Trip To DC

You may or may not know that the story of me began in Washington DC...yep that's where my parents met and fell in love back in the early 70's! They have some great stories about their time there and although I know I've been to DC before, Sadly... I dont remember ANY of it! Well last fall when Amy & her crew moved to DC she told us we were welcome to come visit any time. You've got to be careful what you say to me because I might just take you up on it! :)


Over MY spring Break Alex and I snuck down to DC for a 4 day Mother and son trip! It was great! We got in Thursday night and went straight down to the mall to see the monuments. I was not prepared for the grand scale of things! Pictures do NOT do these masterpieces justice! My favorite had to be Abe... I've got a soft spot for him since I grew up in Lincoln Illinois. On Friday we got a personal tour of the Capital Building thanks to the Senator from Utah. Alex got to sit at his desk and we even got an official letter excusing Alex from school on Official US Capital letterhead! We got to ride the train over that the senators use when they go to vote and got to see something that people dont normally see on a regular tour! It was awesome!


Saturday the McAlisters escorted us to the natural history Museum and we spent the rest of the day playing frisbee, eating icecream, and flying kites on the mall underneath the Washington monument! Here is Alex and Will waiting on the Orange train. Will LOVES to ride the train and LOVES the maps of the different lines even more!

Here's a snap shot of Amy and Cort...

This trip to the city was sponsored by SPF 50 Suntan lotion!
And here's a picture of me and "my boys" I love these two little fellas so much and I had so much fun playing with them!

It was a great weekend with the McAlisters and an even better weekend with my Alex! he's turning into such a great young man. We are often so caught in the day to day grind and struggles that we dont get all that much time to just enjoy each other! I'm so glad that I was able to take this time and hope to continue to take solo trips with all my kids... But first I need to take a solo trip with my husband again! :)

Does it get better? Why wait?!?

So today I got the chance to go and listen to Dan Savage talk at the Columbus Convention Center. The afternoon was to be all about bullying and I just happen to be doing a project about bullying for one of my classes. So I went. Not really sure WHO Dan Savage is or why he'd be someone that I'd want to listen to. But Some friends encouraged me to go so I went....

So maybe you don't know who Dan Savage is either. He is the co-founder of the "It gets better project". This group created video's to help give hope to kids who were being teased about or struggling with being gay/lesbian.

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

Dan Savage is a great speaker! I think I'd enjoy listening to him talk about anything! He's funny, knowledgeable and passionate! Unfortunately the Columbus Teaching Community really dropped the ball on this one...there were hardly ANYONE at this presentation. (This was part of the E-tech Ohio conference for teachers and with Bullying being such a BIG problem in Schools and because of the 10+ teachers that I've talked to, None of them really feel like they know what to do when a student is being bullied! The tell the bully to stop it.... but don't really know what else to do! )

In his talk Dan, yeah I think I know him well enough to just call him Dan, talked about why Gay & Lesbian kids need a "special" out reach... what makes them so "different" or worthy of the little extra attention is this.....

If you've got a Black, Muslim, kid from the Bronx and he gets teased for his accent, the color of his skin or his religion.... it's wrong... but in most cases this kid can go home to his black, Muslim, NY accent speaking parents... and they GET it... they know what it's like to be black... because they are...they know how it feels to get teased for being Muslim... cause they are....and 9 times out of 10 they have the same NY accent.

Now if that same kid gets teased for being GAY.... he goes home to his straight parents...and they've got NOTHING... they don't know what's like to be gay.... So how can they possibly relate to what he's going thru. GLBT kids need to know that there are others out there that get it!!!
This made a great deal of sense to me!

Another thing I took from this talk was about parents, it's OUR job to teach our kids not to judge people. You & I may think we do that... but are we really... what are our church's saying.... GOD loves all people.... UNLESSSSSSSS...... What do the TV shows we watch show our kids..... Disney channel isn't really rocking alot of "diversity"..... Prime time line up.... isn't either...... How about our friends..... do we have a group of diverse people in our kids lives..... or do they all look and act and talk like we do......

Kids bully other kids because they are uncomfortable with something they see or feel towards that other child. If they are different from us..... it scares us.... that is something we need to work on with our selves.... and our kids. I don't want my kids to be bullied..... and I don't want them to Bully other kids.... I also want for my kids to be at least 5 ft 8inches tall.... and for them to have 6 figure incomes when they are adults..... Exactly how much control do I have over these hopes for my kids.... I can't MAKE them be tall.... nor can I secure them a job.... but I CAN do something about how tolerant they are of different people!!!

