Star of the week.

Lucas was star of the week. A complete week just for him to....to celebrate him. Secretly I was dreading it but he had been waiting since September for his week and it finally had arrived. I mean I wanted him to have it but it was so much to prepare. For Monday, I had to prepare a poster of his life with baby pictures, his favorite things and what he wants to be when he grows up. I stayed up all night the weekend before doing this poster. I wanted it to be perfect. Yes I have had since September to prepare so I shouldn't complain but of course with kids there is no time. I made the poster finally and Lucas loved it when I showed it to him (Fab didn't help, he had done the preschool poster for star of the week so he thought it was my turn.....he thought......you have to learn to pick your battles but thats another blog). Then on Tuesday he had to bring in his favorite book for the class to read. Wednesday I had to write either a letter or a short story where he was the main character (this I had to do....I am more creative in this than the Fabster......although he had some criticism but no suggestions.....you have to ..you know the drill). I spent two days really focusing on what I should write and what I should said.

It read as follows.

Do you know a superheroe ? I will tell you about our superheroe.

On 2/17/07, a superhero was born. His name is Lucas Barone. Although no one knew at the time, he had hidden powers and was going to change the world. From the moment he was born he was special to his Mommy and Daddy and soon everyone saw how magical he was, and of course how handsome he became. One of Lucas powers was his big bright sunshine smile. Greatest smile in the world. You see, Lucas smile could brighten up any room. His smile is like the sun, his rays go everywhere and everyone around him could feel the warmth and his smile makes you smile. In fact, I bet he is smiling right now and everyone in the room is warm .....and ...smiling. Do you see his magical power?

Another power Lucas has is he could run super super fast like..... Superman. You should see him playing soccer, no one can keep up with him. I bet eating all of those yummy oranges helped him run so fast or maybe he is just that fast because of his powers. Once Lucas helped his little brother Noah from a stranger. Mommy took Lucas and Noah to the mall and Noah let go of mommys hand and began talking to a stranger and Lucas quickly ran after Noah and grabbed his hand and told him not to talk to strangers and to always stay close to mommy and daddy. Lucas used his super power of running fast to help his brother.

Lucas is also super strong. He never cries when he hurts himself in the soccer field. He just gets up and doesn't quit, he keeps trying. Lucas also helps his mommy. His mommy sometimes is very sick and weak. Lucas helps his mommy by lending a hand when she can't walk. He is so strong and sometimes he holds his mommy so she won't fall. He is super strong.

Lastly, Lucas is super smart. In fact, so smart he is going to become a scientist. As a scientist he is going to make superheroes like him so there wont be any more bad people. He says that bad people will get one warning and they have to make good choices. The bad people will make the good choice to be good and everyone will be safe because of the superheroes.

Do you see how powerful this superhero is? Lucas has said that he will change the world. You know what boys and girls, I bet he is, because he is doing it right now. So next time, someone tells you that superheroes don't exist, tell them they are wrong because you know......... Lucas.
The End

This is what the teacher read to the class I also included the class names of the students in each part of the "powers" saying how each of them had the same power. One little girl said "wow lucas you do have powers you are making me smile right now". Love the innocence. Thursday was show and tell and he brought in a toy he loves (Fab helped with this....it was a hard job I bet). On Friday, it was a surprise reader which was me (Fabio had to work and it was my day off....how convenient for him) and I had to bring in snacks for all the kids. Some of them said "Mrs. Barone you only brought one snack". I was told one snack and I stuck to the rules...greedy kids.

The boys were asking some many questions...the girls were commenting on my appearance "you are very pretty Mrs Barone" "I like your top Mrs. Barone" "You are the sweetest prettiest mom". Hmm... whenever I need a pick me up I will make sure to come read a book. At the end of reading two books, all the kids were staring at me as if "what else you got". Thank God, it was lunch time.

So this star of week never existed when I was little I would have loved it. Even though I complain of the work, it was lovely to see Lucas so happy that his time had finally come. Check out the pictures below.

Praise the stay at home moms!!!

