Sooooo, Matt calls me at work and is all like, "We've been robbed." And I'm all like, "You're joking." And he is all like, "No. I'm serious, Katy."
Okay, enough with the reenactment, but that is word for word the beginning of our conversation on Thursday, January 22, 2009 @ 1125 am. The rest of that short conversation consisted mainly of boohoos and oh my gods. Unfortunately, I was standing in front of about 20 4th graders when I received the news, and I'm pretty sure based on my reaction that they thought someone had died. I reassured them that no one had died and quickly raced home. Luckily, not much was taken- our laptop, a digital camera, a ring, a bracelet, a Vera Bradley diaper bag, some coins, two boxes of bullets for the shotgun, and a package of slice cheese. I'm serious; they took cheese! The intruder(s) kicked in the french doors at the back of the house. We think something must have spooked them because not much was taken. It quite possibly could have been Matt that spooked them because he came home early from work. I was extremely worried that the thousands of pictures we had saved on the laptop were gone forever-POOF! Thank goodness that was not the case because we had saved them all on a flash drive over the Christmas holidays. Once I realized the pictures were safe, I felt much better. Crime is WAY up in our town. My sister-n-law's house was broken into today. She lives about 5 miles away from us. When she came home from taking her kids to school, she saw that her front door was kicked in. The burglar took 3 laptops and 2 guns. Cars and homes have been getting burglarized left and right this month, so everyone in town is on edge. Since I have no one to blame at this point, I'm going to blame the economy. Although, the jerk that robbed our house probably didn't just get laid off from his job, and he probably doesn't want a job. Karma- I'm a believer!

Matt is at a meeting, the kids are in their room playing, and I am chillin. Drinking coffee, watching Oprah, wearing sweats- chillin. Today was a great teaching day. My students took a Reading Inventory test and ROCKED IT! Days like today make me feel like I might be making somewhat of a difference in their lives. Often I feel like the lessons I'm teaching are some form of torture I am forced to inflict upon them. I sometimes feel the urge to shout, "I'm sorry," as I dip their faces into the tub of knowledge once more. But I refrain. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe there was a chapter about it in one of my college textbooks. The chapter was probably titled "Guiltless teaching: How not to be a pushover." Maybe I flagged that chapter with a sticky note; I think I'm due for a refresher course. Chill session- over:(

This morning was our first day back to work and school. Like always, as soon as I grow accustomed to the constant whining and moaning from my three precious children (by the way, it is always about food), it is time to go back work. Here is a snippet of what life is like for a working mom.

Suddenly their simultaneous cries sound like a sweet symphony, I pause to listen- eyes closed- my heart aches.

Although the two week break seemed plenty long, I still refused to tell Hayden the date because I knew he would immediately start counting down the days. I tried to explain to him that we only countdown the days for happy events, like Christmas, birthdays, or the last day of school. And that counting down the days for sad events (ex. going back to work) only drags out the misery. I think he got it.

We hopped right back into our morning routine- news, lunches, shower, coffee, dress, breakfast, hair, teeth, cartoons, news, load up, head out!!!! Lucas waved bye. Josie cried, and Hayden complained that his stomach hurt. Matt pouted, and as for me, well, I swallowed down an enormous lump in my throat and prayed that my stomach could digest it. Surprisingly, lumps of grief are easily digestible, as long as you take it down with a shot of reality!

Resolution, Shmezolution :(

Happy New Year!