Families That Play Together..................

Hello Friends!  Happy Summer!  When a person decides to become a teacher, they must take into account the stress, low wage, and overwhelming responsibilities that are attached to that profession.  Having said that, June and July are the months that allow us to re-evaluate that decision and leads us back to the classroom in August.  I am now accustomed to sleeping until 8:00, walking in the morning, and spending at least 2 afternoons a week in a pool floating around getting a tan!  Ah, summer!

Last weekend, I went to a rodeo.  Yes, a rodeo.  I have been to one previously, when Andrew was young, but I found that I am  really, really clueless about anything related to rodeos.  It is accurate to say that I got a bit of an education!  My friend John and his family invited me to go to the LaBelle rodeo and I was glad to get the opportunity.  See, they love horses.  John's brother and his family and John's parents have enjoyed rodeos and horse shows for years.  We sat front and center, where I could see everything, and we all enjoyed it.  The weather was pleasant, the company friendly, and the experience was very nice.  As I sat and watched everything that was going on around me - there was quite a crowd - I noticed one thing.  There were lots and lots of families that were attending this together.  Mothers and fathers with children young and old.  Grandmas and Grandpas, neighbors and school friends were all happily chattering away and having a fun time. One young family sitting next to us had the cutest little boy - probably 3 or 4 years old - who was wearing his cowboy hat, boots, and spurs.  He was adorable!  I smiled a lot that evening, and even though I am quite sure I will never be a rodeo aficionado, I truly enjoyed every minute of my time there.

It made me think about families.  John's family shares a love of horses, the land they farm, and each other.   My family had other passions. When I was in high school, I  was "pushed" out onto the tennis court by my parents my freshman year.  It's not that I didn't want to play tennis, I just hadn't ever played it before.  At that point, my entire family became tennis players.  We played several evenings a week, my parents drove us to tournaments in the summer, and my father and I even entered tourneys as a mixed doubles team.  That became our "thing".  By the time my sister and brother were older, they became swimmers as well.  My family traveled many-a-mile to swim clubs all over Missouri and southern Illinois.  I know families that do many different  activities too.  In fact, whether it is basketball, baseball, soccer, dance, pageants, music, racing, swimming, rodeos, bowling, church, basket collecting, or anything else, the common denominator is family.  It doesn't matter WHAT you are doing, the key is that you are doing it TOGETHER!  As a child, that often seemed a bit smothering.  I know Andrew sometimes wishes he could do more things alone, independently, but these are the things that family memories are made of.  I can't remember a lot of the things I did with friends when I was a teenager even though I had awesome friends. I do, however, remember the tennis I played with my father, the swim meets we attended together, the music recitals and concerts we participated in, or the Longaberger events I traveled to  with my mother.  I see a lot of students pass through my classroom door each year.  There are many things that affect the success of a child, but the single most important variable is the relationship those students have with their family, and how that family spends their time together.  Supportive loving family = Successful happy kids! 

I am very fortunate to be blessed with a very supportive loving family and my most important objective in life is to provide that for Andrew as well.  Every family is different, or course, but I do believe the saying is true - The family that plays together, stays together.  Go out and PLAY with your family! :)  Until later - Just Julie

The Years Are Short

Today a friend in Washington posted this on Facebook.  She was lamenting the fact that her son was going to be a senior in high school next year and how that could possibly be.  When Andrew was born, I became part of a Mom's group.  There were six stay-at-home moms who had babies within 6 months of each other.  We started meeting once a week because we were all struggling a bit with our new roles and the loss of our identities.  The group remained strong through the time we lived in Vancouver, WA - and we added a few more moms.  The core group remained the same, and all of the other families added more children, Andrew was the only child of the bunch.  We have remained in contact through the years, by Christmas cards and more recently through Facebook.  If you read my blog, you know that I am struggling a bit with the speed in which time is racing by.  This video, by a woman named Gretchen Rubin, happiness-project.com,  perfectly embodies what I have been writing about.  In our case, it wouldn't be a bus ride, but it might be a trip in our Nissan van, a story about our dog Kallie, or a project in the yard that we tackled.  Enjoy this video and share your own stories about how you remember the early years of being a parent.  Thanks go out to my friend Stephanie for bringing it to my attention today.  This sounds like a website I will enjoy and be inspired by!  Until Later - Julie

This Boy!

Andrew at 3 days old. 

Hello Friends,  Summer is here and with it comes lazy mornings, relaxing evenings, and fun times.  Andrew has been in Chicago this week with Aunt Melissa and I usually enjoy him being gone for about a week.  Today marks a week of his absence in our house, and I am ready for him to come home.  With his 17th birthday just around the corner, I have been a bit nostalgic the past few days, thinking that he is only a few years away from being gone.  Where have the past few years gone?  It seems like it was only yesterday that I was bringing him home from the hospital.  I often call Andrew my gift from God for many reasons, one of which being that I don't think he would be here without a bit of intervention from above.  A lot of prayer, a super doctor, and weekly injections made my pregnancy possible.  While I know I look about 15 years old in this picture, I was an older mother at age 30 and we were ready to give our child all the love we had to give.  

    

Andrew at 3

Andrew at 5

I was fortunate to be able to stay home with Andrew, so I stopped teaching and was a full time mom.  It had always been my dream to be a stay-at-home mom!  I loved the time I stayed home!  Lots of the time it was just Andrew and I because his father always traveled for his job.  We were two peas in a pod!  We had a comfortable home, great friends and family, and we had so much fun. We moved to Kirksville when Andrew was three, and even though I started working, I still treasured every minute with my boy!  I have written about my commitment to parenting in previous blogs, but there was no other important thing in my life.  Being Andrew's mom was all I wanted to do!  He was such a sweet little guy, always polite and loving.  He slept when he was supposed to sleep, he cuddled when I wanted to cuddle, and we were happy. While it is stressful to be a single parent, I look back on those days with a joy I didn't feel as I was going through it. I was Andrew's mom!

Andrew at 9

As Andrew grew, he became more independent - as kids do - but I still felt that tug at my heart each time we hugged or cuddled.  They tell you before you become a parent that you don't understand love before children, and I can tell you that is true!  One of the things that happens with an only child is that they are often treated like an adult.  This has been true with Andrew!  In some respects we have been fortunate that my sister has 2 boys and they were together a lot, so they were almost like brothers.  Andrew and I loved to do projects together.  We would do things in the yard, or around the house, or for my parents.  Andrew has always been a worker, just like me.  We often accomplished things that astounded me!  

Vacation 3 years ago

It goes without saying that I love my boy!  While he is sometimes a pain in my behind, he is a very good kid. He is responsible and loving, a hard worker, and  very compassionate.  I am so proud of him!  He has lots of really great qualities.  School isn't easy for Andrew, nor does he work as much as he should at it. But he does other things without difficulty.  I have watched him take apart a lawn mower and put it back together.  I have seen him fix items in our house.  These are things I did not teach him!  He figured it out on his own!  He is an awesome traveler.  I love taking trips with him - even though he does get stressed out sometimes!  

Happy Birthday to my baby boy Andrew!  As much as you will hate this, you are still my baby.  I will love you for always.  Our lives will change in many ways over the coming years, but I will always be there for you!  No matter what!

I LOVE to hear Andrew laugh!

Until later Friends, Julie