I'm a Finalist! Vote for Me!!

I entered a photo in the "5 Minutes for Mom Summer Photo Contest" and I found out today that I'm a finalist! WOO HOO!!! There were over 400 entries and they chose 20. And I'm one of them. That's awesome.

The prize is $500. Holy cow. That would make me one happy gal. It's sponsored by Skinny Cow. Again, holy cow. Those folks make some yummy stuff.

I need you to vote for me!!! PLEASE!

Go to this link and scroll down to where you see the pictures. My picture is listed as "3GirlsMom" It's #7 and is this picture of Mary Emma hitting a softball. The theme of the contest is Summer Fun. There are some awesome pictures in the finals and I'm glad to be a part of them.

The contest will end Friday, August 29th at 3:00 PM. So you've got plenty of time to vote. Multiple times. Like a lot of times. Bunches. Daily. Hourly. Minutely. Secondly. Ok, maybe not secondly, because you DO have lives. But any of the other time spans would be nice. Thankyouverymuch.

So head on over there and vote. And next time you're in the grocery store, pick up some Skinny Cow stuff. You will be happy and your waistline will stay small. Or, in my case, your waistline won't get any larger. I consider that a success.

Oh, if there are any of you techy people who would be willing to make me a button that I can post on my sidebar that'll send people over to vote, I would be so greatly appreciative. You know, my techy skills are pretty comical. I'm impressed that I even know what a sidebar is, if that tells you anything. Sad. In return, i'll gladly quote any line from the movie Space Camp, which was my favorite movie in 1986, for you. I can still remember every line. Every single one. I'm all full of useless information like that. And since I'm thinking about it, I might or might not get out my Space Camp VHS tape and re-live the wonder that is Joaquin Phoenix (known by his earthy name, Leaf, back then) as a 12 year old geek who's best friend is a robot. Ahh, cinematography at its finest. NetFlix it.

Sniff....Clap....Yell....

I yelled.

I cheered.

I clapped.

And at the end, I bawled.

They did it.

Nice work, kiddos. We are VERY proud of you.

Wanna Get Me All Riled Up?

My dear, wonderful, amazing husband has learned it the hard way.

Don't ask me what I've been doing all day.

Just don't even go there.

Because one day I'm really going to keep a list of what I do all day and I promise it'll be about 6 pages long.

As moms, we do stuff that we can't even keep track of. We multi task like a ninja. We can do things that we don't think about and have no recollection of doing after we've done it. (That was a weird sentence.)

So far, this morning I've...
looked (unsuccessfully) for my glasses that fell off the bedside table during the night
peed (twice)
picked out school clothes
packed a lunch
packed a snack
signed a take-home folder
written a check for the school lunch account and put it in said folder
fixed breakfast for Mary Emma
fixed breakfast for Spencer
tied shoes
put paperwork for Tait's school on the front seat of my car so I'll remember to take it with me today to her school
brushed hair
taken pictures of a cool spiderweb outside
sat on front porch and waited with Mary Emma for her ride to school
kissed and hugged Mary Emma as she left for school
kissed and hugged Spencer as he left for work
read a few of my favorite blogs
commented on a couple of them
downloaded and ordered pictures from Sam's to pick up this afternoon
reviewed and updated my calendar for the week
responded to 2 emails

And all this was done by 8:05 am.

And Tait and Camille are just now waking up, so all of this was done with only one child awake.

I think that list might be more like 15 pages long. I'll be at 6 by 10 am.

So don't even go there.

I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm happy, I'm sad.....

I'm so conflicted.

Mary Emma's school has a really cool & convenient way of handling school supplies, party fees, etc. About a month before school starts, we go online and register the returning kids. We also are given a list of fees that we will need to pay throughout the year. These include PTA membership, a class t-shirt, and field trips. We also pay for Halloween, Christmas, and End-of-the-Year parties, as well as teacher gifts for teacher appreciation day, teacher's birthday, and end of the year gift (this money is put in our class account for the room mom to go shopping with). We can buy a yearbook, a school directory, and pay for the 5K fun run (I still haven't figured out what's "fun" about a 5K...whatever). We also pay a "supply fee" which buys all of our kids' school supplies. We take a check to the teacher on "meet the teacher" day and it's done. Finished. Kaput. They really don't ask for any more money throughout the year. This year it cost me a little over $200 for everything and I haven't stood in a line.

This is where I'm happy and sad. I don't have to fight lines at WalMart looking for folders with pockets and clips. I don't have to find wide ruled notebook paper instead of college ruled paper. It's nice to have it all done for me. When Mary Emma got to school this morning, her supplies were sitting on her desk waiting for her. This is her 3rd year of school and I've only bought a backpack and a lunchbox. This makes me happy.

The sad part is that I LOVE school supplies. I love love love them. I want to buy them for myself. Cool ball point pens really make me clappy. Don't even get me started about a collection of Sharpies. I could walk around an Office Depot all day long. Mary Emma loves them, too. For Christmas one year, one of her gifts was a ream of paper. She drew on every page in that ream. My dad is the same way. We all love hi-lighters, gem clips, and post-its. Oh, and White Out. I'm smiling thinking about it.

So now I've been the mom of a school-aged child for 3 years. I have never bought a school supply. It's kinda weird. Part of going back to school when I was a kid was getting that supply list and fighting the crowds before everything sold out. It's kind of a right of passage. I'm kinda sad about missing out.

Don't laugh if you see me in Office Depot later today buying a pack of #2 pencils. Just smile and silently understand.

How does your school handle supplies? Do you get to fight the line? I'm curious as to how yours works. Please divulge. I'll live vicariously through all of you who get to buy school supplies.