While He's Away ~ Take Two
"Tomorrow is often the busiest day of the week." ~Spanish Proverb
I've written about how everything in the house breaks when my husband is away serving our country. We all have stories about the day of departure or the day after when all hell breaks loose. I realized yesterday that there is another phenomenon that accompanies my husband leaving, that is the one of the enormous school project.
I have a confession to make. I've stopped reading the papers that are coming home in our children's folders. I think after Spring Break, I quit combing those numerous fliers and just began to pile them up and toss them into the recycling. I realized yesterday morning that this was a bad move. Somewhere, a few weeks ago, a flier came home telling me exactly what was expected of my second grader in reference to an Indian project which is due, TODAY! Yesterday, as I stood at flag time with the rest of the parents and listened to announcements, I realized that the Indian project due today was a little more of a project than I had bargained for. It was at precisely that moment that our daughter turned around and smiled at me - that "You are the best mommy" smile - that I knew I was in for a long day.
Fast forward to after school: Smiling daughter and I are out at the store looking for Indian figures to glue to a board that represents the life of a certain Indian Tribe. I'm sure that we'll find the dollar special of Indians and Cowboys that comes in a bag, the one from my childhood. No such luck. The only Indian statues that we can find are exact replicas, made in Germany (Germans are known for their workmanship - and expense -with toys). We buy two. The tribe she has is the only one who used trees for their homes and canoe. Which is interesting enough, but meant that I couldn't just buy an expensive TeePee and Canoe and be done with the workmanship of our own. We go home and I proceed to cut a piece of cardboard from the pathetic remains of a moving box that was hidden in the garage. Of course, smiling daughter is inside the house finishing her other homework so we can proceed to the task at hand, when I cut my finger on the box. No major problem, enough for a band aid, which I think is a rite of passage for me as the "best mommy".
While I'm at confessions, I have another one. I'm a recovering procrastinator. I have always believed that a few extra minutes are perfect for jamming more things into. I always left my work until the last minute, all the way through college. This is why the absence of my Service member is so tragic in this story. Had Vic been here, the flier would have been read last week and the Indian project would have been worked on during the weekend. He is the one of the two of us who has attention to detail and excitement over these types of projects. I can see him now scouring the forest for the correct sticks to place on the box for the Indian House and the carved out canoe. I sent the 7 year old brother out to the back yard to find marshmallow roasting sticks. He has a knack for finding these things and ran around picking up many sticks. He even helped his sister break them into pieces for the house. They definitely weren't the "perfect sticks" but they were wood.
A lot of scrap booking paper and packing tape later and the board was set up with running streams and grassy land. The whole project was done before I had to go to a meeting and sits proudly behind me on the table. Definitely the work of an 8 year old. There isn't a canoe, I'm hoping I can convince her that she can say it floated downstream. There isn't a tree, I'm hoping there is a spare moment to pluck the top of a bush off and glue it on when smiling daughter wakes up. Either way, the project will make it's appearance. It may not be the most perfect one, it definitely isn't the one where the parents did all the work on, but Smiling daughter is proud of it, she did it almost all by herself.
As for me? I'm going back to reading the fliers in the folders for three more weeks......Best Mommy has learned her lesson......
I've written about how everything in the house breaks when my husband is away serving our country. We all have stories about the day of departure or the day after when all hell breaks loose. I realized yesterday that there is another phenomenon that accompanies my husband leaving, that is the one of the enormous school project.
I have a confession to make. I've stopped reading the papers that are coming home in our children's folders. I think after Spring Break, I quit combing those numerous fliers and just began to pile them up and toss them into the recycling. I realized yesterday morning that this was a bad move. Somewhere, a few weeks ago, a flier came home telling me exactly what was expected of my second grader in reference to an Indian project which is due, TODAY! Yesterday, as I stood at flag time with the rest of the parents and listened to announcements, I realized that the Indian project due today was a little more of a project than I had bargained for. It was at precisely that moment that our daughter turned around and smiled at me - that "You are the best mommy" smile - that I knew I was in for a long day.
Fast forward to after school: Smiling daughter and I are out at the store looking for Indian figures to glue to a board that represents the life of a certain Indian Tribe. I'm sure that we'll find the dollar special of Indians and Cowboys that comes in a bag, the one from my childhood. No such luck. The only Indian statues that we can find are exact replicas, made in Germany (Germans are known for their workmanship - and expense -with toys). We buy two. The tribe she has is the only one who used trees for their homes and canoe. Which is interesting enough, but meant that I couldn't just buy an expensive TeePee and Canoe and be done with the workmanship of our own. We go home and I proceed to cut a piece of cardboard from the pathetic remains of a moving box that was hidden in the garage. Of course, smiling daughter is inside the house finishing her other homework so we can proceed to the task at hand, when I cut my finger on the box. No major problem, enough for a band aid, which I think is a rite of passage for me as the "best mommy".
While I'm at confessions, I have another one. I'm a recovering procrastinator. I have always believed that a few extra minutes are perfect for jamming more things into. I always left my work until the last minute, all the way through college. This is why the absence of my Service member is so tragic in this story. Had Vic been here, the flier would have been read last week and the Indian project would have been worked on during the weekend. He is the one of the two of us who has attention to detail and excitement over these types of projects. I can see him now scouring the forest for the correct sticks to place on the box for the Indian House and the carved out canoe. I sent the 7 year old brother out to the back yard to find marshmallow roasting sticks. He has a knack for finding these things and ran around picking up many sticks. He even helped his sister break them into pieces for the house. They definitely weren't the "perfect sticks" but they were wood.
A lot of scrap booking paper and packing tape later and the board was set up with running streams and grassy land. The whole project was done before I had to go to a meeting and sits proudly behind me on the table. Definitely the work of an 8 year old. There isn't a canoe, I'm hoping I can convince her that she can say it floated downstream. There isn't a tree, I'm hoping there is a spare moment to pluck the top of a bush off and glue it on when smiling daughter wakes up. Either way, the project will make it's appearance. It may not be the most perfect one, it definitely isn't the one where the parents did all the work on, but Smiling daughter is proud of it, she did it almost all by herself.
As for me? I'm going back to reading the fliers in the folders for three more weeks......Best Mommy has learned her lesson......
I stopped reading those same fliers for my 4th grader.....and the family tree project came due, 3 days to make it and no direction, we ran to WallyWorld bought a bunch of scrapbooking stuff, the heavy project board and we worked all three days, turned it in and my son got a B...I have never gotten a B on any of my projects, I think he got a B because there was too much of Mommy in the project....I am back to making sure I read everything too....just a couple more weeks......
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Thank you A Soldiers Wife! I'm so glad I'm not alone. Hang in there! Thank Goodness for summer break! ~ Pam
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