Families

I'm kind of obsessed with families.  I always have been.  I have been analyzing families for the better part of 30 years, maybe longer.  My degree is actually in Human Development and FAMILY Relations with a concentration is Early Childhood Education.  Some people would argue that I'm not using my degree (I've had a lot of people asking me where I work lately), but really I've used it every day of my life (even before I got it), I just don't get paid (in money) for it.  I remember watching the way other families did things when I was little, and deciding which things seemed to work and which things didn't.  The family that didn't let their teenage kids open a box of cookies when the parents weren't home...not so good!  The family where the mom always had an after school snack for the kids... better!  The girl who always got the same pair of Sears jeans that I got (specifically the pair with the roller skate on the pocket)... a little spoiled, she was the youngest of five kids.  When I started babysitting, I loved hearing everything about how the families functioned, their rules, their meals, their bedtime rituals.  I still love this.  In some ways I've always known this about myself and in other ways I'm just confirming it.  Last weekend I was at a place where a lot of people were giving "talks", I was reminded how much I enjoy listening to any speaker who uses examples from their own families in their talks.  I was reminded of this again this morning when in between doing some school with Madi and laundry and dishes, I read all of a new to me blog written by a 28 year old mother of one baby.  I'm decades (almost) past that stage and yet, I just kept reading and reading.  Recently I met someone and a couple minutes into the conversation I asked her if she had kids.  She didn't.  All through the rest of the conversation I had to keep mentally checking my face to make sure I didn't look like this

I can't really relate to no kids.

 

I have more to say on this subject, but my family calls...

3000 words

Time to blog?  HA!!  This was supposed to be the year that I cleaned my house and baked lots of cookies.  I think it's pretty safe to say it'll be another 8 years before we get to that point.  Yesterday Jake forgot his Social Studies book at school and had homework and a quiz to study for.  He was able to borrow it from the boy down the street so we could make a quick copy of the chapter (the boy next door had forgotten his book to) {have I mentioned that if ever there was a year to send Jake to school it's this one with next door buddy and down the street boy both in his class, his (former homeschooling) teacher is rookie teacher of the year and the other team teacher is teacher of  the year}  Anyway, when he was bringing the book back to down the street boy I was wishing I had some nice baked goods to send them as a thank you, but with a CCD class to teach last night, a toddler and preschooler at my house, an exchange student with field trip permission slip issues and three Chinese friends who I had also brought home from school and who had needed to stop at Target for something, this was not the time to thank people with baked goods. 

It's not the time to blog either apparently.

In the meantime here are pictures (remember a picture is worth 1000 words) illustrating what is not getting done in my house these days.

 

Yes Jake has been sleeping sheetless for an embarrassingly long time!  On a positive note, Madi and I just finished our 19 hour audiobook for bookclub (with three hours to spare), and I'm fairly confident that the downstairs bathroom no longer smells like pee.  That's the best I can do, and I'm not afraid to say it.

Eighteen Years!!

In the morning I will be the mother of an adult!! The pictures aren't coming out in the right order, but that's just the way it'll have to be.