I am a working mom, I always enjoyed working.....never thought of staying home. When my boys were little I felt that they were too little to notice if I was around but as they get older I see how much they need me and how much I miss them. I am lucky enough to have a job that allows flexibility at times so I am able to be home to pick up Lucas from the bus and work back in the evening plus i also get to work from home one day a week and be able to stay home with them if they get sick. I am also lucky enough to have my parents taking care of my boys when I am working. But even with those luxuries I feel I am not 100% there for my boys. In the back of my mind even when I am picking him up from that bus stop I am still thinking about work. So last year I decided that every vacation that I will take will be the weeks that the kids have off from school. I thought it would be great quality time with them and I would not be thinking of work. I loved it. I took the Feb break off but Lucas ended up having school. I focused on potty training Noah I was exhausted by the end of the week. I didn't go anywhere focusing on the potty training. At the end of the week Fabio said "you look like a beat down woman". I was soooo tired but the results were a success. Last week was the boys spring break and I was so excited to spend quality time wih my boys. I thought it would be relaxing and fun, like the commercials that you see on TV when the mom has gotten allergy relief medicine and then starts running (looking beautiful I may add) after her children in a beautifully landscaped backyard with the grass as green as ever. I thought it would be like that but it wasn't. I did not look beautiful, kids were crying....I was crying and the grass was dead.

From 7am to 730/8pm I was with them all day. No breaks. They went everywhere I went. They followed me like paparazzi and never lost me even when I tried to escape. They had energy all day and where hungry every hour. They asked for me every half an hour and then there was whining.......crying.....pleading......beggingand screaming (from them not me....OK maybe it was me too.....don't judge me). I also was not feeling well, fighting off a cold but there were no breaks to tend to me when my two demanding boys are after me. Even our two cats where passed out by 7 pm after not being able to sleep all day from having the boys make so much noise during the day. I would take them outside in the AM and by the time we came in for lunch I just wanted to lay on the couch with my feet up but not them...they were ready for more. Then there was lunch, snack times and dinner not to mention the breakfast. I barely ate (I could have drank) and the days seemed to go by so slow and my evening to myself so fast

Their bed time is 730 for Noah and 8 for Lucas, I would stick to that schedule so that at night I could have time to myself. Don't judge me....I was dying....I needed to take a shower and focus on nothing but the TV in my bed. After the shower, I would end up passing out so I could never watch my shows. Fabio would get home from work and would want to spend every minute he could with the boys (the way I am when I work) but I needed my time. It would be 8:01 and I would give Fabio dirty looks. He was cutting into my time. I would have put then to bed at 7 if I could have but that would be mean. Every night when they were sleeping, I would go into their rooms and apologize to them,kiss them and would feel so guilty. The next day I would try harder but the exhaustion was just too much.

Although the following Monday morning my work routine began all over again I was thankful to be going back to the adult world until Noah began crying when we were leaving Lucas at the bus stop "I want to stay with mommy and Lucas all day". He broke my heart....maybe it was not that bad but then I looked at my two cats who gave me that look "send those kids to school we want to sleep".

Stay at home moms are amazing. That is the hardest job ever and I sucked at it.

Evil ghost.

There must be an evil ghost in my house. A ghost that loves to tease and gets a kick out of driving me crazy. I have tried holy water and having my house blessed but it still likes to taunt me. Do you want to know what it does? It hides my laundry. The ghost must be a man because a woman ghost would never do this to another woman. It happens like this. Every two weeks on a Thursday night I collect all of the dirty laundry from the boys rooms, my room and the bathrooms. I arranged them downstairs in colors and whites and then the following day (usually on my Friday off) I do laundry. I ask all my three boys on Friday morning to put any left out laundry by the basement door and I double check the hampers just to make sure. All clear. I do the laundry and put the clothes away. By Saturday morning I am all done and feel accomplished and like.....super mom. How do I do it? This mommy thing is so easy for me and I am the best mommy in the world. A career woman, a wife and an amazing amazing mom....how does she do it all. The evil ghost laughs. By Sunday, there is clothes all over the hampers, the laundry room and the basement door. Its that damn ghost. He is the one keeping me from being the woman I know I can be. Right? It has to be. By the end of that week I have enormous amount of laundry like I never did anything. How can this happen? I then feel unaccomplished! Damn ghost. Then my husband had an idea .......have our cleaning lady do our laundry. I love him. Take that ghost. I welcomed the idea. Ghost is probably crying now. I felt victorious again. Until.......the cleaning lady came and the washing machine stopped working along with a pipe bursting. I bet you it was the ghost. Damn ghost. Time for an exorcism.