A$$ Burgers...SAY What?!?!?!

Seriously? Again? You have NO IDEA…and for THAT you should count your blessings.  What am I talking about you may ask?  Oh…just our little Autistic afternoon meltdown ritual L  It’s a cycle we seem to be in since we returned from Spring Break…Oh, I’m not talking about the typical,  “MOM! He touched me!”  Or the fit caused by hearing the word “NO.”  If you have a kid you’ve ‘been there, done that’…

Oh no…I’m talking about the ‘see it in his eye’s as he flings the door open-type’ meltdown…the kind that you can see in his eyes cause his pupils are SO tiny…or that you KNOW is coming because he’s talking SO fast he can’t even take a breath…THAT’S the meltdown I’m talking about.  And sometimes it builds slowly, but still…there’s no stopping it.  It’s coming, no matter what ~ the screaming, the tears, knocking stuff over…getting so mad…all because he’s just so frustrated, or upset, or worried…and he just can’t explain it.  And it breaks my heart…and makes me want to strangle him…all at once ;)  Such is the roller-coaster of life that we live on…

Today it was ‘RE-GROUPING’ - damn math..lol…I know how he feels ;)  You see, he puts a TREMENDOUS amount of pressure on himself (his parents were NOT like this in school ;) and if he is NOT perfect gets very mad at himself, very ‘down’ on himself…etc.  Well, apparently re-grouping’s a weakness…which manifested into an issue with homework, which ultimately involved unauthorized calculator use LOL, a discussion of said unauthorized use, the ensuing meltdown (that if I had been more ‘on my game’ and not SO worn out from my OWN 5th and 6th periods I may have caught…ok I suck ;) the ensuing ‘mama fit’ LOL  Let’s just say that we BARELY got Savy picked up by 5:30 today..HAHA.   I did have to leave my room a few times, did have to photocopy his homework sheet to make a new one, did have to use just about EVERY trick I know, dry erase boards, swaddling, you name it…OMG Freakin EXHAUSTING, maybe it wouldn’t be if I didn’t ALSO do this ALL DAY LONG!! HELLOOOO…  Ok I’ll take a deep breath now..LOL  But for real people…

After dinner Savy said that she wanted to take a bath with me “a hot, quiet bath…” and by ‘quiet’ she means JUST the 2 of us…how could I resist???

Say it ant so....

If I've said it once, I've said it a million times...I have the funniest kids!!  Don't believe me? Read on....this is the ACTUAL conversation that took place at our breakfast table this morning before church.  First of all, YES, we actually ALL do sit down together for most meals...breakfast and dinner just about everyday, it's something Jay and I are committed to :)  So that part wasn't very funny..lol but the conversation was HILARIOUS...it started out innocent enough.  A conversation about allergies...Savy "Mama - I'm not allergic to anything am I?"  "Nope, Sav, you're not" again Savy "and Justice and Daddy...they aren't either?" "Nope, don't think so..."  Savy keeps talking.."ok mama...well, does Hunter Mangum have any cats?"  Now to me this is both funny..and RANDOM! But you have to understand..Savy LOVES her some 'Hunter Mangum' LOL (and she always says it just like that....Hunter Mangum :) and 1. (I don't YET realize that she is plotting) and 2. she also SUPER LOVES her some MISS Pam, Hunter's mama! So I answer her "um no, I don't think so"  At this point Justice chimes in "Yes he does, at his grandma's"  "oh, ok" I say...So Savy, her EVIL PLOT about to become clear...adds "SO since Hunter Mangum doesn't have cats, YOU can go live there mama, at his house, with his mama, CAUSE I REALLY want 2 cats, girl ones!" OMG  She just plotted to ship me off...LMAO Does this happen at other people's houses?!?!  By the 3 year old?!?!?  Now of course I LOVE me some MISS Pam too, so my first question was "well, will you come visit?" lol  Jay didn't like that! HAHAHA

The second best part was that the meal was only about half over....then she says "you know GRAND is WRONG about napkins!" and I am thinking?!?!?  What in the WORLD???  To which Justice replies "NO she's NOT, GRAND isn't wrong about ANYTHING!"  LMAO  Now, he is SOOO much my son, it ant (another Savy word) even funny!  But in that declaration he so instantly was ALL Daddy's boy and Grand's Poot-a-Root-a :)   She continued "well, yes she is, napkins don't go in laps!!"  At this point..ALL I could think was...OMG my family and this breakfast table has been SUCH blog fodder - and it's ONLY 8 freakin 45am!

