Fat Tuesday Number Two and Bonding Time

As promised last Tuesday, Mommy is going to expose yet another childhood experience to you both, Bodhi and Jude :) I'll then of course end with the details of your day as usual.  Happy 20 month Birthday Bodhi girl!  Mommy and Daddy love you!!! xoxoxo

Mommy Entry #2:

As a continuation from last Tuesday's post, Mommy is going to expose yet another 2nd grade traumatic experience.  As I explained/exposed last week, Mommy struggled with learning to read, and still to this day relies heavily on spell check.  Grandmoo, Great Grandpa Grills, and GiGi all worked with Mommy on spelling words and reading.  Grandmoo would sit me down each evening and work on reading assigned books and spelling words, specifically in preparation for my Friday Spelling test, but also to improve my overall reading level.  Ms. Yarrington, Mommy's second grade teacher, created these decorative kites with each class member's name and picture on them, and she hung them on a bulletin board to track our perfect spelling scores.  She would give us each a sticker to place on our kite whenever we scored a perfect score on our spelling words for the week.  Mommy, was highly excited about this, as I'm very competitive, and so I worked very hard each day to prepare for the weekly test.  Mommy doesn't recall what week she decided to cheat, but I can remember every one's kites filled with stickers, and there hung Mommy's with none, the ONLY kite in the class without a single sticker.  Mommy sat near two friends, (Mommy will omit names to protect their identity hee/hee as Mommy is still to this day in contact with them through Facebook), but these two friends were highly intelligent and in the highest reading group.  They approached Mommy when Mommy expressed being upset that I hadn't earned a single sticker, and they told Mommy that they have so many stickers because they write the spelling words on a piece of paper and stick it in their desk to cheat off of when Mrs. Yarrington isn't looking.  Mommy asked them to explain how they do it without getting caught, and they explained that they lay their head on their desk and secretly pull the list of words out when they can't remember how to spell a word.  This surprised Mommy!  Mommy had never heard of "cheating," and if these two girls (one of whom's father is a school teacher at our school) do it, then Mommy could do it too.  Well, yep, you guessed it... Mommy got caught hee/hee.  Mommy's friend who sat in front of her confessed in high school that she remembers Mommy getting busted for cheating on Mrs. Yarrington's spelling test, and that she honestly thought she was the one Mrs. Yarrington was coming for.  She said she remembers Mrs. Yarrington stomping down the isle, and Mommy's long blond hair whipping around as Mrs. Yarrington pulled out the cheat list from Mommy's desk.  She expressed that she felt very bad, but was very relieved it was Mommy that got caught and not her :)-  Mrs. Yarrington announced aloud for all the class to hear "Amanda, I am so disappointed in you!"  Mommy teared up and was humiliated!  Mrs. Yarrington, after the test was graded, called everyone up to get their sticker for their perfect score, and yep, she called Mommy up to get hers last.  Mommy torn about what to do, knew that the parent teacher conference was fast approaching, and not wanting to disappoint Grandmoo, I walked up and took my sticker and stuck it right in the middle of my kite!  Yep, sure did!  It was the only sticker Mommy "earned" for the entire year :(  Mommy thinks her two friends never got busted because Mrs. Yarrington was chummy with their parents, not to mention, Mommy, having an off-and-on single and working parent (Grandmoo) Mommy was the perfect student to make an example of!  Ok, I may be reading into that a bit much, but I believe it to be true! 

