Who's here??

This is an old story but I don't want to forget it so I am blogging about it now.

Over New Years, we were in FL visiting family. We were staying with Aaron's dad and stepmom who have a beautiful, new house. The only problem with this beautiful, new house is that the doors, for some odd reason, sometimes lock behind you when you go out. And I know this by personal experience.

The side door of the house is made of frosted glass with a pretty pattern. You can't see through the door very well unless you squint up your eyes and squish your face up to the glass, peering through the 1/4 inch "clear" glass lines that make up the pattern of door.

So, here's the story. I went out to the car to grab something. It is FREEZING (yes, freezing! Florida was super cold this January!) As I was only planning to be outside 30 seconds or less, I didn't bother to put on a coat. Well, you guessed it. I got locked out. Aaron and the boys were in the house so I knocked on the glass door. And knocked again. And again. I though, "Surely, Aaron will walk around the corner....right....now....nope" ::knock, knock, knock::

Well, guess who did come around the corner? My firstborn, Micah. He said, "MOMMY!" I said, "Micah, go get daddy!!" He runs away. "Ahh..." I thought, "Now I will get in!" LIke I said, it was FREEZING!

I wait. And wait. I decide to go around to the other side door (they apparently wanted a lot of exits out of their house) and ring the doorbell. I wait by that door. Nothing, no one. I go back to the other door and pound on it. Micah comes around the corner again. "MOMMY!" "GET DADDY!" I bellow through the glass. Off he runs again. I am wondering now if my husband has died and my twin 2 year old are running rampant through my in-laws' immaculate, beautiful, new home.

Micah does not come back. I knock. I knock again. FINALLY, squinting through those little clear lines in the glass, I see my husband make his way toward me.

Aaron: Did you lock yourself out?

Me: Um...yeah. Where were you?

Aaron: In the bathroom.

(I should have guessed)

I asked him if he had heard me knocking. The answer: No. I asked him if Micah had said, "Mommy is at the door!" Or something like that. The answer: No. Micah HAD run in and out the bathroom, repeating over and over again, "Who's here. Who's here. Who's here. Who's here."

He had heard the knock and the doorbell and was repeating the question that we ask the boys whenever someone comes to the door at our house: "Who's here?"

It's gonna getcha!

Micah as a severe phobia of bugs. Yes, bugs. Especially stink bugs that have somehow survived this horrible Virginia winter by taking up residence in my house. (FYI, stink bugs are like a small beetle). Whenever Micah sees a bug he will point and say "bug! bug! bug!" over and over again until someone does something about it. Usually Aaron will sweep it off the ceiling or wall and kill it. Micah gets very anxious while Aaron is doing this. He usually cries a lot, fearful of whether Daddy is going to be eaten by the bug.

Tonight at dinner, Micah got something on his finger (not sure what. It looked like dusty cheese. He probably found it underneath the skirt of the table or in his booster seat. Note to self: give booster a good wipe down...) He held up his dirty finger and said "bug?" Aaron, feeling mischievous, as Daddies sometimes are prone to get, said in a concerned voice, "Is it a bug?? Oh no! It's gonna getcha!"

Micah's eyes got huge. His mouth got huge. His face turned red and he burst into tears, wailing at the top of his lungs.

I, of course, chastised my husband (while choking back my laughter) and told Aaron to comfort Micah. He did. And then he asked Micah again if the bug was going to get him. More wailing ensued. And more laughter from mom and dad. We are so mean.

Here's the real kicker of the story though. We finally got Micah calmed down and then Benji decided to chime in. Not with wailing but with being a typical two-year-old: repeating his parents.

Benji: It's gonna getcha! It's gonna getcha! It's gonna getcha!

So the sibling taunting has begun.

Working Mom

It is really hard to be a working mom. People always talk about balance. I am still searching for that magic pinnacle—the point where I will be balance between home and work. I’ve heard other working moms talk about the guilt of leaving their kids when they go to work. I haven’t felt guilt per se. Just sadness and stress. I feel like I am being stretched very, very thin.

Mondays are really hard. I am gone from 7-4:30, then I have to go back to class at 5:45. When I am hope for that brief hour the boys are SO happy to see me. Benji, especially, wants me to hold him, hug him, and sit on the couch and watch Veggie Tales with him. And I need to get dinner on the table. The other Monday I was dashing back and forth from the kitchen to the couch, stirring spaghetti and sauce and then snuggling with my little son. It helped. A bit. Benji cried a lot that night. And both boys fell apart when I dashed out the door to go to class. My heart hurt. Maybe that is what the other moms mean by guilt—a heavy, hurting heart that is trying to stretch from home to work and never seems to reach.

I know (hope?) I am doing the right thing by teaching this semester. Having teaching experience will help me get a job when I graduate so that Aaron can go back to school. But, I’ve gotta say, the working mom’s load is a heavy, heavy burden. This is going to be a hard semester.

