It's Working!

travel+travel+travel+travel+travel

travel+travel+travel+travel+travel

People comment to Joey and I all the time how good this life is that we're living right now, mostly for the kids.  We've experienced this first hand as we watch them soak up history lessons at the Vatican with cousins or ski in the alps with close friends.  It's really exciting sometimes to think about all they're experiencing at such a young age. But I often wonder if THEY know how cool it is or if are REALLY absorbing what we're serving them.

It wasn't all that big of a deal but I felt a little payback a few times over the last couple of weeks, a little restitution, and maybe even a little gratitude from the kids themselves.

For starters, when Juliet and I stopped by the kids school during recess the other day (we do this almost every day because I pick up Juliet from her school across the street at 1pm, just as Georgie and Isaac are coming out for recess )I spied Georgie and a small group of girls in a tiny huddle, engrossed in a very serious conversation, one that Georgie seemed to be in charge of.  When they saw me coming a few of them very somberly announced us to Georgie.  They were very dramatic about their seriousness;)  When Georgie arrived to meet me at the gate she was quite sullen.  "Today is the anniversary of World War II."  I was confused?  What anniversary?  But there was no time for the questions, she cut to the chase.  "You know, the one with the concentration camps.  We're learning about that today and Jenifer ( a girl in her class) started laughing.  I got really mad at her and told her that she shouldn't laugh because it is VERY sad.  I am telling all the girls about Dachau..you know, how we went in the real room where they...you know, the burning."  She went on to telling me more about all that she told them.  As we talked all the other girls stood at the gate with drawn looks on their faces.  It was kind of funny, actually, all the drama they were getting off of it. But as I drove home and thought about what had just happened I realized that this traveling was paying off.  She remembers places like Dachau and they mean something to her. It's working!

This week we've been working on Thank you notes.  IN Isaacs note to Gaga and Papa he wrote goodbye in 5 different languages, completely of his own accord.  On a smaller scale, that was pretty cool.  ANd when I took him out to lunch for his half birthday the chef, a sort of friend of ours, came out with a "mystery" puree as an appetizer.  He wanted us to guess what it was.  I was completely perplexed...I had no idea but I was thoroughly enjoying it.  It had a mysterious savoriness but a familiar bite that I couldn't quite put my fingers on.  After several seconds of mulling it around on his tongue, Isaac announced, "It's fennel."  Darned if it wasn't!  I was so proud!  

Anyway, with all this money we're throwing down, all the things we're NOT doing so that we CAN live here and travel, sometimes I wonder if we're just telling ourselves its good for them because Joey and I like it so much.  In the end, I feel pretty confident, this is the peak of our lives (mine and Joeys:)  But hopefully not theres!  Not to end cheesily or anything, but in all seriousness, I hope this is just the beginning of their international lives!  

xoxo

Ash

A Georgie Day

Today was a Georgie kind of day so I'll feature all the Georgie action in the following photos!

Every morning that we're home and the neighbors are out working in their beautiful garden (at least 3 days a week) Georgie runs straight out after breakfast, often in her bare feet and PJ's, to work at their side.  This morning Bruno was harvesting potatoes, he raked them up and she sat on her knees and plopped them in a bucket.

They always send her home with something...a cucumber, some tomatoes, lettuces etc.  This morning we got a bucket of freshly dug potatoes:

Bruno said these potatoes are for making patate fritte/fried potatoes.  A couple of weeks ago they harvested little tiny white ones that they store and use throughout the winter in soups etc.  They grow enough to feed the family for the entire winter.  So freaking cool!  And not at all rare around here.  I have been meaning to make a note to myself about how and what they planted this year.  In the bed pictured above they planted one half potatoes and one half green beans in early May.  As they've harvested the potatoes (late July/early August) they've been putting in red and white cabbage.  The green beans are still producing so they haven't pulled those up yet. 

A years worth of food lives, waiting to be plucked.

Zucchini, chard, lettuces, leeks, cucumber, pumpkins, peppers, and tomatoes..ahhh the tons of tomatoes!  Georgie loves being out here with them, chatting it up in Italian!  I wonder sometimes if she is bugging them but they seem to love having her which is adorably nice of an older Italian gardening couple. Juliet joins most of the time too.  Bruno gets a kick out of just watching her toddle around, curls bouncing.  I can tell he really likes both of them.  He has a contagious, cheery laugh and smile...almost enough to make me want to study Italian so I can chat it up with him too;)

This evening Georgie and I went on a "private" date.    

