Leaves

A small collection of Stay-At-Home-Mom gems for today:

With our 60+ trees on .4 acres, creating a pile of leaves during October only takes five minutes. Yesterday and today, I took the leaf blower, gathered up an eighth of the front yard and had a pile big enough for a 3 year old to run and jump into. They were absolutely delighted! George always runs and jumps, landing on his knees. Thomas kneels into the pile then flops over forward, bouncing his feet behind him.

Today, some games emerged. George would be chest deep in leaves and suddenly pretend that he couldn't find his feet. Then I would find his leg and tickle down to his ankle and miraculously come up with a foot!

His right shoe kept falling off (I've finally repaired it!) and we would "loose" it in the leaves. He would kick it off sky high and laugh. Or he would be playing and suddenly realize it was gone and we'd have to look for it in the leaves. After a while he would "find" his shoe, dig a small hole in the leaves, and bury it. In mock disbelief, he would say, "oh! where is my shoe?" I would seriously bend over where I saw him bury it, find it under the surface of the leaves, and move it two feet. When he would confidently start digging right where he left it, the surprised disbelief of, "wait, where IS it?" would crack me up and then we'd try to find it again. Thomas loves these games and completely follows along, laughing at the right spots and copying our faces.

Later, Thomas walked into the pile of leaves, scooting his feet under the pile. He would stand there playing for a minute, looking around, then suddenly would look down, be shocked, and say, "FEET!!!" Thomas also loves to lay back and watch the wind in the trees.

I took a good bit of video today. Lots of sweet, silly conversation while they were goofy with leaves. They pick out pretty ones to give to me, beat the pile with a stick, and enjoy all the fluff.

This is the kind of video we'll watch when they're 17 and 15 and we've just had some knock down, drag out about standard teen stuff. That's when we'll bring out these videos.

How to cram for the big test.

First of all, stay up until 4:30 with the baby who seems to be having trouble breathing.
Get up with the toddler at 7am when he wakes his brother.
Try to have the kids play outside while I study in the garage.
Assemble notes for chapters 4, 5, and 6.
Stop the baby from pouring out his milk inside the garage.
Organize thoughts and decide what needs to be done next: make the last few note cards that I can study while playing on the floor with the kids later. 
Read some note cards out loud to the boys for my own benefit. 
Toddler takes this seriously and asks me "why, Mama, why?" does GAAP do what it does.
Review the meaning of the word irrelevant with my son.
Switch the toddler to swim trunks, and take the baby inside during water play because he's sick.
Make three note cards
"Fix the sailboat, Mama." - Fix the sailboat.
Make the last two note cards.
Ask Hubby to just stay home today, once he gets back from his overnight business trip. That way, he can watch the kids while I cram/sleep for the test. 
Fix the sailboat again, and explain that I'm not fixing it again.
Read through all note cards.
"I'm cold, Mama. Let's go in" - We go in.
Regather notes into my school bag.
Pack notecards into diaper bag, along with wallet, keys and phone. Take baby to the doctor while a friend watches the toddler.
Baby's altimeter is broken while we're waiting on the doctor and I wind up slow dancing and singing songs instead of studying my notes. Oddly some pieces of the accounting puzzle fall into place while singing nursery songs to my son.
Yup, likely pneumonia will be the result in the next few days due to the aspirated grape pulp he choked on yesterday. Take note of what criteria to look for that would scream "RUN TO THE ER" in case he gets worse. Ask doctor to write down those instructions so I don't forget them. (Yet, I forget to tell Hubby where the notes are before I leave for class.)
Back home from the doctor, feed baby lunch (toddler already ate).
Hubby's home and puts toddler down for a nap while I nurse the baby to sleep while reading note cards.
Both boys asleep.
Sit down to re-work practice problems.
Hubby and friend leave to pick up his car at the mechanic.
Ahhh quiet. Get some real progress, and/or stress about my knowledge of the material.

Work a few practice problems. 
Pounding/knocking on the back door. Jump a foot. What the schmo?
Dryer repair guy. Oh yeah. Here's the dryer (right next to my sleeping babies). Please don't wake my kids up.  (Loud clanging ensues.)
Finish two more problems (incorrectly!)
Dryer diagnosis. $$$$$  Crap. Buy a new dryer. $50 for this news. Thanks!
Work a few more problems (less-incorrectly)
Guys get home from mechanic and soon the babies wake up.
Leave the babies to the guys with advice to apply chocolate milk and the Sprout Channel to alleviate post-nap whining.
Haul study materials up to my bedroom and make some excellent progress for 90 minutes.
Take a bath and wash my hair (sooooo necessary before I'm seen in public). (The doctor's office is not public.)
A few more pieces of the accounting puzzle fall into place while shampooing my hair.
Work two more problems with this newfound knowledge and start to not be terrified of this test.
Pack it all up and drive for a hour to the school.
For once, literally for the first time, I drive directly to the campus and find the right parking lot on the first try.
Another lady in class gives me a scantron, thus freeing up 30 minutes of my time to study.
Conversation with classmates is exceptionally helpful, and I really learn one more whole chunk because his notes are written better than mine.
Go in and take the test.
No clue how successful I was. Will find out tomorrow.