Cindy's Life as She Knows It

 This was the last week of my summer break from my school job. I missed everyone and the structure, but I wouldn’t say I was ready to give up the freedoms of summer.  This was Dakota’s last week of summer break and also his last week of high school training camp…ever. Our first preseason game of his senior year is tomorrow.   This week I fulfilled my promise to take my oldest granddaughter, Natalie -age 12, to DC to take her time in the Natural History Museum so she could read all the things. We spent two whole hours in the gems and stones section while she soaked up every little bit of knowledge she could about what she was seeing. She was a pleasure to be around and I enjoyed being with her. On the way home we stopped to get Rebecca’s new glasses. She just went to the eye doctor and discovered she has very poor vision. I sat with her as she saw the world clearly for the first time and she was most amazed that the carpet was made of “strings” and not just a blob.  A...

 I have known it was coming. I have dreaded it for years. August 9,2023 Dakota started his senior year of football (#54💙) and there is a big countdown clock hanging over my head. I am determined to push it aside and enjoy the coming season and year, adding memories to the ones we have created in youth and high school football with the boys since 1999.   He is excited yet calm, takes care of himself and his things and even bought his own football stuff this year after working his summer job.  Today we paid for his parking spot and to “chalk it up” for his space the day before school starts. He didn’t want to do it so Kris and the kids and I will do it for him and surprise him. So many things to add to the calendar!  Tomorrow is his first scrimmage. He has to be on the bus at 7am for a 9am start time in LaPlata. Even though we have to be up and out early, these are the times I will miss the most. I love away games for the excitement of a different school, a nice meal ...

 Somehow it has been four years since I last wrote in my blog. Address changes, we all lived through the COVID debacle, and I left daycare behind and changed careers last November. I am now in the last few days of my first year with Anne Arundel County Public Schools and I love my job!  I enjoy working with the kids, being a part of our school community and making friends with so many wonderful men and women who all, like me, come to work each day to help educate these young children.  Summer is fast approaching. Dakota is 18 (how did THAT happen) and finishing his Junior year of high school. He is driving now and Monday morning he starts work at his first job. I am beyond proud of the young man he has become. More on him in future posts, you can be sure! We lost our two big dogs, Raven and Riley in 2020 and late that year we got our newest addition, a shepherd mix named Jaxon. He is crazy and loving and crazy and expressive and crazy and loyal. Lots of pictures will be p...

As I navigate my world without my partner of 30 years I find myself more resilient than I thought I would be, but I struggle with the memories when I go to the places we have gone together, which seems to be everywhere.  Today I went up to the football fields where both our sons grew up playing on that field and while there was only Coach Chris working with the 2-4 year olds, my fourteen year old son assistant coaching, I could hear from years ago my husband with his loud, energetic voice coaching the boys, yelling the drills, instilling discipline and work ethic.  I was so proud of him.  I am still so proud of the coach he is, though I am disappointed in the man he is showing himself to be currently.  I miss him with all my heart and I miss being his wife.  I was so proud to be his wife.  He doesn't remember anything good in our years, but we had a loving, connected relationship for a long time.  I will survive.  I have no choice.  But I wil...

Today I had the pleasure of being responsible for two one year old boys.  The little one just celebrated his first birthday and the older one is only two months from being two.  They were totally different, but so much alike!  First, these are the cutest two little boys you will ever meet.  One with dark hair and eyes and olive skin and the other fair with blond hair and blue eyes.  When God was handing out looks, these two little guys got an extra dose!  Second, they love to eat!  The older of the two would say "Eat! Eat!" and the younger knew he was going to get in on this action too!  There were crackers, cookies, applesauce, more crackers...  Third, they were busy!  Oh my gosh!  They had so much energy!  I was in the playroom with them watching them learn to play together and making suggestions, giving out hugs, changing diapers and doling out the snacks.  They were in and out and up and on and under and over and throu...

2019 has been the year of change and currently it is July 2019 and I have turned 54 and my life is different in almost every way than it was a year ago.  Although it came in full of promise and hope, 2019 was destined to be a year of challenges and triumphs, fear, failure and success. In February we were told that - SURPRISE - our oldest daughter, who I help with daycare for my three granddaughters, 7, 5 and 4, at least three days a week while she works, was pregnant with my first grandson.  Wow!  I was angry at the load it was putting on me, thrilled to be getting a grandson, worried about my daughter, who was not physically supposed to carry another child and not financially in a place to have one. Also in February my older son, engaged and moved out with his fiance of six months, broke the engagement and accepted a job in Mississippi.  It wasn't pretty and, although mutual, we lost an important person in our life that we expected to be our family member. ...