We played BINGO on base!  It was really edge of your seat fun!  We both want to go again, for sure.  Afterward Georgie said, "Can we figure out somewhere else to go because I don't want this night to end!"  Well if that didnt' melt my heart!!  She suggested going for a walk.  She talked my ear off while simultaneously wanting to stamp everything she saw with the pink BINGO stamper.  I reminded her that doing so was called Graffiti at which point we discussed how boring it was to be good all the time.  "Naughty things are fun!" she said, "until you get caught!"  We determined that in the end...it wasn't worth it! (Phew!!)

And who ends a date in Italy without gelato?  Not us!  Georgie chose the "Red Love" Sundae which was a grapefruit sized myriad of pink flavors stuffed into a cone then piled with whipped cream.  

She ended up eating half my strawberry granita while I finished off her gelato.  

She makes me fat:

 

I love this girl.  

She's growing up and I want to squeeze her for it!  

She is such a cute girl with unique passions, thoughts and interests.  

I am proud to be her Mom.

I love you my Georgie girl!

xoxo

Scuola Italiana

In all of our preparations to come here there was only one thing we were really concerned about, and that was Italian school.  Should we send them, should we not, should we hold them back, how will they deal with the stress, will they get a good education, is the stress worth knowing the Italian language (a somewhat useless one) and on and on and on.  But we came and we asked around and we considered and came to the conclusion that, yes, with all the information we have and a long term vision in mind, we do want to send them to Italian school.

There have been a lot of nay sayers.  We've had Americans here telling us that Italian kids are mean, aggressive bullies that hit a lot and the teachers do nothing about it.  We've had them tell us that the teachers here are cold and that they don't care about our kids because they know that they are not going to be here for very long.  We've had Americans tell us that the teachers will refuse to speak any English to us, as parents, or our children in school and that they are very unhelpful.  But we also, thankfully, spoke with other parents who opted to put their children in Italian school and heard their votes of confidence.  One friend eased my mind by telling me how quickly her children picked up the language and dispelling the idea that Italian teachers don't care about bullying and physical abuse.  She did have one experience with a kid teasing her son and the teacher nipped it in the bud within one day.  That kid and her son are now best friends. Another woman who has been here for 8 years, told me all about the kind of education system here, how they teach (she has been quite impressed), their emphasis on science, things out of doors and unique field trips, the art of school lunches and some of the downfalls to Italian education, like their lack of technology/computer experience.  She is a teacher herself and says that when she goes back to work, if at all possible in the American School system she is going to teach students to read the way Italians do.  In the end we chose to really focus on the information from those that actually attended the schools mostly because, I think, it's what we wanted to hear.  In our minds and hearts we had made our decision and felt like even if all of what the naysayers had to say were true, the pros out weighed the cons.  Here are a few of our pros:

Our children will be exposed in a day to day way to a new culture, a different (albeit slight) way of thinking that Joey and I could never give to them otherwise and an experience in Italy that without attending school here, they could never have.  They will learn another language, which, embarrassingly is so rare in the United States (uhh hmm, a big plus for serving mission isn't it?!) which, even though this is huge, it really isn't my #1 reason for sending them.  With our kids in the Italian school system we will meet families in our immediate community, hopefully make long term friends across the globe and make the difference between a good experience here and an exceptional one.  They will make friends that live across the street rather than 45 minutes away (Americans here are really spread out).  They will know what it feels like to be a fish out of water and develop compassion for foreigners in the states.  The bottom line is, really that we're living in Italy.  Why keep ourselves and our children in the comfortable protection of the US bubble when we're here...in freaking Italy!  We have an opportunity and I can't imagine, especially now that we've made it through the first couple of day, why on earth we wouldn't want to take it.

The kids came home today, their second day of Italian school, with bright eyes and big smiles spread across their faces.  The kids in school are asking for their autographs!  Ha!!  On the play ground, Isaac and Georgie play together and italian kid after Italian kid approaches them wanting to know where they are from and what their names are.  They feel like superstars.  The teachers are every bit of warm and fuzzy and speak all kinds of English to us, as much as they can, frequently apologizing that they can't speak more (what they do speak is plenty sufficient).  They joke with kids, hug the kids and make rules that "they must wear a smile";).  Isaacs new friend, our neighbor, I thought just might be a bit of an exclusionist (big title for a 7 year old, no;) and I actually worried about it much of the morning while they were away today, after I'd met the boy for the first time.  He wore a subtle mohawk, is really handsome and seemed to have a little posse of giggling boys that surrounded him. But the second thing Isaac said when he got off the bus, with wide eyes of surprise, was "Alessandra is soooo nice.  He helped me a lot, asked me to sit by him and gave me his notebook to use because I didn't have one."   The experience, thus far, has been encouraging in every way.

