thought to have ------ go to 4th grade at the middle school with the AIM program but finally decided that he should stay at Adams for one more year. I believe that this prompting was a great blessing, as it allowed him to be in your class and to have you as his teacher.  Thank you for the wonderful educational experience you have created for -------. That took an amazing amount of time and care on your part, and we are very grateful for it.   And happy birthday! I hope that you have a wonderful day.    After the week I experienced, I needed that message. Just reading it again makes me emotional.  I pour my HEART and SOUL into these children.  I guilt myself into believing I am not making a difference and should be home with Porter instead.  And although I CAN NOT WAIT until I can be that stay home mom for Porter {exactly one year folks - I am counting down}, I am doing something important right now and my efforts are enough.   After school, I took out my camera, Porter, and headed outside {you inspire me, Abbie Martinsen. I need to take more photos like you!}.  Gosh. I love that kid.

Seriously, this kid is such a goof! I tried SO HARD to get a picture of his fang teeth up top.  You guys, it seriously looks like I have a vampire baby. And although when they started coming in I was dreading it because I thought he would look weird, he actually looks adorable! Haha! Anyways, I couldn't get a picture of his top teeth. Sad!

I have an obsession of diapers popping out of baby's pants.  I think its so cute! I just want to give him a friendly diaper wedgie!

Concentrating so hard on walking!

We have a lot of emotional breakdowns over here, folks.



Some "no helmet" time. 

He loves to hold my finger.  He grabs for it all the time and walks around with me.  Its adorable and one of my favorite things right now.

Is it just me or does he look like a little man without his helmet. Gosh. He is getting so big!!

 

 And finally, after my husband FINALLY got home at six o'clock, we had a homemade dinner. YUM! I emphasize homemade because we have not had a homemade dinner in so long.  Really, that is all I wanted for my birthday.  If that doesn't disgust you, I don't know what will.  Just thinking about it disgusts me. So much fast food. So gross.   And then it all ended by my sweet husband handing me my birthday present.  He knows me to well. This woman is my favorite author of all time.  I love her. I can't wait to read it!  

  Also, five weeks until SUMMER! I think we are going to make it after all!