It's currently February of 2018.  Last I wrote was in August.  Then I blinked and it was Halloween.  And I blinked and it was Thanksgiving.  Half a blink to Christmas.  Blink again, two months into the new year.  Today I am babysitting my three granddaughters and homeschooling my son.  We are having a relaxing morning since my son is finished his homework from his tutorial for the week and watching the first ice skating competition of the 2018 Winter Olympics.  The Olympics are a great learning opportunity for families.  You can take the opportunity to use a map to locate all the countries that are participating.  You can learn about the different sports that are involved.  You can tally the medals won, creating a big wall chart with flags and sticky notes.  I am a little sad because this is the last opportunity I have with my son to make it a part of his lessons.  The next time we have Olympics in two years he will be a h...

I have come to realize August is the beginning and the end.  The beginning of "cram it all in" for anything you failed to do this summer.  The beginning of youth and high school football.  The beginning of all the back to school planning and the beginning of thoughts turning to fall, Halloween and all things pumpkin.  August first is really the end of the lazy days of summer.  June and July are all about "we have all summer" and there's no rush to do much of anything because we have "so much time".  Then August 1st arrives and everyone realizes that in one month summer is over and school starts and where did our summer go?  There's a crazy sort of rush to relax.  Get in the amusement parks, pool days and meetings with friends.  But if you are like us, we have already lost every evening to football starting August 1st and all the planning for homeschool and my classes at Heritage must be done soon and I haven't even begun! So here's to you...

Tuesday is August first and I am waist deep in homeschool planning, which is nothing new.  I am also planning for three classes that I now teach at a homeschool tutorial so that's a bit different, but the biggest change I would say is that this summer not only am I learning what it's like to be off work for a few months and home again every day, but I also do not have any daycare kids in the house.  I think for just about the first time in almost 30 years I do not have any little people coming to spend the day with us for fun in the sun.  The good thing about that is that there is no alarm clock most days, Dakota sleeps in and I get much more work done.  It's quieter.  The hubby isn't on me for daycare chaos and I don't have to plan activities to keep anyone busy.  The bad thing is also that I don't have to plan activities to keep anyone busy.  Gone for now (until my granddaughters are a bit older) are the "summer camp" days of Koda and his friends doi...

Summertime - not my favorite season by far, but the best part is here!  It's almost over!  Seriously, that's how I see it.  The beginning of August means the beginning of the end and that's fine with me!  Bring on September with crisp mornings, cool nights, hoodies, clear skies and NO HUMIDITY!  It's been ridiculous here for the past few weeks with heat indices around 110 degrees and that's just rude.  No one wants to be out in that and my husband's high school football team and my son's youth football team have been practicing and it's hard on them and hard on me to even watch them! So for now I'll sweat and swelter and try to enjoy the days that are free from schedules and demands.  I'll plan for homeschool and cooperative and hide out in my air conditioning, dreaming of fall and all the wonderful things that come with it.

On Tuesday one of the young men on my son's 100lb football team lost his mother suddenly.  She had been sick and had cancer, but had beaten it once.  It came back quickly with a vengence and her death was a shock to all.  I had to tell my 11 year old that his buddy's mom passed away.  This week has been one of my reflection.  He has asked a lot of pointed questions about death and about how his friend will adjust and how his life will change since his mom was a single parent and he had no siblings.  I answered him honestly when I could and we discussed things when I wasn't sure.  It gave me insight into the caring, thoughtful young man I am raising when what I usually get is often a snarky and rude kid.   However, I have really traumatized my son today. We had another long talk about death in the car coming back from Ecoadventures before going to the funeral home. I was explaining the difference in a viewing and a funeral. He wanted to know why...

     Yesterday tanked after lunch time. Dakota was a beast, I felt defeated, Dad came home stressed and it just led to a tumultuous night with lots of grouching and arguments and tears. Yuk. Then to top it all off we learned that one of the kids on our football team lost his mom suddenly last night. Heartbreaking and shocking and of course it brings to light your own mortality.       So today I woke up ready to make this a better day. Dakota and I had a nice eggs and bacon breakfa st and talked about what the problems were in our day yesterday and how we are all going to work to fix them. Neither of us likes when we are all angry at one another. After breakfast we got to work on morning chores, welcomed the girls and started our volcano, putting it together and then using paper mache to do the outside. He worked on a Scholastic News while the paper mache is drying.  While he paints it I am going to make witches brew with the girls.  I am ho...

Today was our first day back to homeschooling since the Christmas break and it went exceptionally well.  I am trying to work with the advice I received from my homeschool reviewer who was a retired 30 year veteran teacher of kids Dakota's age.  He told me ways to incorporate Dakota's strengths with my demands to keep things more peaceful here at home.  I felt like we were never doing enough and he said we were doing plenty and had a great well rounded curriculum. My osn and I started our morning with less grouching since the puppy made waking up much more pleasant.  We got breakfast and morning chores out of the way and then tried my new Amazon Fire Stick to watch Disney's Johnny Tremain from Amazon Prime.  With the Fire Stick we were able to put it right onto the big screen.  We were trying to read the book, but it was going so slowly and Dakota wasn't enjoying it so I went with the advice I received and just allowed him to go ahead and watch the video t...