One of the video's on the It gets better site says this:

It doesn't get better... We just get smarter!

I want my kids to be smart enough to NOT bully and not be bullied! I don't know HOW to accomplish that... but I'm gonna try! How do you teach this to your kids? Share your ideas with me

Secret Revealed

In early October my sister told me a secret.... I wasnt suppose to tell anyone.....It was the meanest thing she's ever done to me! She dropped a bomb and then told me to be quiet..... ME QUIET???? Needless to say I immediately called Theo. Over the next few days I told everyone that does not know my sister or anyone else in my family. Figuring it would not get back to anyone that wasnt suppose to know the "big secret"!!!

Then On Christmas Eve I got the official green light to tell the world......

I'm going to be an AUNT!!!

Now I have nieces & nephews thru marriage that I sincerely love and adore! I've adopted kids thru friendships to act as an Aunt. I even earned the Title "Aunt Sassy" by one of my favorite little boys! But this little one will be my first official blood nephew. Yes I said Nephew! Christie & Brian are expecting a little boy in May!

I got to go with my sister to a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and see the little guy for myself. I snapped this picture before the technician told me I couldn't take pictures... You can't really see the baby, but I love that Christie is looking at the screen at her son! :)
I have to admit I didn't think my sister was going to have children of her own and I giggle at the thought of her with a 2 year old little boy climbing the walls... but I know she's going to be an amazing Mom! I also like to think that my 3 crazy kids have helped prepare her a little, for what she's got in store!
I can't wait to meet this little One in May... I'm working on designing my official "Aunt Sassy" T-shirt to wear to the hospital!

Fakesgiving

Fall in a Flash

I've not been able to keep up with posting pictures of our fall so here is a recap of our fall 2011

First our trip to Yellow Springs:

We decided to break in the new ride with a road trip to Yellow Springs, We've decided it's called yellow springs because it makes the kids have to pee ALL THE TIME!!! Honestly the entire day was about finding a place to pee! It's a one hour car ride and we had to stop twice on the side of the road so little Gabi could pee, followed closely by her older sister that used a Porta potty that was so full, it was almost overflowing (YUCK) I was able to hold into until we were deep in the woods and then I made EVERYBODY pee.... our families have a special bond now~!It was beautiful there and we hiked through some amazing land! Then on the way home we stopped for some ice cream..... AMAZING &enormous ice cream!

I'm not ashamed in the least to post this picture is was THAT good!!! The kids were all hopped up on sugar from the giant ice cream cones and decided to ride some of the cow statues in the ice cream shop! We decided we should let them run it off outside on the Farm and managed to get the first picture of 7 of us together! The Schmierney-Eisel Clan! UP next Halloween

We went trick or treating with some of Leah's friends from school, Becca the princess, Leah the Cowgirl, Sophia the witch, Hannah the Evil queen, and sheriff Ethan
I'm sorry but how freaking cute is my baby in a cowboy hat and a duster! Turkey Night

I've also managed to befriend some of the mom's from Westgate and talked them all to coming over and making turkey's with me one night before Thanksgiving.

Alex, Becca, Courtney, & Tonia Kelly, Sally, Courtney, aka Kibby Here are all the turkeys... oh and the crafty ones we made that night... Here's a close up of our masterpieces! It was such a fun night and I'm so glad to have found friends at the kids school! I just love Westgate!!!

Last but not least... Fakesgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving with my Mom, sister and their families the weekend before thanksgiving, which also happened to be the same weekend that my little brother came for a visit! It was so fun to have us all there eating and playing games.

As usual the kids used Uncle Brian as a jungle gym/punching bag... I'm not sure who like it more, the kids or Brian...

Can you believe this is my niece Chole.... she's so grown up! And so good with the little ones. Gabi loved on her all night and I know that I can trust Chloe to keep everyone out of trouble

So to reward her we gave her a drink.... ok it was sparkling grape juice but the younger kids thought we were letting her drink "wine"

I'm starting to understand why other countries arrange marriages... these two will be perfect for each other!
Speaking of perfect for each other.... Little Gabi has completely stolen my husbands heart!