Happy Ending

So, some wonderful news. You know the kid who was so disrespectfully rude to me in the previous post? I got an e-mail from him on Sunday morning that went something like this:

“Sorry about calling you out on the reading thing on Friday. That was totally uncalled for and I apologize for that.”

And this is how I responded:

Kyle, Thanks for your apology. I really appreciate it. I marked you down in my book as my “feisty student” (JK). I look forward to seeing you Monday! Mrs. Meng

I was very surprised that he apologized. Very pleasantly surprised. It showed a lot of maturity. (I am posting this after the fact. It is actually Tues 26) When he came to class on Monday he made sure that I knew that he had read. And he got a perfect score on the reading quiz. I definitely had a proud teacher moment right there. Way to go, Kyle! And go me for sticking to my guns!

My first week of teaching...

Wednesday was my first day teaching—kind of. We just did a get to know you time and had an assessment. My first class was pretty quiet at first and I had to employ my amazing abilities of charm, sarcasm, and wit to get them talking and laughing. It worked. I had fun. My second class was pretty chatty. One student told me that the awesome thing about him was that he liked “ghosting.” It was…weird. He is unique. I had lots of theater buffs, which was pretty fun.

Friday = lots of nerves. Third official day of teaching = first real day of teaching. I went to observe Jill that morning. She is super sweet and she had some great ideas for her class, and I stole one of them for my opening.

I think I will name my first class the Squirrels. They seem a little rowdy, rambunctious, slightly annoying, chatty: Squirrelly. And they were ready for a fight on Friday. First, they didn’t read. Well, about 5 of them read. The other ones “skimmed,” “read the first sentence of each paragraph,” “what? We were supposed to read THAT essay?” Yes…..! I gave the quiz and they fussed a lot! Apparently, when I say “effeminate” it sounds like “feminine” and that completely messed them up. Go figure. So they pitched at fit about the quiz and I started second guessing how “easy” I thought it was. I have yet to grade the quiz but I am not expecting great results. Sadly. I really thought that the quiz was easy. I think it was a little harder than I thought. My second class did better but they definitely had to think.

Back to the Squirrels—I was trying to encourage them with a quote (Bloom where you’re planted) by saying that “I know that there are no English majors in this class but—“ Before I could finished, one of my students blurted out, “Who would want to be an English major?” I got a little murmur from my other students (as they knew that I, obviously, was an English major). I pretended my feelings were hurt. Eh. I get that not everyone is an English person. This student apparently really had a bad day and decided to take it out on me. I was starting to lecture all of them about how they didn’t read for class (or read carefully) and I-hate-English-Guy (obviously feeling guilty about his homework ethic) says, “Well, do YOU read every page of every book that you are assigned?” That really caught me off guard. At the moment I said, “No, I don’t. But we aren’t talking about that. We are talking about this class!” But I wish I had said, “If it is in my power to do so, YES!” But like I said, I was caught off guard. I know that there havebeen times where I haven’t read but it is usually because I don’t have time or have too much else on my plate. I really didn’t expect a student to verbally attack me on my first day of real teaching. BUT I didn’t stay down! I put on my “mom” face and gave those kids a piece of my mind—about the importance of reading for this class and for every other class they will take at LU, and the importance of reading carefully for the rest of their professional life. They were all big eyed and quiet while I marched my little 5’ 2’’ frame around the room. I hope I got my point across. Mrs. Meng can be mean. Well, not mean, FIRM. I mean business like to have fun. But I want to be respected too.

My second class went really well. Much less un-eventful as far as disrespectful students go. Most of my kids read, the quiz went well (I think) and our discussion was good. I think I will call my second class the Rabbits. They seem easily excitable but they are pretty tame…I hope. It would be horrible if they turned into the opossums later. And the squirrels turned into the skunks.

Mrs. Meng

Tomorrow I take on a new title. Yes, I know I have been Mrs. Meng for over three years but no one ever calls me that. If they do, I always giggle. It sounds so formal and...just weird. Me? A Mrs? Yes. Apparently so. But tomorrow I will be Mrs. Meng to my students. I start teaching two sections of English 101 at Liberty University tomorrow as a Graduate Assistant. EEK! I am super nervous/anxious/stressed. But I am excited too! Tomorrow is HUGE day! One of those "this is the first day of the rest of your life" days. I've been saying since I was, oh 12 or so, that I wanted to be an English teacher. Well, tomorrow, I am fulfilling that dream. Tomorrow I will answer to Mrs. Meng.

I hope I don't giggle.

Tree Hugger

We got our Christmas tree yesterday. The boys were pretty excited about it and sort of in awe. Micah, especially, had some strong feelings about the tree. When we got the tree wrapped in netting before we left, Micah started crying, saying "hurt! hurt!" We tried to explain that the tree was not hurt inside the netting.

However, the tree's "pain" was not done for the night. Micah wailed the whole time that that Aaron was sawing off the bottom of the trunk and trimming the branches. He said, "Daddy, stop! Hurt! Hurt!" Poor little guy! He was so serious! Apparently, we have a "tree-hugger" on our hands.

