Debating whether to search for and buy the Halloween costume Charlotte claims she wants.  See, for some time my 5-year-old has planned to be a bride.  Nana/Papa got her this awesome bridal gown for $5 in Mexico and she finally grew into it.  I should have guessed she would start to flip-flop like the politician she is when Charlotte questioned whether it would be appropriate to wear for a school parade.  I guess that’s not a bad thing she doesn’t want to rush into marriage.  Then my parents found a Woody costume for Thomas and gave it to him this past weekend.  It even has the trademark hat!  So of course he’s already worn it around the house and started telling everyone what he’s going to be for Halloween.  I opened my mouth and said Sissy could be Jessie.  And now she wants to.  Great, she’s blonde so to make it authentic I need to find a braided wig.  This week we had a story about some Cedar Rapids moms holding a costume swap.  I thought it a brilliant idea.  Fortunately Thomas has worn a hand-me-down costume the past two years–Charlotte’s monkey costume and a dinosaur my sister got from a fellow teacher.  My mom handmade costumes for me.  I’ll be looking online!

2-for-1 admission to Heartland Farms in Waterloo!  Click here.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

Charlotte can’t take me anywhere.  I sunk to a new low when today in her school cafeteria I asked a little boy if I could have the mozzarella breadstick he hadn’t touched on his tray.  Reluctantly he gave it to me,  reasoning with a kindergartner that I would hate to see it go to waste.  Plus I still had some marinara dipping sauce.  Actually my mooch problem reared its ugly head yesterday in a fast food drive-thru with a co-worker.  I asked the woman at the window when we pulled up to pay if they had any “mistakes” to throw out, as I would gladly take it.  “No, Tara, we don’t,” she said.  She knew me as the news lady, but not sure if she knew about my food issues.  I went on to inquire about the breakfast to lunch switchover and she made the mistake of telling me when it happens at 11 (and she’s there) to come by for some free stuff that normally gets pitched.  (She doesn’t know me well enough to get that I really will be there looking for her.)  I came into work early today not just because of a meeting, but because the noon news guest was making cinnamon rolls.  I even brought the leftover milk from my hot lunch with Charlotte anticipating how great it would taste with the hot roll.  I’m sick, I know.  Of course I was devastated to discover all the rolls were gone except one little hard one on a break room plate.  Thankfully a co-worker who knows how serious I take this free food stuff went out to his car to retrieve a 2-roll take home container with pink frosting.  I will be putting them in the oven tonight and I am currently considering opening the frosting pack and taking a couple licks as it sits in front of me.

Hope to see you this Saturday, Oct. 1 at the 5th Annual Pink Ribbon Run in downtown Cedar Falls.  Registration is $30.  Race begins at 8am.  It supports the Beyond Pink Team to help women with breast cancer.  Mama Mimi’s Pizza in Cedar Falls will donate $1 from every pan of gourmet cinnamon rolls to the cause as well.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

The one plus to working second shift, you’re free to be what we called a “room mom” where I grew up.  You know, volunteer in your child’s class and help out with parties.  Next week, I will start spending an hour or more each week in Charlotte’s classroom to help with literacy centers.  Perfect assignment for someone who’s been getting paid to read out loud for 16 years.  I even get to go with the class on a field trip this week, but hate to admit will have to dress like an Eskimo to survive the outside event.  I’m always cold and Charlotte is always hot.  She’ll be the kid asking me repeatedly to remove her coat.  Once a week since school started, I have been eating lunch with her and hanging around during recess–per her request.  I follow Charlotte around as she and other children show me amazing climbing and swinging feats on multiple monkey bars.  I never had the upper body strength these kids display.  The great thing about spending time at her school in addition to seeing her, I get to be around all the little ones she talks about regularly.  Get to know them and watch them interact.  I figure if she gets comfortable with me showing up so much in kindergarten, by high school she’ll let me accompany her on dates.  Who am I kidding… Dave and I will sit in the comfort of our living room following the GPS signal mounted under her car.            

 A benefit for Lee and Janet Scott of Holland will be held this Sunday, October 2.  It’s 4:30 to 7pm at the Grundy Community Center in Grundy Center.  A Soup-Off (free-will donation) is planned along with a silent auction (4:30 to 6pm) and a live auction (6:05pm).  The event is being organized by Colfax Center Church.  After the death of their son, the family has endure numerous medical and financial setbacks.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

Let’s be honest.  For a marriage to work, there has to be a lot of compromise.  And I always tell young people, though I regret living with Dave before we were legally wed from a Christian standpoint it proved to me that shacking up is much different than the real thing.  For starters, you truly do not view the situation as permanent.  Sure you say you’re committed, but in the back of your mind you know at any time one of you could bolt for the door with few ramifications.  Unless of course you’re common law or have custody issues with children and pets–I didn’t.  After doing a long distance relationship for 2 1/2 years before our wedding date, we were finally under the same roof and for the first time husband and wife.  I now had an opinion about decorating since it was no longer “Dave’s place” like in Washington.  I also was smart enough to understand that he was never going to hang the kitchen dish towel the way I like it or keep his 1/4 of the walk-in closet organized like my sections, so I had to let it all go.  He gets annoyed when I leave dishes in the sink, don’t park the car closer to the edge of the garage (something he says I do when I’m pulling in on the phone) and ask him to get something out of my purse.  Why does he not get that my work bag is much different from the thing with handles I carry my wallet in?  I wish he wouldn’t put my panythose and tights in the dryer, but who can complain about a man who does the laundry?  Yes little annoyances will exist between any cohabiting couple, but when the love and the LIKE between you are intact the good far outweighs the bad!  Love you, Honey, since eventually you’ll read this or someone will ask you about it.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