The kids were so excited to have Uncle Justin have a sleepover with us for 3 whole nights, and they wanted him to read stories to him. On his last night here I'd found an old book that I use to read to him when he was Leah's age.

We were able to spend alot of time just hanging out, on Sunday we didn't even get out of our PJ's. I grabbed this one of all three of us before Christie had to head back to Cleveland and he left to go back to IL! I always love when he visits, but then get so sad when he leaves! I miss this kid so much!!!

And that is our fall in a nutshell, I'm really looking forward to the semester being over with and being able to enjoy a month of Christmas and new year fun! I plan to sew and craft and sleep!!! :)

Integrity

Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions.

Today my integrity was called into question. I will admit that I am a far from perfect person.... I have my faults and vices.... but I've always believed that people could see by my actions, what kind of person I am.

I wont give this person the lime light of this story, other than to say it's PTA related and I've had issues with this person before. That and the direct quote "Cathie, You've met your match".... oh and also this whole conversation erupted over T-shirts (OK that's enough of the back story for this to kind of make sense)

I was FURIOUS at first.... those of you that know me well, know that when I get really ticked off.... I erupt into a litany of curse words that would make a sailor blush! I could not believe the nerve.... the gall..... who does this person think they are.... BUT luckily I have surrounded myself with level headed people that are able to reel me back in before I loose my stuff completely! But the expression "You've met your match" has been haunting me most of the night. But just a few minutes ago I had an epiphany.... That theory is flawed because for me to have met my match, I'd have to be playing the same game!

The thing is... I love my kids school! I love the teachers there, honestly care about those kids. I've spent HOURS and HOURS of my life volunteering, I've lifted, lugged, organized, called, written letters, begged for donations, begged for volunteers, laughed, cried, washed cars, cooked, driven across town, lost sleep, hugged, I've brought dinner when a teacher had a baby, I brought dinner when one lost her sister, hauled rocks through the forest..... all in the name of the PTA and for the people at Westgate. I don't do it because I think I'm better than anyone else, I don't want people to pat me on the back, or give me a gold star.... I do it because that is the kind of person I am! I do it for me, because of how it makes me feel.... to know I'm doing my part.

I was so angry about this whole situation, ready to rumble and then I spent the night with my family. I got to take my kids Halloween costume shopping, and eat out for dinner and sit at a table and listen to my kids talk. I got to laugh with my husband, and it all just clicked.... my integrity is my amazing kids... my integrity is the marriage I have with my husband....its in the friendships I share with the people I surround myself with.

You can't question that...so....

Lets here it for the boy...

So it's been almost 8 weeks since I started classes at ODU. It's been awesome! I love the classes I'm taking even if some of them are harder than I thought they'd be. Philosophy at 8am on a Saturday morning is brutal, but I also get to spend 2 mornings a week in a classroom of 2nd & 3rd graders. So it balances out nicely! Now as you might imagine more time on school stuff means less time for EVERYTHING else! I have kids crying at bed time because they want me to read them the book. I've enlisted Alex into helping cook dinner 1 night a week, I've even created a chore chart of stuff that needs to get done every day. While I'd like to say it's my suberb organization skills and super Mom abilities that have made this all possible. BUT I know the truth... It's all THEO!!!

He really is amazing!

Cooks dinner, does the dishes, gets the kids to bed, makes sure homework is done, pays bills, works 2 jobs, does laundry, scrubs toliets, packs lunches, edits my papers, .... and still manages to find time to play softball one night a week! He really has taken on most of the things I use to do and still manages to do all the things he did before! And he doesnt even grumble about doing it! I keep telling the kids that it's gonna take team work to get me thru school.... that this is a goal that will benefit the entire family! Theo has been So supportive....I couldn't have hand picked a better partner.... Oh wait I did get to pick him!!! I can atleast take credit for that! I found myself and AMAZING husband! (That's why it took me so long to get married, I had to make sure I had the RIGHT guy for me!)

So here's a shout out to my main man.... Thank you!

My baby he dont talk sweet

He aint got much to say

But he loves me loves me loves me

Oh I know that he loves me anyway

Lets here for the boy

Oh lets give the boy a hand,

Lets hear it for my baby

You gotta understand

Maybe he's no romeo but he's my loving one man show

Let's hear it for the boy!!!!