I stinkin LOVE my CRAZY kids.  I LOVE how much Savy is like me and will argue with ANYONE and EVERYONE! And I LOVE how she is SO sweet, just like her Daddy.  I LOVE how much Justice is like me in all his quirkiness and brilliance.  And I LOVE how much he is just like his Daddy in that he will fiercely fight for those he loves, and how in his time can do anything he sets his mind to.  And I TRULY LOVE that the two of them have taught me that ultimately Justice WAS right ;) and Grand "isn't wrong about ANYTHING!"  She has raised AMAZING children (mostly on her own.) I am blessed to be raising mine with one of them.  She has taught me so many life lessons, when I have 'loosened-up' enough to learn them ;)  We have always been close, but I am so glad that I have grown up / matured over the years...and learned to talk less and listen more...Amazing, funny, HUGE Blessings Every single day!

Confessions...of a sucky mom..lol

Sometimes I think I suck...as a mom.  Especially as a 'Teacher-mom'...I'm not that prissy, fun, PTA, cookie baking, June Cleaver type...not one bit.  In fact I wear jeans to work MOST of the time ;) I am pretty fun I guess, I DID get suckered into the PTA (but I occasionally miss meetings..lol) Jay bakes the cookies (but I usually buy them..lol) so..well, maybe I'm getting there.  I think one of the BIG things I always beat myself up about is the whole night-time 'story time' or maybe it's reading books to them in general.  Now, don't get me wrong...I LOVE BOOKS. I have tons of books, just ask my husband!  Actually he would say..TOO MANY ;)  Our kids have TONS OF BOOKS...I'm a reader, they are readers...I just DON'T read to them all the time (**audible gasp!)  I didn't with Justice, and it was VERY obvious early on...that the kid was flippin brilliant..lol  I think he was going into the 3 year old room when he learned how to spell his name...in a couple of hours.  You see we had visited the classroom and I saw kids writing their names...and thought CRAP, he doesn't know his! Of course it was a 3-5 yo room..lol   So the next day (before he went in there...) we were driving around and I'm saying..."ok buddy it's..J-U-S...T-I...C-E..." I do this a FEW times and he says...let me try..."J-U-S-T-I-C-E"...um ok...Note to self...DON'T teach the kid anything else..or ALL future teachers will hate me ;)  He could read before he went to Kindergarten...he would chill out with his K teacher during 'naptime' and the two of them would read Captain Underpants books together.  Last year his 1st grade teacher introduced him to Matt Christopher.  This year his teacher has REALLY released him into the world of non-fiction and he is THRILLED!  He says it's the 'special section' that only he can check books out of in the library :)  He has also discovered a couple of series that he really enjoys - The Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, and The Boxcar Children.

Savy somehow also loves to read.  She has half a dozen Bibles and always wants to read stories about Baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph.  Justice started reading the Boxcar Children to her so we got her an easy reader version, it has colorful pictures and she can 'read' the entire story back to you...CRAZY!  That is the most amazing part to me, she can hear a story one or two times and then she can 'read' it to you...nuts!  She of course also loves all of her Princess and Barbie books...any that are PINK (barf..)

Anyways...the point to this entire blog...other than confessing my suckage ;) was that I found one of my childhood books today at a thrift store!!  As soon as I saw it on the shelf I squealed!  Andy and the Lion.  It was one of my faves, so I grabbed it up for the whopping  25 cents.  I also took a pic and sent it to my sis...she was tickled too :)  Well, you betcha we had story time tonight!  In the tent no less...haha, you see my silly, sweet kids have set up their pop up play tents in Justice's room...and decided to sleep in them.  Sweet, little, sleepy, reading blessings...every single day.