2016 has arrived.  I can't say I am glad 2015 is gone because all in all it was a good year for me. minus the cellulitis my granddaughter was hospitalized for late in the year and a few other odds and ends.  I am looking forward to this new year, but my resolutions are not anything outlandish.  I just want to continue what I am doing, getting better at everything I am trying, making good decisions, being a better wife, mom, nana, friend etc.  I have three of my three kids living at home right now.  One has returned to get herself together and get some medical attention she has needed for a long time.  One who is graduating college and hoping to move onward and upward in the upcoming months.  I try to not to think about that.  He deserves his life, but he's always been such a huge part of mine and I had always dreamed he would work nearby so that he could continue to be a part of vacations and football Sundays and family outings.  I know he ne...

Twas the eve before Christmas Eve and all through the room The presents weren't wrapped and floors needed a broom The kitty was laying wrapped round my head And the tween, he was playing video games on his bed Ah, the day before THE day before.  I should be baking and wrapping and singing carols, but I am not.  The husband and I went out for lunch and I had a rare drink and now I'm just tired and lazy.  The presents are piled in the closet downstairs and I keep saying I am going to go down and wrap so I don't get caught doing it all tomorrow.  The oven has been preheating for 30 minutes for those black bottoms I am going to make, but all that's happened so far is the cream cheese is getting soft for the mix.  The fire place was on and now the livingroom is a sauna.  What to do, what to do?  Nothing or something?  Tomorrow will be here in the blink of an eye and I'll really regret not doing anything, but I just don't see it happening.  M...

I cannot believe it's 2 weeks before Christmas already!  Here in Maryland it's 65 degrees and sunny and has been for weeks.  It's definitely not the norm!  We have done some Christmas crafts and decorated early for the holiday and it has helped get us in the Christmas spirit.  Last weekend we took our two sons and our 4 year old granddaughter and carried out our tradition of cutting down our own Christmas tree at Friendship Tree Farm in Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.  We found another "perfect tree", this one shorter and more round than our normal ones, and dad cut it down while the two strong boys watched...go figure.  Then we went in to have dinner at "our" Chesapeake Beach restaurant that I still don't know the name of, but got our usual excellent quality food and enjoyed every single bite.  Next was on to North Beach, just down the road, but we got a pleasant surprise when we realized that because we were a week earlier than usual we were just in ti...

Yesterday was a homeschool day with just my son and I.  No daycare.  No grandbabies.  We slept in, a little later than intended, and got started with our much awaited American Revolution unit.  This son, son #2, is all about battles, so in learning American History, wars are high on his list of interesting things to learn about.  We watched a video called Great Americans:  The Revolutionary War and heard some cool things about a few people we had heard of already and then several people that played a lesser known, although no less important part in the war.  We then worked on Vocabulary Soldiers for our bulletin board while we watched 10 Things I Didn't Know About:  The American Revolution.  We really enjoyed that and are now going to record that series so we can watch some more of those shows about different historical things. After our videos we put together our bulletin board and made a Cause and Effect domino cover for our unit that we ...

Today was nothing short of Monday.  It started off bad, didn't get better, but fortunately, I suppose, didn't really get worse.  It's Mondayness just went on and on. My husband was off work AGAIN (love you, honey) and that always means it's hard to pull myself out from under the covers in the morning.  Since my son, 11 and a terrible sleeper lately, had to have come in my room 5 times last night to tell me he couldn't sleep I was sure when his alarm went off he'd tell me that too.  Nope.  He said you were sleeping so I turned it off and went back to bed.  Ugh.  While it was nice to sleep I had no downtime for planning or coffee and barely time for a shower before the granddaughters came. Dakota was a bear to get up.  Even more so than usual.  A big, unhappy grizzly bear.  He didn't have any downtime either since we got up late and since I had given him Friday off of homeschooling so he had to make his bed, get dressed and get right t...

True to what the weatherman said, Sunday started a new trend of cooler weather.  Dakota's friend Dominic spent the night Sunday night and left around 10:30 Monday morning.  I had hoped to get a lot of work in after that, but my son was not in a very good place.  His focus issues were maximized and he was grumpy and whiny.  We got some schoolwork done, but not nearly as much as I would have liked.  He had a 90 minute EcoAdventure class from 4-5:30 and then with football practice moved to Tuesday this week we got a night in.  Again, a family favorite thing! Tuesday was cloudy and cool.  Dakota was in a much better mood and we spent the day working hard.  While a pizza was in the oven cooking for lunch I introduced him to the Beatles and their music.  We are doing a unit study of the United Kingdom so this fit perfectly.  He couldn't understand what the big deal was, lol.  After lunch we got a lot done and even made the sensory (colo...