With Thomas still resistant to Sunday School, perhaps the perfect solution is for Dave and me to volunteer in the 3-year-old room once a month–so we started yesterday.  Despite nearly 30 years of teaching experience, Dave said he was nervous about guiding so many little ones through activities and snack.  At least he was comfortable reviewing the provided lesson plan.  Surprisingly, Thomas did not get jealous when Mommy & Daddy directed a lot of attention toward the other 15 children in the room.  (Actually when the count got that high, some were shifted to another group.)  Dave took the craft very seriously.  He got on his knees to help the kids glue tissue paper around a “God loves me” heart.  He even hung back to clean everything up when we headed to the group lesson; nothing wrong with a children’s church volunteer on the OCD-side of the fence.  Doling out Goldfish and water went smoothly.    We even offered seconds and thirds.  Only a few were crushed on the carpet.  (Goldfish, I mean, not kids.)  There were no tears or fights or potty accidents.  I was amazed.  We’ll be back in another month, but the challenge will be leaving Thomas in there sans Mom & Dad next week!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

You know it’s going to be an interesting day when you find yourself squeezed between two little children some time between 6-7am listening to them make silly sounds back and forth.  Who knows what time Thomas crawled in our bed from his.  And Charlotte didn’t go potty last night so she had a little accident in her bunk bed that Daddy helped her with early this morning.  She never went back to sleep.  I had to get them in at 8am, anyway, for flu nasal mist.  So I started off the day, not atypically, overtired.  This state of mind leads to two things:  overeating and more talking.  I don’t know why.  Perhaps because you need the sugar for an energy boost and the conversation keeps you awake.  I rolled down my window at an intersection to ask the gentleman driving the pick-up next to me what happened.  His left eye was swollen shut.  “Rough night,” he replied pleasantly.  Guess my lack of sleep is minor in the scheme of things.  Jump ahead a couple hours to the grocery store where Thomas and I were getting some things to go with the pulled pork Nana & Papa are bringing up for dinner… and a viewer who recognized me said something like, “Is that your son or your grandson?”  And here I thought my spray tan made me look better.  Apparently I need to go under the knife, not the spray gun.   With Charlotte staying at school and Thomas eventually going to preschool for lunch and a nap today, it was cool that for the first time in a long time I was able to have lunch with my parents–just the three of us.  How nice to eat and to talk with no distractions!  Food had to come into this.  After our meal, I was thrilled to come home to a chocolate chip cookie with no nuts–a special batch my mom made for me.  And two co-workers are making chili to eat in the newsroom during Friday Night Football.  What a fun day it’s turning out to be!  Did I mention I have been thinking about the chili since I was aroused from a dead sleep at 6 this morning?

Wanted to share a website offering local and regional discounts on everything from pizza to family weekend getaways.  It’s called Deal Garden.  Click here  for the latest travel break in Omaha.  $158 for a 2-night hotel/indoor waterpark package!  And no, I don’t get any more of a break for mentioning it.   Darn it.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

Let’s be honest.  I look like such a boy in my kindergarten picture above that I subconsciously let Charlotte’s hair stay long to avoid gender confusion. 

My mom redeemed herself, though, with the longer version of the Dorothy Hamill.  Wow, do I look like Charlotte or what?  Wouldn’t you know Charlotte had school pictures this week–three days after her brother scratched her face up in a wrestling match on our bed.  Fortunately for us modern moms, we have the luxury of checking the retouch photo box on the order form for digital resonstruction of cat scratch fever.  Of course it was 7 bucks extra!  I actually have Charlotte and Thomas show me how they’re going to smile–more for my own entertainment than anything.  Unfortunately Dave and I have such small eyes, when Thomas especially puts on a happy face his eyes look like a single stitch across Raggedy Andy’s face.  One year I broke my nose shagging softballs for a pitcher the day BEFORE school pictures.  I still had dark circles under my eyes for retakes.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

Access to the World Wide Web was limited in our newsroom tonight as our internet provider was down.  So staffers turned to their smartphones to get by.  Really.  You’ve heard of Blackberry enthusiasts called Crackberries?  I’m afraid to admit most of my generation and younger is addicted to staying connected as well.  Truly a night when we’re partially cut off is the best indicator.  Some times we joke about life on the job before the internet–what did we do with all of our down time?  But it didn’t seem there was much of it as we had to work harder to get the stories, talk to our boss and co-workers in person and actually deal with viewers over the phone.  Now everybody sends group emails and avoids conversation with the click of a mouse.  I even communicate with viewers on Facebook during the news.  It’s the ultimate in reaching an audience on multiple platforms.  And my blog.  I came home to post this happily reminding myself as I walked in the door that our home provider would still be working.  That’s pretty sad.

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

It’s a topic I’ve discussed with other parents and grandparents since Thomas was in the womb.  When should we send him to kindergarten?  With a late summer birthday (July 31), he will not turn 5 until just before the school year starts.  So the plan has always been to wait until he’s 6.  Of course that means Thomas and Charlotte will be three years apart in school, though only 26 months separate them in age.  That kind of bothers me.  I hate that he has to wait so long to join her on the bus.  But my younger sister was an August birthday and she ultimately thanked my parents for waiting another year to send her to kindergarten.  The older kids in class always get their driver’s license first and obviously have a little more maturity right out of the gate.  Especially for boys I think this is an advantage.  Thomas, I believe, will be academically ready to go but socially could use more time.  And I’ve never heard a parent say they regretted waiting, only that they should have waited.  So we’ll see… that’s the plan at this point.  My little Thomas, age 3, currently in his second year of preschool with two more to go!

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39

A recent Facebook message I received cracked me up–along with my co-workers:

The gentleman who sent it is okay with me using his name and provides this additional info:

Posted under Baby Thomas: Month 39