So, I mentioned that parent teacher conference that was fast approaching... well, Mommy got scolded for bringing bad papers home, despite my studying and best efforts, and despite all of Grandmoo's, GiGi's, and Great Papaw's Grills' efforts to teach me, I decided I would remedy all the disappointment I was causing and dispose of all of my papers with bad grade marks. Now, I must say, at the time I didn't understand that this was being dishonest or even "cheating," truly!  I just understood that Grandmoo and  Grandpa Kurt didn't want to see these papers, so Mommy disposed of them.  Mommy never hid this fact from Mrs. Yarrington, as I never thought of it as being wrong hee/hee.  Every week Mommy would take all her "bad" papers and throw them right in the trash located by Mrs. Yarrington's desk.  Hee/hee!  Well, Grandmoo sent Grandpa Kurt to the parent teacher conference which was held after school,  as Grandmoo had to work.  Mommy, at the time of the conference was down at the Isaac's riding bicycles with Jacob and Jeffy Isaac, when Grandpa Kurt drove up in his sports car and yelled out the window, "Amanda, get home NOW," and sped off.  Mommy didn't know what I had done, but I knew I was in some serious trouble.  Mommy rode home, only to be yelled at for throwing all of my "bad" papers away.  As an adult, Grandpa Kurt likes to tell the story of how it was his first parent teacher conference hee/hee and how he thought he was there to hear praise for Mommy excelling in class, only to be told that I was doing horrible, and to top it off, was throwing all of my "bad" papers away.  Grandpa Kurt was so mad.  Grandmoo thought it was kind of funny (but only told Mommy so when Mommy was an adult).  Mrs. Yarrington never told Grandmoo or Grandpa Kurt about me cheating on the spelling bee, but she probably forgot as she had so much dirt on Mommy as is. 

Bodhi's and Jude's Day:

This morning our house was quite chilly, so Mommy thought it would be a good opportunity to throw you both in Mommy's bed, cuddle, and watch cartoons together.  Well, Jude, you had no problem with this so long as you had a toy to mess around with, but Bodhi, you were not cuddling your brother under any circumstances.  You cuddled on Mommy, the opposite side from Jude.  We watched cartoons and relaxed for about an hour.  We then had our normal playtime for the rest of the morning... which, went much smoother after our "bonding" time.  Bodhi, after an hour of asking you to share one of your three bears with your brother, you decided to give your brother your "German" bear.  Bodhi, you smiled a big smile when Mommy praised you, and you refrained from taking it back from him for about 20 minutes hee/hee.  Jude, after your nap you and Mr. Murff had some play time on the floor.  Mr. Murff has become just as protective of you (from Arlo) as he is with Bodhi.  :)

This afternoon, Aunt Gabby picked Mommy up to go to our first Zumba class.  Sister Kelly came by to watch the two of you while Mommy was gone.   When Sister Kelly arrived, Bodhi, you were in the backyard playing with Grandmoo.  Bodhi, you love to play with Grandmoo, and it was double bonus when you came inside and got to play with Sister Kelly.  When Sister Kelly was feeding the two of you, a neighbor knocked on the door and Sister Kelly went to answer the door.  When she returned to finish feeding the two of you, Bodhi, you had taken your brother's baby food off of his tray and ate the rest of it.  Jude, you were hungry when Mommy arrived home.  Grandmoo relieved Sister Kelly of Bodhi duty while Mommy nursed you Jude.  You ate and immediately passed out.  Bodhi, you and Grandmoo fed the stray kitties (Mommy usually does this after you are in bed), and you both cleaned up the house for Mommy.  This was a nice surprise.  :) Sean Franky stopped in to see the two of you, but only got to see you, Bodhi, right before you went to bed.  Mommy is excited to continue Zumbin' outside the home!  Thursday, Mommy is planning on strolling the two of you to the park to meet GiGi while Mommy takes her Zumba class.  Afterwards, Mommy will stroll the two of you back home. 

 Jude Man and Mr. Murff Man

Mr. Murff is so gentle with you, even when you, Jude, weren't so gentle with him :0

 Mr. Murff giving Juders kisses!

"Come back Mr. Murff, I can't crawl yet!"

"Loved Buddha" ;)

Bodhi eating her first Rice Krispy Treat and Mr. Murff bullying her into some bites.  Bodhi, you loved Mr. Murff chasing you around, trying to get a bite! 

Bodhi out back with her Grandmoo... you love to ride the piggy Bodhi!

Bodhi, you also love to dig in the dirt.  Mommy can't wait to plant the garden this year so you can dig up all the weeds ;)

Bodhi fly fishing in the mud puddle, on the business' lot next door

Bodhi trying to put her jeans back on while Sister Kelly washed her hands and gagged from changing your major poop butt!

Still at it Bodhi...however, you figured out that you were probably better off sitting down before trying to put your jeans back on :)  Bodhi, you look just like your Daddy when you wear jeans.  Hee/Hee you have the same long upper body and saggy jean butt :)

Bodhi and her older brother, Sean Franky... watching cartoons of course!  Mommy doesn't know who enjoys them more :)-