B-I-N-G-O

Mason and I had our second annual Rotary Bingo Night. We had such a fun time helping our community Rotary raise money to fund several scholarships for our high school students this year. We had a great catfish dinner and an exciting night of BINGO. Last year was our first year. It brought back a lot of memories of my Catholic school upbringing since bingo was the biggest way our school would raise money for athletics and other extra curricular activities.
We had so much fun with Tonya and Cameron that we have made it a new tradition. Who wouldn't have a ball with those two fun faces? Tonya and I have grown to be good friends since our boys have such a good time together. Cameron and Mason have been friends since preschool and this is the first year they have not been in the same class. The boys still play together quite often and I enjoy being able to relax knowing Mason is in good hands when he is with Tonya and Wayne. Mark and I enjoy having Cameron when he comes to play. He is such a fun little guy. Mason and Cameron were so serious about "getting a BINGO" that I thought tears would ensue at one moment. Luckily, they both had a chance to yell, BINGO and all was well with the world. The prizes were donations from various individuals and businesses that were just given out in a predetermined order. Mason was so proud of his prize until he realized it was a basket of beauty control bath gel and lotion or what he calls, "girl skin lotion". He only showed disappointment for a moment and then proudly said, "You can have my prize, Mom". What a little sweetheart! He really got a good laugh when a bald man won a free haircut.

I love the fact that "BINGO NIGHT" was a big deal in our little town. Such a simple activity that was for a good cause was a fun night for my little boy...and for me. What was that? Did I just hint at contentment? I think I love my simple life a little more each day.

HOW DO I LOVE YOU?

ANDREW AND I WENT TO THE LIBRARY TODAY AND I FOUND THE SWEETEST BOOK THAT CONTAINS THE FOLLOWING POEM BY P.K. HALLINAN. IT TRULY CAPTURES A MOTHER'S LOVE FOR HER PRESCHOOLER. ONE THAT IS ROWDY, INQUISITIVE, AND GRASPING FOR INDEPENDENCE...DO ANY OF YOU GUYS KNOW PRESCHOOLERS LIKE THAT? ENJOY.

HOW DO I LOVE YOU?
LET ME COUNT THE WAYS.
I LOVE YOU ON YOUR VERY BEST...
AND VERY WORST OF DAYS.

I LOVE TO SEE YOU LAUGHING
AND DANCING IN THE RAIN.
AND EVEN WHEN YOU LOOSE YOUR SHOES,
I LOVE YOU JUST THE SAME.

I LOVE TO HEAR YOU SINGING.
I LOVE TO SEE YOU SMILE.
I LOVE THE WAY YOU TAKE EACH DAY
IN YOUR OWN UNHURRIED STYLE.

I'M HAPPY WHEN YOU'RE HAPPY,
AND I'M SORRY WHEN YOU'RE SAD.
AND EVEN THOUGH IT MAY NOT SHOW,
I LOVE YOU WHEN YOU'RE MAD.

HOW DO I LOVE YOU?
WELL, NOW, LET ME SEE...
I LOVE THE WAY YOU ACT SO BRAVE
WHEN YOU FALL AND HURT YOUR KNEE.

I LOVE TO WATCH YOU SLEEPING,
TUCKED AWAY IN PLEASANT DREAMS.
I LOVE TO HEAR YOU WHISPER
ALL YOUR GIANT PLANS AND SCHEMES.

I LOVE THE WAY YOU WEAR YOUR PANTS
WITH THE FRONT PART IN THE BACK,
AND THE WAY YOU WALK AROUND SOMETIMES
WITH YOUR HEAD INSIDE A SACK.

I LOVE TO SEE YOU DEEP IN THOUGHT.
I LOVE TO WATCH YOU PLAY.
AND THOUGH I'M SURE YOU'LL NEVER KNOW,
I LOVE YOU MORE EACH DAY.

HOW DO I LOVE YOU?
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO SAY.
FOR IF I HAD A MILLION DAYS
AND TIME ENOUGH FOR ALL THE PRAISE,
I COULDN'T TELL YOU ALL THE WAYS...

I LOVE YOU.

Andrew and I had a little date today. I took an early lunch, picked him up from Ronda's and whisked him off to McDonald's. He ordered chicken nuggets with honey while I had chicken strips with BBQ sauce. Andrew was so cute. He really is not a picky eater so it is always interesting to see what he will try. He dipped his fries in the ketsup, then the BBQ sauce and topped it off with honey. He had all kinds of concoctions, working on just the right combination. Once he was done eating and sampling all of the various dips he realized he was sticky from all the honey. He looked at me with a furrowed brow and said, "Bees must be really sticky". I love the logic of the young mind before it is clouded by all of the busy realities of life. If you stop and think about it...why aren't bees all sticking together in the hive? Someone, watch the discovery channel and tell me why!!!

CHANGES...