I realize that bumps are before us.  That there will be crying fits over homework and mornings of resisting school over cold cereal.  It will be hard for them to face day after day of expectation dashed with confusion and, sometimes, failure.  But this too shall pass.  And when it does I think the kids will have a really, really great gift that will last a lifetime in the way most gifts do not.  I am grateful for this experience.

Georgie

We were driving home from Houston yesterday, doing our road trip thing.  The kids were watching their movie, way in the back of our mini-van while I drove, always dangerously multi-tasking, in the drivers seat.  I heard Georgie from the back somewhat urgently say:

"Mom, I need to tell you something."
"What's up Georgie."
"I thought that I felt my 15 year molars in my mouth but I reached back there and it was just a goldfish."

"???" and after a few seconds of that, I laughed.  Georgie, you're so wierd!

xoxo
Mom

By the way, we're moving to Italy.....

Lost a piece of Baby

Georgie bit into an apple last week and lost a piece of her childhood:

her first little baby tooth!

(It's hard to tell because the big tooth has already started coming in behind it.)

They have a history together, those two.  Together they've chewed mountains of goldfish, tons of salad (especially the croutons), gobs of chewing gum and loved candy of all stripes.  Georgie's natural inclination for foods is carbs and sweets but she redeems herself from time to time with her love of salad and broccoli, and her earnest attention toward "trying to be healthy" (her words).  We're hoping that this carby inclination is this tooths fault...and maybe it died off when he did;)  

The tooth fairly came and left her $5.00 for her first tooth.  She gave strict instructions that she was not to buy candy with it!!

xoxo

Mom

Ruth

Ruth:

 The last time Ruth came over for dinner I made grilled cheese.  She's that kind of guest;)  While I was cooking them off in my own little world I turned around to see she and the girls totally entertaining themselves.  Ruth was letting Georgie put her Barbie make-up all over her face.

 And Juliet did her part on Ruth's sweatshirt.  Ruth's a treasure.  How much we will miss her!!

And one cute photo of ratty hair and fistfuls of oatmeal for good measure;)

xoxo

A Letter From Sparkle, Our Elf On The Shelf

Dear Merback Family

YOU’RE LEAVING ME TODAY!  HOW EXCITING TO BE ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO YOUR PARK CITY CABIN!  I WILL MISS YOU ALL, EXCEPT FOR YOUR DAD WHO I AM GOING TO STAY HERE TO HANG OUT WITH.  I’LL HIDE SOMEWHERE WHERE I CAN WATCH ALL OF HIS MOVIES!!  I LOVE MOVIES!

IT WAS ANOTHER GREAT YEAR, WATCHING YOU FROM AFAR AND A GREAT MONTH WATCHING YOU CLOSE.  BOY YOU HAVE BOTH GROWN UP SO MUCH.  I CAN’T BELIEVE HOW TALL GEORGIE HAS GOTTEN AND HOW MUCH ISAAC HAS LEARNED.  AND JULIET IS SO CUTE;)  SOME OF MY OTHER ELF FRIENDS WISH THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO YOUR HOUSE BECAUSE THEY THINK MY KIDS ARE SO COOL!!  AND THEY’RE RIGHT.  I SPEND MY MONTH WITH SOME PRETTY COOL KIDS.

ISAAC, YOU ARE SO SMART.  I LOVE WATCHING YOUR FACE WHILE YOU READ.  YOU’RE SO INVOLVED WITH WHAT YOU ARE READING.  KEEP IT UP.  BOOKS ARE THE KEY THAT OPENS UP THE ENTIRE WORLD.  KEEP WRITING YOUR OWN STORIES, TOO.  YOU HAVE STORIES TO TELL.  AND YOU LOVE YOUR SISTERS.  I CAN TELL THAT YOU REALLY CARE ABOUT THEM.  I HOPE THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS STAY CLOSE TO THEM BECAUSE THEY CAN BE YOUR BEST FRIENDS.  YOU ARE ALSO A VERY THOUGHTFUL BOY.  WHEN YOUR MOM WAS SICK, AFTER THE REST OF THE HOUSE HAD COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN THAT SHE EVER FELT BADLY, YOU REMEMBERED AND ASKED HER HOW SHE WAS FEELING THE NEXT DAY.  I WAS VERY IMPRESSED.  7 YEAR OLD BOYS DON’T DO THAT!  BUT YOU DO, ISAAC! 