Did you say Sweet tea? OH...SWEETIE...

So it's been a while I know...and honestly it WOULD have been another day, but someone I love is having a birthday today ;) and I promised them some laughs!  Most everyone knows by now that I have the FUNNIEST kids...but I also have the SWEETEST kids.  Justice's spring Book Fair starts on Monday...he is getting SO excited!  They got to make a 'Wish List' for it in school today - it's the first thing he wanted to tell me about after school.  Book #1 - Awesome Weather (he IS after all both obsessed with and terrified by most natural weather disasters) Book #2 the Perfect Dress (for his baby sister...sweet, sweet boy!)  He went on to list several more for himself and then a few for 'a friend' - I asked who this friend was...and he just said...a special friend.  Now there are few things that I love more than books, I must say.  It just made me so happy that not only did he pick out some books, but he picked out books FOR OTHERS!

Savy is at a new school and LOVES it!  She actually said on the way to school this week "are we going to MY school? FIRST? cuz I WANT to go to school!"  Now you have to know my kids...this is NOT a normal saying for them...(I know...breaks the teacher-mama heart :(  but for real....she was SOO excited!! She loves her teachers, the school, everything about it!!  makes me SOO happy...She got a sweet note today too...said she was a LAMB...because "she's SO loving"...that's our girl!  We had a big evening planned too.  We took a special trip to the store to get her first REAL Barbie...the Special Retro $3 birthday one...She is so excited...my sweet, sweet princess is in bed in her Barbie jammies, with her Barbie doll, in her Princess sheets :) There's so much Pepto Pink it makes me want to BARF...and she couldn't be happier :)

The Olympics are over and we are so sad, STILL going through withdrawals...THANK goodness for Mario and Sonic at the Winter games...at least Justice can still pretend the games are still going ;)  He is STILL 'short-track' obsessed and tends to 'skate' around..lol  It sure didn't help when I bought him a book that had Apollo Ohno in it...and he discovered that they have the EXACT SAME birthday...HOLY COW!!  The princess has started to allow me to put her hair up..every now and then (we're getting somewhere!)   And the prince once again is sporting a Mohawk :)  Both of these make this mama VERY happy.  Happy little SWEET blessings EVERY SINGLE DAY!

Gold Medal Moments...

I LOVE the Olympics!  For real...in the realm of sports I don't know if there is anything that I love more, except my man ;) maybe...  I don't know if it's the patriotism, the athleticism, the amazing stories of so many of the athletes, the fact that my uncle Gene was an Olympic Biathlon coach for years...who knows...but I am an Olympics JUNKIE...it will be on 24/7 (or at least as much as possible) for the next 2 weeks.  My students will be learning from Olympics lesson plans...well, you get the picture.  But seriously, I'm not sure what I am so excited about...that it is 'Olympics time' or that my kids are SO excited too!  Seriously...we were watching the qualifying heats for the short track earlier...and there is Justice, in the middle of the living room pretending to skate :)  Then he sits down and joins the conversations that Jay and I are having about Curling...and that we can't wait to watch that!!  How does my 7 year old know what Curling is??!?!?  Cuz I asked...and he set me straight! LOL  I am loving sharing this joy with them...