Well, I was attempting to change up my blog (thanks to my coveting of Kimi's super cute blog template) and lost my side bar element with all the "Little Boy Lingo". So now I learned by experience and failure (how I learn most everything...so hard headed!) that when you change your blog template to something outside of blogger and do not really know what you are doing, you can loose some of your side elements.So I changed back to what I know and decided to keep my little boy lingo in the posts so I am forcing you all to read this stuff again and will periodically post more cute sayings since I am such a gooshy mom. HEHE.
Please tell me if I forgot something especially funny so I can add them later. I don't want to forget these cute little sayings. Enjoy the rerun!

-Andrew informed me he wanted to have a Star Wars birthday party so he and his friends could shoot each other with "laser beans"

-Mason used to call the hardware store the "hardwork store"

-We were swimming last summer and Andrew asked me to go get his "gobbles"

-Mason and Mark love to eat as Schlotzkey's Deli. When Mason was little he could not pronounce the name of this place very well, it always came out "Fart cheese". So guess what our family calls Scholtzkey's now?

-On Halloween I though Andrew might like to watch the Wizard of Oz so I told him to lay down for his nap and asked, "Do you want to watch Dorothy?' he said, "Who's Dorky?"

MY LITTLE VALENTINE...GROWING UP

Mason and I had a little date yesterday evening. We stopped by Burger King to have a treat and he said he wanted to buy our milkshakes. I told him that he did not have to spend his money on our treat but he insisted. I told him how sweet that was and that his treat was a great Valentine. He said, "Mom, you have dad to be your Valentine". I told him he was right but he and Andrew are my sweethearts too. He agreed.

We then went to Wal-Mart to buy some groceries and went down the Valentine candy isle and he told me he wanted to buy one for a little girl in his class that asked him to be her boyfriend. At first I discouraged it by saying, you will give something to everyone in your class and he did not need to spend his money on that candy heart. He insisted and I thought, he wants to be sweet to someone and make her feel special. Why would I discourage that? I guess I am afraid he is growing up to fast but the reality is at 8 years old, he is not thinking of a "girlfriend" he is thinking of a good friend that is a girl. I watched while he paid for the candy with his own little money and thanked God for his giving spirit and encouraging way with others. I hope his little friend feels as special as I did watching him pick the special gift for this special little girl. This year, I have to share one of my sweet little Valentines.

Well, I spent 3 days at a conference in Bonita Springs, Florida. The weather was beautiful. It was in the mid 80's every day. It was brutal to look out the window of my hotel room in the morning and see the beautiful day and know I would spend most of it in lectures. Now the inter nerd in me did enjoy learning new things and meeting other nerds! I admit I am a little strange that way.

The final day of the conference I had some free time before my flight home so I treated myself to a great visit to the spa. It was very relaxing and something I never do for myself here at home. I felt very relaxed for my 5 hour trip back home. I may have been pretty tense again after the flight and drive home but the best moment of my trip was yet to come...

Andrew and Mason both met me at the door and squeezed me like I had been gone for months. It just goes to show you that you are IRREPLACABLE to your children. No one loves them like you do no matter how great dad is (and my boys have a great dad) only mom's hugs, smiles, interest, and sheer awe of who they are fill that little place in them that God gave them just for your love. The funny thing is, from the moment they were born, he gave me the same little place in my heart to fill with their love. I'm glad I made it home, I needed to "fill up"!

Well, this has been a long few days. Mason came home from school early on Wednesday running a fever, having chills and no appetite. I knew the flu was hitting pretty hard in our area so I scheduled him an appointment with Dr. Conner first thing Thursday morning. Then, Mark ended up having to go out of town to work with another office because most of their staff was sick with the flu. He flew out early Thursday morning and won't be back until Saturday. Sure enough, Dr. Conner confirmed that Mason indeed has the flu and gave us all Tamiflu to try to keep us from coming down with the bug. Poor little Mason has had a rough couple of days. I thought he was doing better yesterday afternoon but he did not want dinner and went to bed early. I figured he just needed his rest but he woke up sick to his stomach at about 11:00pm last night. I felt so bad for him. I hate to be sick that way and just wanted to be sick for him! He is MUCH better today so I'm hoping that Tamiflu has kicked in and shortening the duration and severity of the flu. I couldn't take him being sick for much longer, especially with Mark out of town. I don't know how single moms do it!

I am so thankful to have the best banker in the world! Paul was sweet enough to pick up some groceries for me and bring them to me last night so I wouldn't have to get the boys out. If that were not enough, he "delivered" my groceries in a suit. Let's just say I was not wearing my dress with pearls! Now how many of you can say you have a banker like that? Maybe I should ask how many bankers have a customer that would actually call you and ask you to bring them their groceries...I bet you other bankers are just dying to have a customer like me.

No really, Paul and Kim are wonderful friends. I don't know what our family would do without them. We really look out for each other and I just love it. Thanks Paul for coming to the rescue. It may not have seemed like a big deal to you, but it meant the world to a mom with a sick kiddo and a traveling husband.