Speaking of teachers....

I always thought my kindergarten teacher was an angel.  She was the most beautiful, gentle, kind soul and she took care of me.  She was my 'school mommy' and she wiped my tears away.  She LOVED me...I knew this. That's the funny thing about teachers.  I don't think teachers always realize how children do not soon forget them.  How many children, like me...hang on their every word, remembering and cherishing those encouraging words, and being totally torn down by the negatives.  Every teacher I have ever had left an impression on my life, not always a good one, but I have never forgotten a single one of them.  Teaching is probably the most important job a person could have.

When I climbed on that big yellow cheese wagon to head to kindergarten, I was scared to death.  I remember how high those bus steps seemed and how totally unprepared I was for this whole 'social' thing.  I was so shy, painfully shy, and on top of that I was a pretty-plus-sized thumb sucker with a bladder control problem.  Now I'm just speakin' the truth here..the five-year old Joelle was a mess (and I know you're thinkin'..STILL IS, right? wink wink)  Of course, mom was all over the pee problem and she had met with my teacher, Mrs. B, before the school year started.  So I felt a little better knowing that if I did have an accident, I would have 'backup' bottoms to change into.  Just so you know, I'm leading up to my 'most embarassing elementary school moment' and it's pitiful so you might want to grab some tissues.  Seriously sad.

It was still warm, maybe late September, and we were still having playground time, which I hated.  I could never run fast enough to score a swing and I have never been able to do monkey bars.  The half-moon climber was fun but I was too embarassed to climb alone so I would usually just sit on the bench with my sweet Mrs. B.  Of course, I wasn't adventurous enough to tackle the merry go round.  No way.  The round and round would make me nauseous and I wasn't going to get on there not knowing who the pusher-around-er would be.  It could be one of the very wild little boys that wouldn't let me off.  And that would be..well, the end of the world. I have always been a very 'safety first' type of gal...'born to be mild', as my friend would say.  This particular day, however, Mrs. B decided she was going to get the whole class on the merry go round and she talked me right into hopping on.  I knew I was in good hands and I was actually glad to get off the bench for a change.  Plus, I knew we couldn't go very fast with the whole class crammed on that thing...I had convinced myself to finally have some playground fun.  I was 'participating'...making progress!!!  Anyways, I was one of the first ones on the merry go round so I ended up in the very middle, as the others piled on around me.  Oh, everyone was so excited.  Cheering and laughing.  Mrs. B started pushing...round and round we went.  I was actually having quite the enjoyable time but was starting to get concerned as my classmates were getting more and more excited and LOUD.  "FASTER!", they shouted.  "Faster!"  "Faster!"  We had already been spinning for a while now and I had already sensed the pee pains but I tried to ignore them.  Round and round we went, I was dizzy, I was nauseous, I had to pee, I couldn't hold it.  More spins, more dizzy, more pee pains.  I tried to get Mrs. B's attention but she couldn't hear me above the roar of the kids' laughter and screams.  It was too late.  The deed had been done.  It was almost an out of body experience because I couldn't believe this was actually happening.  I popped in my thumb, with tears streaming.  I was in total panic.  My pee was running all over the merry go round and all over my classmates' shoes!  They were standing in my pee puddle!  'JOELLE PEE'D, Mrs. B!'  'GROSS!!.  EWE!!.  PEE!!!'  'JOELLE PEE'D, Mrs. B'  'EWE, IT'S ON MY SHOES, Mrs. B'   And it went on and on and on and I was horrified.  Mrs. B stopped the merry go round immediately, she grabbed me up in her arms, pee britches and all, and carried me into the school.  She made sure I got cleaned up right away and held me.  She held me for a long time, wiping away my tears.  She could have made me stay the day but she knew I needed my mom and wouldn't want to be subjected to the teasing that was bound to go down that afternoon.  Before I knew it, my mom had pulled up out front in her burgandy Oldsmobile to check me out of school and take me home. 

After one of the most horrible days of my life, Mrs. B had made everything better.  SHE was the only reason I would be able to get back on that big yellow bus the next day.  SHE was my special person.  It didn't matter if the other kids didn't love me, SHE did.  I had HER and she thought I was smart and sweet and special.  I knew it because she showed me every day.  I love you, Mrs. B.

Homegirl got her groove back....

One thing for sure..my house is filled with laughter and that is a blessing, indeed!  I thought I would share a convo from lunch today.


Josie:  Whatcha eatin, dad?
CTK:  Chicken.  Josie, did you know this chicken actually came out of another chicken's butt?  It was actually an egg, but it came right out of a chicken's butt.  Yes, and then it hatched open, grew up into an adult chicken, someone killed it, and now we get to eat it.  And it's soooo good!!
Josie:  GROSS, dad (gwoss, rather).  Ewww, is this true, mommy?  It's not, is it? 


This was concerning for me because Josie only eats about 1/4 cup of food per day.  Two bites of a waffle.  Three goldfish.  And some chicken.  See my concern...take away the chicken and what do we have left?  No nutrition.  Good one, daddy.  Let's hope she forgets the whole chicken butt thing by tomorrow....or we can forget her eating chicken or EGGS or any other animal byproduct ever again! 