Savy and I had the funniest 'Who's on First?' conversation the other day.  Well...it was hilarious to me...but I think that it was making her ANGRY! LOL  First you need to know a little background info...She goes to a FAB home daycare, and they have a 7 passenger SUV.  They often go out and about...OH and Savy is like the Freakin TOWN CRIER! LOL  Fo Sho!!  So she gets home one day and says "Mr Jude buckled me into the back on accident, but that's where Ezra sits" "oh" I say "do you usually sit in the middle?"  "NO!" demands Savy "Elize sits in the middle, I sit on the side, next to her"  Hmmm, trying to figure this out..."ok, but you sit in the middle seat?"  "NO MAMA! I told you, Elize sits in the middle, I sit on the side & Jax sits on the other side! and Ezra sits in the back, with Gabriella."  LOL I am laughing SO hard by now because she is getting so mad...she is NOT appreciating this.  "ok let me try to explain what I am thinking Sav..before you get MAD!  Miss Amanda is up front right?" "yes" "and Ezra is in the back row?" "yes" giggle..here it comes.."so that means you are in the MIDDLE row..." "YEAH mama, that's what I told you...DUH!"  of course...I'm so slow...lol

Justice is hilarious.  He brought home his schoolwork on Friday and in it was a cute little book they had made "Awesome Inventions by Black Americans."  There was a page about Garrett Morgan and his invention - the automatic traffic signal.  They had to write a story about driving a car before this had been invented...check out his story...

Drivin down the road... la la la la Boom Pow! Huh a car crash.  Oh I know why no traffic lights!!  Well off to get my rental car.  Readin the newspaper new invention!  The new traffic light!

First of all...freaking hilarious..LOL second...a little too close to our reality HUH??  Poor thing.

By the way, for those of you who know us REALLY well, or stalk us on FB ;)  you know that we lost our Precious boy (dog lol) Cheyenne last week during the snow (sorta).  He broke his collar, well it broke - it WAS a year old...and he has a tendency to BOLT as Huskies do...unfortunately without his tags and OUR #...this was not good!  Usually when this happens (him running) someone is calling within an hour or so...but not this time.  We searched the shelters, placed ads, searched ads etc...NO LUCK! :(  FINALLY Friday someone called - she had Cheyenne...so we picked him up today :)  Reunited...and it feels SO GOOD!!  Little blessings everyday...but today, BIG blessings :)

Gimmee an "S", Gimmee an "A", Gimmee a "V"...

Oh where oh where is my blog transcription-ist?? LOL  I have so much 'blog-fodder' I can't even remember it all.  And I'm STILL no better and writing anything down...really I stink :(

Savy has the BEST manners in our house.  For real, she does.  I'm not sure where she got them ;) but she sure is...  We were joking around this weekend about them, and OF COURSE she was being SO polite, AS USUAL.  It's always 'please' and 'thank you' and almost always throws in the 'yes ma'am' or 'yes sir' as well.  It's just plain craziness. LOL  So Jay says to her "I LOVE your manners, you must get those from your Daddy!" and I add " YES, I LOVE your manners too Savy!"  Well she turns right to her daddy and says "thank you, but no I don't...I get them from...my TEACHERS!"  Well..now we know!

SOMEBODY needs to do something about the language our children use...To say that Savy is OBSESSED with the letter 'S' is the understatement of the year!  She's always pointing them out, finding them everywhere, telling me to push the 'S' on the keyboard..lol  Well they were getting out of the bath the other night...Savy got out first and I hear her..."I see an 'S', I see an 'S', see the 'S'? I see the 'S'!"  Then I hear Justice...my precious boy..."I see an A$$, I see an A$$..."  FOR REAL...where does he get this crap??!?! lol

The Dolly Mom-mom got home on Sunday :) so of course we went to go see her! YEAH  We tried to get Savy to take a rest, and mom-mom was taking her nap too, so all three of us girls were laying down together in the big bed.  More talking was taking place, than napping at first...and like always Savy had us in stitches!  She asked us why Memere (Mame - MY grandma was in heaven) "Did she just get old and die and go to heaven?"  "Well, yeah pretty much Sav" I answered.  "Is that gonna happen to EVERYONE?" she wanted to know..."If they're lucky" I responded.  "So mom-mom will get old and die, and go to heaven?" yes "Pop-pop will get old and die, and go to heaven?" yes, "You and daddy will get old and die, and go to heaven?" yup, us too... "and Justice will get old, and die and go to heaven" yes Sav even Justice ;) "and someday ME will get old, and die and go to heaven??" yes! "Well, I REALLY don't like THAT!"  lol poor thing...just not ready for her OWN mortality...can't say I blame her...

