Summertime Confessions

1.  This morning I checked my email and saw that one of the mom email lists that I am on from church sent out an email announcing that Jake and the Neverland Pirates will be doing concerts for the next ten days at Downtown Disney.  So, I very quickly decided that instead of having a laundry day at my house, we’d be packing up and spending the afternoon swigging root beer and singing pirate songs.  Isn’t that what summer is all about???  I’m really going to miss being able to do things like this on the fly when work starts back in ONE WEEK!  It will be a real challenge to see how much of a “Yes Mom” I can be while working.

2.  Although I’m going to miss being home, I think it’s time I headed back to work.  I’m starting to get pissy with Chris about his work schedule, and that usually happens when I’m at home and he’s gone all the time.  He was super busy at the beginning of the summer preparing for a big festival and several summer shows they have running, but the festival has come and gone and the shows are up and running, so his schedule should have slowed down.  And yet…  Ahhh, the any yet.  And yet he is still busier than ever.  He is working on building renovations for the theater with architects and engineers, which is a huge and very expensive project.  But COME ON, MAN!  We miss you at home!  Come back and play with us!

3.  My sister is officially full term in her pregnancy now.  She’s due in two weeks, but according to her, she is going to deliver TODAY.  She also said she was going to deliver on August 1, but that didn’t work out so good.  And why do you think she is confident in her delivery date?   Not because she is having contractions or because the baby dropped or because her doctor thinks she is going to go early.  Nope.  None of those things.  She is convinced because this is the day she has CHOSEN.  She will now WILL her baby to come out.  Oh, goodness, do I love my sister.  She cracks me up.  But let me just say now that this baby is going to rock her planned, orderly, and scheduled life!  And she is going to love every spontaneous minute of it!

4.  SARAH GETS BACK TO TOWN TODAY!!!!!  After an entire summer without my BFF to play around with, I am so excited because SHE GETS BACK TODAY!!!!  Hooray!!!!!  I have missed having her to get into shenanigans with!  Even Bean has been asking every morning, “Does Say-wah get back today????”

5.  I finished reading “Crossed” last night.  It was excellent.  I know I have said that I’m not a big fan of dystopian books, but the two series I have read this summer (“Matched” and “Divergent“) might have made me a believer.  All of those books were the perfect blend of romance and adventure.  Excellent for summer!  I started my last summer reading book the minute I put down “Crossed” last night.  Now I’m reading “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet.”  My Grandma recommended this to me last year, and it has been on my to-read list ever since.  I’m so excited to start it. (To see what I’m reading, you can check out my GoodReads page.  My user name is KatieMC.  I update it every time I start or finish a book.)

6.  I was in a training class all day yesterday on how to use technology in the classroom.  That is one of my favorite topics ever.  It’s actually what I did my Masters thesis on – how to teach using technology that students are already using.  In my thesis, I designed this mock website that looked like Facebook, but was a place for students, teachers, and classmates to interact, discuss, and learn.  So, yesterday I sit down at this training seminar, and what do you think the first thing we learn to use is?  A program called “Edmodo” which is an interactive educational website with a Facebook interface.  Seriously.  It was my thesis project.  I spent the morning thinking about all the millions of dollars I would have if I had copyrighted my idea and sold it.  Boo.  Ahhh, well.

7.  I planned a mini-vacation for our family last week.  I’m super excited.  Chris didn’t have time this summer to take a long vacation (see #2 above), but after such a busy summer without him, I was adamant that we get away SOMEWHERE for SOME period of time as a family.  So, I booked us a couple nights at a local resort here in Orlando.  We’re going to play by the pool for a day, eat at all the touristy restaurants, and go to Disney World.  It will be Gracie’s first time at the Magic Kingdom, and I think both kids are the perfect age to have a lot of fun.  We’re going next weekend, which is the weekend before I go back to work and the kids go back to daycare.  It’ll be a little summer send-off, and I couldn’t be more excited.  Even Chris is ready for it.  When I called him (at work, naturally…) to ask him what he thought about the idea, he didn’t hesitate at all before saying, “BOOK IT!”

8.  A lot of you asked how I had a picture of Chris’s proposal taken.  Actually, that is a snapshot of the video I have!  When Chris knew he would propose in New York, he found a friend in the area and asked them to stand in the crowd on the night of the proposal and film it.  I didn’t know Joe had been there until we got home from our trip and Chris gave me a video of his proposal for Christmas!  And not only was it the proposal, but he had video footage of him buying the ring, getting his ideas together for the proposal, and even a photo montage of pictures from our entire relationship.  I have been trying for YEARS to figure out how to share it on my blog, but the video is set to a Nora Jones song, which I don’t have the rights to, and so I can’t put it on YouTube, and it’s too big to post straight to my blog.  It is quite the conundrum.  Until I figure out what to do (and, trust me, we’ve been trying everything for years!), you’ll just have to trust me that it is the sweetest video ever!

9.  My dad got an iPhone this week.  He said it was the most exciting thing to happen to him in years.  And I’m pretty sure he was serious about that.  He has been waiting for a LONG time for his cell phone contract to be up so he could get one.  He’s been texting me ever since.  It’s pretty funny.  I texted him a picture of the kids this week and got this text in response: “Is that a video?  Because I can’t get it to play?”  I responded, “No, Dad.  It’s a picture.  It won’t move.”  Cracked me up.  He’s a funny guy.

10.  I am loving watching the Olympics at night!  I don’t watch them during the day so that I can watch them with fresh eyes with Chris and Tray at night.  It is so much fun!  And those two guys are hysterical to watch with.  Most of their comments are not appropriate for a family-friendly blog, but they are pretty entertaining.  Last night I mentioned that one of the Lithuanian girls always looked like she was about to cry.  “I think it’s her make up,” said Tray.  “…and maybe her face.”  Makes me giggle.  You know what else makes me giggle?  Watching the parents watching their kids.  Did you see the video of Aly Reisman’s parent’s?  Love it!  The weird thing is that I’m doing that at home, too, and she’s not even my daughter!