Well, things have been hectic here at our house.  We have celebrated two birthdays since my last post.  Jillian and Chris have birthdays one day apart.  You know, I was induced with Jillian and I got to choose the date.  I sometimes wonder if I chose the right one.  I could have chosen 12/11 and they could have shared a birthday, but I really felt like she would want to have her own day.  I hope that was good mommy thinkin'.  I do get concerned about the fact that Chris never knows his age.  Test me on this one.  Next time you see us, ask him how old he is and see what he does....he looks at ME!  (like I don't have ENOUGH to keep up with!)  At first I was thinking dimentia but at this point I am blaming it on excessive meat consumption.  I mean, think about it....meat, meat, meat - all day long.   (low carbin' it, he is)  Now he occassionally will add in an egg or a slice of cheese, but it's pretty much straight meat.  He does take vitamins though, so that makes me feel better....a little.  I think we both could benefit from some gingko billobongo-or whatever that stuff is called- I just asked Jillian to pass me the candle, when I really needed the butter.  Not good. 


And I have just been slacking about my blog, but I think I've got my groove back.  I really do love to write but I just haven't felt inspired for the past couple of months. One thing I did feel inspired to share were some old facebook posts....I had read some old ones the other night and was cracking up remembering all of this funny stuff...I hope these make you laugh because they sure gave me the giggles.  Plus, I just wanted to transfer these from my fb to my blog so I would have them in one place.  I will cherish these.

Jillian is practicing her Awana verses. She always calls Psalms 'possums'   right now, she is trying to learn Possums 23.

As I was explaining Easter and Jesus raising from the dead to Jillian.....Josie says 'yeah, Jillian...Jesus had to get back up to heaven so he can fix our food and give us money when we get there...and he don't want us to be alone when we get dead'. Lol..she's not too far off base though.

‎'I'm not saying that I'm awesome at tying or anything, but I probably can tie better than anyone in Bear Creek...I mean I might even be able to teach some people to tie up here, like maybe if they don't know how to tie yet like me. (and this is the best part coming up) I'm not twying to bwag or nuthin', mom.' The All-New-Improved-Shoe-Tying-Josie!'

Jillian: 'Mom, it's about time you say two words to me and I will give you a hint about what they are. They rhyme with CHANK and WOO'. (She had just watched the baby so I could take a relaxing bath and felt a 'thank you' was obviously in order). Josie just said 'Mom, I can't eat this healthy banana as a bedtime snack because it hurts my lungs....well, not my lungs exactly. It could be my tooth.' then Jillian says 'Shew, just hurry up and eat it Josie, the fruit flies are going to get us.' No, Jillian, we cannot put a certain family member's gas problem on the prayer list. Mom, you have to remember God made your feet that big for a reason.....Jillian is so sweet. I still wonder what that reason might be. Jillian's response to the tooth fairy this morning....comes out with a disappointed look on her face: "Ten bucks!?!? Way to dig deep, dad...I was hoping for THIRTY!!" ‎'In what way do I sound different from Adele, Jillian?' 'In every way, mom. No offense though. pause. Love you, mom.' Me: 'Jillian, can you all please go in your room so I can have some quiet time? Hud is asleep and mommy needs a break.' Jillian: 'Mom, honey, this is the LIVING room. And I gotta LIVE, ok?' Josie: mom, how do you spell FANKS? Like FANKS for being my frand? I got F-A so far, is that right? Jillian: 'I'm sure that robber wasn't always mean. It's like this: babies-always nice and good, kids-still nice and good, teenagers-start being meanie butts a little, adults-some get real mean and start robbing banks.' I just walked through the house feeling heavier than usual....upon looking down, I realized there was a pee diaper hanging from my hoodie string. This sums up my day to a tee.   Jillian: 'Mom, you need to let dad go buy a gun or a truck. It's not fair. I mean, look at all of your new dishes everywhere.' Josie kept singin 'I uhv my baby daddy' over and over at the dr office. very embarassing for the homeschool mom. :) I love my baby daddy...??? After about five minutes on the treadmill, Jillian looks at me and says: 'Mom, you are going to faint.' She is definitely not going to be a personal trainer when she grows up. I have decided to sit down and eat some Bugles. ‎'Mom, I have something to tell you. It's very important. pauses her movie. I believe in GOD. What I don't believe in is the tooth fairy, passy fairy, Santa, Easter Bunny, or Valentines Day person, but I do believe in GOD and I wanted you to know. That because he is a real person who died on the cross for us and I know he is REAL.' Jilli.. I think she was six. I probably have the only homeschoolers who have a T-Pain microphone on their Christmas list...lol.... -Shawtaaaay-Sing like a pro- Jillian just told me that her Papaw (my dad, a preacher) saw her and her cousin dancing the other day..He says 'Girls, that kind of dancing isn't going to bring you any closer to the Lord.'...I love Jillian's reply: 'Papaw, I'm as close as I can get.' Jilian and Josie made a turtle for their puppet show...well, they decided to call the turtle by a nickname....which was the first syllable of the word turtle (plus the D sound). They do not know what that word means and they did not understand why I could not stop laughing during their show. It was so hilarious. They are so clueless and I love it.