We definitely need to re-think our 'snow day' attitude...The weatherman was pretty off-base on Tuesday...and while WE were all expecting a delay or SOMETHING we got NOTHING.  Well Savy was Pretty grumpy in the morning...in her words it was "boo-crap that we don't have a 2 hr delay" YUP I'm thinking we have a language issue at the Norton house.  but ya know what??  I thought it was boo-crap too!

I LOVE my little Blessing every day - I really needed to be reminded today - it was a rough one for me, hard day at work...sure do LOVE these babies!!

Gold, Frankincense & Milk??

So remember that new Wii game?  Cabella's Big Game Hunter...it's FUN! ;)  I finally got to play it a little bit, but there's a little problem.  I'm pretty good.  I started out just doing the 'Shooting gallery', I was duck hunting and I think I did A LOT better than Justice ever has...THAT'S the problem.  Well, that...and apparently, somehow we have raised a rather sexist child...  "WOW, Mama you did GREAT... for a girl!"  Than...HOLD ON A SECOND!! I almost lost my mind....I played it AGAIN, to make sure it wasn't a fluke...and SHOW HIM, 'girls' CAN shoot ;)  I did even better.  'HOLY CRAP!  how can you do so good? You're a GIRL???'  OK at this point I just tell him to STOP TALKING.  I now go ahead and start a mission, which he feels the need to tell me EVERY little thing that I need to do.  SERIOUSLY?!? I'm a GIRL?!?! plus I'm kickin your BUTT, LOL  He is now sitting at the table about to eat as I take one last...AMAZING (if I do say so myself :) shot.  'REALLY? How can a GIRL do that?!'  I'VE HAD IT!!  He ate dinner in his room tonight :(  There were NO girls around.


My mom gave us the sweetest set of ornaments this year.  They had been in our family, are ceramic and are the pieces of a cute nativity set.  Savy ADORES them...so much so that they were rarely on the tree.  When I packed up the tree just a few short weeks ago, only a couple of them were on there...I keep finding the rest of them all around the house :)  This one is my favorite, and this story is why.

Savy was playing with it one day, telling us 'the story...'  She said do you see this? and pointed to the yellow 'gift'.  We said, yes...that's one of the gifts, he is a Wise Man, is it gold?  'Yes, she says he is a Wise Man'  But that's not gold'....and this is the BEST part!!  'It's a Sippy cup' (NOW LOOK AT IT!) LOL   'Mama' she says...'of course it's a Sippy Cup, they were going to see BABY Jesus!!'  ahhhh my sweet girl, a child Shall lead us....

Not just so smart, she's witty too...we all know the 'Pants on the Ground' song...Savy LOVES to sing it...well she sings it A LOT...Just a little background here...and this may be TMI for some of you - I'll just apologize ahead of time **SORRY**  I am VERY hot-natured, our whole family is...so very often clothes are an option in our house.  Well, in the mornings I remain in undergarments as long as possible...until JUST before I go out the door usually.  So the other day we are almost ready to go and I am giving them a hard time about getting dressed...and I say something like...I'm waiting for you to....'get your Pants off the ground and get dressed'  Now at this point I have my pants on, with just a bra...Savy responds with 'YEAH - well you must have your shirt on the ground haha!'  HOW can she be THAT quick?!?!  We are in trouble :)

By the way, I LOVE SNOW...just thought I'd say it AGAIN...here.  Really I do.  I grew up (as a child) with MAJOR snow in CT, then at age 8 moved to south FL. So.. the land of beaches...no snow, air conditioning 10 months out of the year UGH.  So now that I FINALLY have seasons again - I LOVE IT - sorry, but I do.  And it doesn't bother me a bit to teach over Spring Break, or on a Saturday, or until June 15th...just sayin.  Little Blessings every day...