GEORGIE, YOU REALLY ARE 5 ½!  AND SOMETIMES YOU SEEM LIKE YOU ARE 6!  I’VE RARELY SEEN A CHILD SO HAPPY AND SO COMFORTABLE WITH WHO SHE IS.  YOU REALLY LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, YOUR MIND, YOUR FEELINGS AND AREN’T AFRAID TO SHARE WHAT THEY ARE TELLING YOU.  KEEP LISTENING AND BEING PROUD OF ALL THAT YOU ARE.  I LOVE WATCHING YOU FORGIVE OTHERS.  NOTHING CAN KEEP YOU DOWN FOR LONG.  YOU’RE ALWAYS READY TO LOVE EVERYBODY, NO MATTER WHAT AND YOU’RE ALWAYS READY TO LAUGH.  AND YOU WANT SO MUCH TO BE OF HELP TO YOUR FAMILY.  DON’T WORRY IF SOMETIMES YOU BREAK THINGS.  YOU’LL GET BETTER AS YOU GET OLDER.  JUST KEEP BEING HELPFUL…IT’S GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL!   

JULIET, YOU ARE CUTE.  THERE AREN’T MANY BABIES CUTER.  I CAN TELL THAT YOU ARE GOING TO BE SMART AND MAYBE EVEN WISE.  TIME WILL TELL.  YOUR FAMILY LOVES YOU.  YOU ARE ONE LUCKY LITTLE GIRL. 

IT’S HARD FOR ME TO SAY GOODBYE TO YOU, KNOWING THAT I WON’T SEE YOU FOR ALMOST AN ENTIRE YEAR.  BUT YOU ARE ALWAYS WITH ME.  ALL YEAR LONG AS I PLAY WITH REINDEER AND PREPARE FOR CHRISTMAS I THINK OF MY DECEMBER FAMILY, THE MERBACKS.  I HOPE THAT YOU KNOW THAT AND THINK OF ME FROM TIME TO TIME TOO.  I’LL BE HAPPY TO SEE YOU AGAIN IN ITALY.  I’VE NEVER BEEN THERE AND SANTA HAS TOLD ME HOW LUCKY I AM TO HAVE A FAMILY FROM AMERICA THAT GETS TO LIVE IN ITALY FOR A WHILE.  HE SAYS THOSE ARE TWO OF HIS MOST FAVORITE COUNTRIES IN THE WORLD.  I LOVE YOU ALL.  MAY CHRISTMAS BE WITH YOU ALL THROUGHOUT THE YEAR!!  BUON NATALE

    i

  Sparkle

Georgie

First of all, Georgie is training wheel free...has been for a few weeks now.  And she's pretty proud:

Here she is with the man who helped her with the job, 

and her sister who always tries to steal the show:

 Joey had to push Georgie quite a bit to get her out there initially.  Every Friday, Saturday and Sunday that we were in town over the course of a couple of months he worked with her for a couple of hours.  She was scared, didn't want to do, was happy with her training wheels yada, yada, yada but she actually made the switch fairly easily.  

 She still prefers her scooter but at least she knows she can do it.  I love this picture;)

She also had her Kindergarten program recently.  Sunset has an annual Chili Supper where the Kindergartners sing for entertainment.  It was pretty cute;)

 I had Georgie's hair pulled back in two cute pigtails for the performance, out of her face so that we could see her singing face.  As they marched onto the bleacher/ platform she decided that she wanted l it down.  Okay, whatever, no biggie.  But, in the middle of the performance she starts flipping her hair/head upside down and flinging it back again quickly over and over and over again....I couldn't stop laughing at her...I didn't know if I should be proud at how cute she was or totally embarrassed at how WIERD!!  

This is Georgie's latest hobby:

 She has a Tangled wig with a braid that extends to the back of her knees.  But that's not long enough for her.  She ties scarves, belts, blankets, ribbons, whatever she can find to the end of it so that her hair trails all through the house.  This is her favorite toy.

