Tuesday, December 27, 2011

this is how we slothmas

first the rules...
stock up on essentials (creamer, eggs, books, chocolate), there is no leaving the house during slothmas.
lay out clean pj's, that is the official dress code
have some cash handy for the pizza delivery
relax, unwind, breathe deep and laugh
sloooooooooowwww down and be thankful for all you have
...
two days of slothing around with your family
no obligations from the outside world
...







this time is the very best gift my family gives me each year.
it is the true meaning of this season.
...

Monday, December 26, 2011

merry christmas to all


here's hoping you all had a very merry christmas and are making the most of any time you have with your family.  we bacharts hold this time very, very dear to us,  which is how slothmas came to be.  it is the best family holiday for us for just about 100 reasons...all of which will have to wait. 
...i better get back to it before they notice i am missing.

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

hold close to yours

i am not teacher of the year.  i have been a serious hag to my 5th and 6th period.  i am trying to whip them back into shape after the departure of my student teacher.  i have been counting down the class periods to winter break since the beginning of december.  so it was a little surprising that i had a stroke of holiday cheer while i was last minute shopping for teacher gifts and decided to throw in a couple bags of holiday nerds for my students.  long story short, those silly nerds gave me a chance to have some great conversations with my students.  some had wonderful plans for the break, and some had sad eyes. too many.  i know many of our students struggle at home, whether it is because they lack food or warmth or, sad as it is, love.  it makes me want to hold close to mine tonight and thank my lucky stars that i have all that i have. 

and here is a picture of a cat in a dress.  a fat cat whose name use to be tiger and now we just call him gordo. i think i will thank my lucky stars for fat cats in dresses too. 

Saturday, December 17, 2011

happy birthday to my love

my dearest tony,

you are my perfect co conspirator, the best dad our kids could ask for, a right sexy beast and my best friend. 

happy35th  birthday my love.

Sunday, December 11, 2011

tis the season...

for joyous torture in the form of christmas card pictures. 

thanks to aunt debi we were able to survive a few minutes in the freezing frosty temperatures to get a couple of beauts...

like this little charmer...



but of course it is the outtakes that i love...

first there is this gem. 

you know the shot. 
everyone jumps simultaneously. 
since this girl has zero vertical, we jumped off the wall.  sounds like a solid plan except we were all out of sync.  and by we i mean tony. 


and the one where it is obvious that we have lost our minds. 

all except tony. 
again. 
he doesn't do silly as well as we do silly.
he needs more practice.  i think we should start playing pranks on him. 



he does do serious. 
here is one where it seems we plan to use aidan as a snack before we devour a couple more souls. 


no actual children were eaten and no souls were taken. 
and i didn't throw any fits about smiles and hair and clothes.

however, i believe that this is further proof that we are a bunch of freaks.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

the wiz of the west

remember last year when i went all toddlers and tiaras (almost)? 
well, this year i was just as nervous but i hope i was a bit more contained.  i only brought one camera. 

the missoula children's theatre and the angelou pto brought us the wiz of the west, a western take on the wizard of oz. 

my little thespian aidan rocked the part of the scared crow.  he pretty much memorized the whole play and delivered his lines with wit, but he did get a little squirrely at the end. there was one point in the second showing where aidan bobbed his head causing his beak to peck up and down vigorously for what seemed like 12 1/2 minutes that had those who know him cracking up. the rest of the audience? maybe not so much.  there was a moment there where i wondered if i was going to have a steve martin moment from the movie parenthood or if i could chill enough to be all mary steenburgen, but i have to admit, i think we have a pretty funny kid. 

nadia was dr. ozzy himself.  her part required that she yell like a mean old man from behind a screen and at one point she ad-libed a line when she forgot hers. i can't give it justice to explain it.  it will forever be the moment of 'yup'.  it was hysterical.  she doubled as the tarantula king where she had to dance around the stage all by herself to summons the rest of the tarantulas.  i realize i am her mother, but my goodness she was adorable.


what made it all the more fun was knowing the majority of the cast and having some of the besties in starring roles.  here is a squish and a megs as a tarantula and buzzard...
 and a hanners as a munch kin. 
it was a ton of work for the kids and all of the grown ups who helped pull it together, but in the end the experience was totally worth it.

i can do it

yes she can.  nadia has been training with girls on the run for the past 10 weeks.  it is the coolest program, with the coolest girls and with the coolest coaches.  what makes it so cool is that the whole program is to teach girls that they are strong, inside and out. 

all of this coolness leads up to a 5k. 
strong enough to withstand fahhhhh-reezing temperatures.
strong enough to get past a painful stitch in her side and carry on like a true champion. 

strong enough to chant 'i can do it', 'i can do it', 'i can do it'. 

strong enough to cheer on her mom.


and of course, strong enough to be a good friend and strong enough to know when you have found one.

Thursday, December 1, 2011

about being a mom

the other day left me wondering.  i wondered as i deftly slipped my foot into aidan's discarded shoe and flung it into the mudroom and continued on mopping the floor.  i wondered as i set nadia's babies on the stairs for the third time in mere minutes hoping that they would indeed find their way to her room.  i wondered as i climbed onto tony's shoulders and then up onto the plant shelf to deck some halls and again when i thought about how to rearrange the living room to accommodate the tree. 



it was really that moment of flinging the shoe that did it.  i did it like i have done it a million times and believe me brother i haven't mopped that many times.  but it was a natural movement.  a grown up movement.  a no-one-told-me-to-mop-the-floor-i-just-did-it-because-it-needed-done-and-i-am-the-responsible-one-here.  like an adult kinda movement.  bizarre. surreal really.  this mom thing.  being the one who makes the decisions for other lives.  i thought that feeling would go away after i had been doing this for a while, like at least by year 10, but there it is still niggling in the back of my mind.  am i ready for this? do i really know what the flagnog i am doing?  is someone going to come along and realize i have been faking this for way too long and give these little beings to someone who has a clue?



then i wonder if i wonder too much.