He has much less anxiety about the tree now that it is up and decorated. Now the fun is pushing the button that turns the lights on and off. :)

Sweet Nothings

Here are some actual adorable "conversations" we had with Benji tonight:

Aaron: Benji, are you ADD?

Benji: (immediately) Yes.

(Scene: Benji is sticking pumpkin stickers on Brittany's forehead)

Brittany: Benji, is Mommy pretty?

Benji: So pretty!!!!

I tried to get it to repeat the "so pretty" (for my own vanities' sake) but it was a one-time compliment. Hey, I'll take what I can get! It was downright adorable!!! 

Happy 2nd Birthday Micah and Benji

I cannot believe my babies are TWO! TWO???? SERIOUSLY?? I cannot believe it...wait. I just said that. But it is true. They turned TWO on October 9th. We had a great day! I hosted a "friends" party for them in the back yard. It was really a glorified play group but we had a LOT of kiddos there: 12 toddlers and 3 babies, plus all the moms! WOW!

Happy Birthday Breakfast

It was an absolutely beautiful fall day. The kids ran around, played on our slide, "mowed" the leaf pile, and played in our baby pool that was filled with plastic balls. Plus there were snacks and mini birthday cupcakes! YUM! Micah at four cupcakes himself (they were MINI, don't worry!) The boys got lots of presents too which we opened later, after the party. The thought of opening up new, exciting toys with over 10 two year olds was simply overwhelming to me, so we didn't. I hope none of my friends are too offended. I truly was sorry. 

My BIG two year olds (enjoying their cupcakes!)

Micah MAN!

My little Benji

Party bags for our friends

Borrowing some "reading" glasses from Mr. Potato Head

Birthday Snuggles with Daddy (Benji)

Micah: I love Daddy

We had sloppy joes for dinner that night, which is Aaron's favorite (and requested) birthday meal. The boys LOVE sloppy joes too! It must be a Meng-man thing. :) 

We opened presents after dinner and the boys had lots of fun playing with new cars, trucks, Mr. Potato Heads, books, etc from all their friends. I had been buying them toys all week (and the week before that!) and was too impatient to make them wait until their birthday to open them, so there were no presents from Mommy and Daddy for the boys to open on their birthday, but I don't think they were missed. We now have TONS of new toys! AK! I feel like I need to "purge" some of their old toys to make room for the new....

That night, we put the boys to bed at 8pm, a little later than their normal 7:30 bedtime. Micah had taken a super long nap that afternoon (12:30-5pm!!!) and was still awake at 9:30. He was crying a bit so we went in to check on him. He said HI!!!! We got him up and he played, just as sweet as could be, until 11:30pm!! He was so happy and good though, we just let him stay up. Hey, it was his birthday after all! Around 10:30 (a little irritated, I must admit) I said, "Micah! Why are you still awake??" He looked at me, held up one his four wheeled birthday presents and said, "Cars!" Of course, Mommy! I am awake because of cars! We laughed. We should have known. 

I love my babies so much! Yes, they are still my babies, even though they are two. Seriously, how can it have been two years already. At the risk of sounding cliche, time flies way too fast, especially when you are having fun. Happy Birthday Precious Micah! Happy Birthday Sweet Benjamin! You are SO loved! 

PS. When we ask the boys, "How old are you?" They say, TWO!!! So cute!! I love it!

Buttercup Bags

So, I have been complaining about having NO FREE TIME! WOE IS ME! I am actually a lier. I have carved out a little free time to do some sewing. I call it my Sanity Sewing Break. I found this adorable little bag pattern on Arin Rollins sewing blog. Her blog led me Made by Rae. Here I am, giving you the links, dear reader. But most of you who read this blog are related to me. Here is my warning: DO NOT GO TO THESE LINKS, PRINT THE PATTERN AND MAKE YOUR OWN BUTTERCUP BAG (at least not until after Christmas, wink wink!)

Anyways, I LOVE sewing these bags! They are super fun and quick! I had the great idea (if I do say so myself!) of trying to sew the bags out of recycled material, aka old clothes from Goodwill! So far, I have sewed several bags out of curtains, pants, and two ladies blazers! They have turned out amazing! I have even sold two purses! YEA! If YOU, dear reader, are NOT related to me, and would like to buy a bag, I have some for sale. Here is the break down of prices:

Small: (date night bag or purse for a little girl) $15

Medium: $17.50

Large: (this is a great purse size. I am toting one around myself these days!) $20

If you provide your own material, I can make any size bag for $12

Here are some pics. Enjoy! 

This purse is made out of curtains! I made one for myself and for a friend of mine. I still have tons of material left if you like this look!

I love this combo! My sis in law as already claimed this purse...sorry...

My "upcycling" process: Before...

AFTER! This purse went to my BFF Candace for her birthday

My very first Buttercup bag! This is a Small.