Lastly, here are a few shots of Georgie's first fall party.  Juliet and I went to hang out and bring cookies.  

YAY for OU!!  (I had no idea that Georgie even knew what OU was!!)

Joey's Tri Weekend

Our 2/3 Iron-Man

Last year, Joey did his first half Iron Man at an event called the RedMan in Oklahoma City.  He was made aware while there that doing a full distance Aqua Bike is also an option at this event.  Baring a hatred for running as he does Joey knew that he had to sieze this oh so rare opportunity and sign himself up.  So here we are, late September one year later for another Tri weekend in Oklahoma City for Joey to do his Full-IronMan-minus-the-run Triathlon.  That's a 2.4 mile swim and a 112 mile bike.  Pretty impressive if you ask me!

The kids and I dropped him off at the start around 6:30 am and then headed back to the hotel for some more Z's.  We got back in time to catch him coming out of the water (above) and then we headed back to the hotel for yet another nap and then to do some shopping (TARGET!!).  

Here they are waiting for Daddy to finish up his bike.

Tiger Jump Castle to entertain all the athlete's children...cool!

and done...6 hours later.  

According to him he felt pretty miserable at the end but we couldn't tell it.  I think he was definitely glad to have it over with since it seemed to cause a lot of stress for him these last few weeks.  But we were all so proud.

The next day we headed over to the Oklahoma City Memorial and Museum which was a beautiful and touching experience.  This museum is so well done.  If you ever have the chance to see it, please do.  What a tragic tragic event.

The glass chairs, memorializing all who were killed.  168 people, 19 of them children.

They had a kids area there were children are encouraged to write messages in sidewalk chalk.  I love Isaacs!!  So cute;)  If you can't tell, thats a heart with the state of Oklahoma inside and the heart is broken. 

This is Georgie's version of a tiger.  

This was her drawing that she did before she got wind of Isaacs less abstract pictures.  I wish I knew some handwriting analyst that could tell me something about the adult that she'll become by analyzing these bazaar nonsensical drawings that she does ALL the time.  I've never seen a kid draw like this.  Let's just hope its doesn't reveal her to be a mass murderer or something...but that's off topic.  Sorry.

I love this picture of him...shows off his great trademark smile;)

And this is Isaacs second drawing, also very sweet.  It's a hand and each of the fingers "represent something", he told me.

Be Nice

Follow Your Heart

Be Helpful

Care

and lastly,

Have Love

And that about sums up Isaacs heart! 

 Love that boy!

On the outside of the memorial was this chain link fence where people can hang momentos.  There were some tragic things hanging up there.  I was particularly touched by a series of poems that a father wrote to his 24 year old daughter who had died in the bombing.  Her picture was there in the middle of a Christmas wreath.  That had me in tears.  

Anyway, Congrats lover (Joey)!  Thanks for giving cause for a great weekend in "the City"!

xoxo

The First Day of School

Today, August 16, 2011

Georgie started 

KINDERGARTEN:

and

Isaac began

SECOND GRADE:

The overall mood was one of anticipation. 

 Isaac woke up saying he was excited and added later, as we pulled up to school, 

that he was a little bit nervous.  

Georgie never really seemed sad or scared.  She took it all in stride.  She was just fine when I left her in line outside of the school.  See that cute smile?!

Juliet ran back to say goodbye to her.  It was pretty cute!

Our cute little Kindergartner! (Gaga wanted to see her full outfit, i.e., the belt;)

After seeing Georgie off we moved on to get Isaac to class.  

He was so cute walking down the hall, saying hi to all his classmates from last year.  We've really been working on being friendly and I was glad to see his effort!

After about 2 minutes in the classroom he totally forgot about me standing over at the door.  I couldn't even get his attention to say goodbye.
He was ready!

At the end of the day Isaac came home feeling like it had been a good day.  He said he worked hard at making new friends in his new class by joking around with the other kids and splashing two of them with water in the bathroom.  One of the two kids didn't think it was funny and he got tattled on.  "But I was just teasing him to make a new friend.  That's what you told me to do Mom."  He's right, I did.  My bad.  I told him that we should change the word from teasing to 'Joking around with'...that word is a better description of how to make a new friend.

Georgie didn't have too much to say.  I think she was tired.  I pestered her with questions but I could tell she didn't feel like talking.  A few hours later she opened up to me a little bit more.  She played with Samantha on the playground and she told me that at the end of recess she noticed that a little girl from her class, Avery, was playing alone so she went and asked her to play with them.  She told Gaga that the only disappointing thing about the day was that she didn't get any homework!  She also told me that some of the kids' moms work at Sunset and it made her sad that they got to see their moms at school and she did not.  I'm find with that sadness;)  She loves me;)

We are so excited about both of the teachers the kids got this year.  Both of them have been teacher of the year a few times and Georgie's teacher is the same one that Isaac had in Kindergarten, Mrs. Madl, and we loved her.  Mrs. Richeson, Isaacs teacher is a bundle of energy who steps out of the box with her approach to teaching.  We feel really lucky to have them both!  It's going to be a great year!

xoxo

An Epic Summer Day

While our neighbors were out of town this summer they invited us to use their trampoline in exchange for watering their back yard.  Since we've always wished we had a trampoline, this was not at all a problem for us!  In fact, it was an opportunity!  The kids absolutely loved running across the street, hopping over their fence and setting up the hose on top or underneath the tramp for hours of jumping fun in 100+ degree heat.  

As a Mom in the summer time with big kids, a baby and a home to take care of, nurture, entertain, teach, clean, feed, discipline, etc. I often find myself mourning the fact that I don't have more time for FUN with my kids.   I resent having to getting angry with them and I feel guilty about the fact that sometimes, when I do have a minute to spare I'd rather spend it alone than with little people that have been all up in my personal space all day long.  The role I play seems to be too much of, "stop this, do that, no!, clean up, go to time out, no TV for a week" and on and on and on!!  One Saturday morning after a run I suggested that the kids go jump on the trampoline and as always, they asked me to come with them.  Hmmm...well... Juliet was sleeping, Joey was doing the laundry, I was already hot and sweaty and we weren't having anyone over for dinner that night so...why not!  So I went.  I'm so glad I did.  I wish their had been a video camera in the sky somewhere that no one in the world could watch but the kids and I someday in the future.  We laughed so hard that we couldn't catch our breath.  I was being a complete loony person out there, all of us scantily clothed, drenched with water and squinting from the bright sun.    

 We came up with characters on wierd whims like "Wild Nellie" and "Crazy Bill" and we played those parts, shooting each other with water and slipping all over the place.  It's hard to explain and best for our image as sane people that I not explain it in much detail...but it was pretty epic.  The kids kept saying to me over and over again, "This is so fun, Mom!  We're having so much fun together;)"  I kept thinking to myself, "I hope I always remember what this feels like, right now and I hope that they remember me....like this."  I hope that when I'm frustrated or angry over the course of the next year that this fun time we're having together will carry over and soften their little hearts toward understanding and forgiveness.  I hope this epic summer day carries on.  

The dual role that I have to play as a Mom, both disciplinarian, teacher, and example of so many things while simultaneously being a joyous influence in the home and trying to make our house a peaceful place for my family to be has been tricky for me.  I've always hated putting people out, asking for help, or demanding a lot of sacrifice from my friends.  The same has applied to my children as well.  I do it...but I always feel torn up inside about it.  I feel this pressure to always keep my cool, never upset them and make sure that everyone is always happy!  I want so much for them to like me!  I think the view I had in the beginning of my adult life of what I would be like as a mother was unrealistic.  I didn't think I would ever have to be the bad guy.  I believe strongly in giving kids boundaries, a lot of responsibility and allowing (or instigating;) natural consequences to occur as a result of their behavior.  But I didn't take into account how regularly I would feel grumpy, how strong their individual personalities would be or how much kids don't understand about the world and why they have to learn certain lessons.  I remember my Mom saying, "You're can't be your kids best friend."  I'm still working on really accepting that part of my job and its fun experiences like this one, actually, that help me to see that both can be done and both are equally important. 

 It's about finding that balance and accepting that there has to be both sides.   For me, as I accept that, the more gracefully I handle those tricky, grumpy situations because I don't feel the pressure to be or keep everyone "happy".  It's just not realistic.

There has to be both the wise, sometimes stern, teaching Mom that you respect and the friend Mom that you can let your guard down with from time to time.  

It's a tough job but somebody has to do it...I'm glad its me.  Isaac, Georgie and Juliet are like little Zen masters, enlarging me every single day.  And that's what its all about! 

xoxo