Why, Hello!

So, where have I been for the past two weeks? Well, I can tell you where I haven't been...

• at Twilight in Athens yesterday, even though Chris and I really would have liked to have gone
• at the Fox seeing Dennis Leary or Gone With the Wind
• out getting tickets for Dave next weekend
• sitting on a blanket at the park playing Frisbee (which sounded fantastic for yesterday and the unbelievable weather we had)
• going to the big yard sales in Kingswood this weekend
  
• hanging out with friends Friday night

Nope. None of the above. We have been up to our eyeballs in grad school work. I am sure if you keep up with me on facebook you are tired of seeing my grad school statuses, but its true. It has consumed our lives for the past two weeks. Last Saturday I had my last EVER Saturday class! I am majorly thrilled about this, but it by no means, means that its over...yet, anyway.

Of course, because Chris and I were up to our eyeballs and functioning on very little sleep - thanks to our middle of the night screamer - our patience has been short and then the unthinkable happened. Quinn decided last week that not only was he going to be up throughout the night, but he also did not want to even attempt going to sleep. This was a crisis for us. The child who was normally sound asleep and in lala land by 6pm, to let us have a quiet dinner with the girls, spend time with them, work on homework, lesson planning and laundry, was now UP and in our living room until 9:30, 10 o'clock at night. Which one would think that at that point he would be exhausted and sleep, but no, wake up calls at 1am, 3am, 3:45am, 4:30am...You get the picture. Needless to say, I had a melt down. While crying on the phone to my mother, I said (while weeping) "I just need a shoulder to cry on." As the words came out of my mouth, Casey came down from taking a bath and plopped down on the couch. I could not get her to leave the room. When I got off the phone and was starting to head up stairs to retrieve the screaming child, Casey (very sweetly) said to me, "Mama, I can be your shoulder to cry on." Ugh! Breaks my heart just thinking about. No 7 year old should ever have reason to say this to their mother, so of course, I sobbed even harder. Big sigh. I think I am out of the running for mother of the year...and its only April.

So, my mom took all three kids for a slumber party this weekend. Chris and I were able to get lots accomplished and I am feeling much better about things now. I finished all of my internship paperwork and submitted it. I have pretty much wrapped up all of my assignments for my Instructional Design class (group meeting tonight at 9 to make sure we're good to go), and I have knocked out one of my 3 incompletes. Which leaves this - 2 more classes to finish up (which are research classes for my Applied Project on fixed v. flexible scheduling in the media center) before June 26th, which is when I have to present my project and portfolio to the faculty at UGA as an oral exam to complete my Ed.S. program. (I've decided that June 26th is not such a great day for me - last year I was sliced open and had a 9lb child yanked from my body, this year I have to stand before UGA faculty.)

And then I can live a quiet life as a mom, child chauffeur, wife, scrapbooker, reader, shopper, scrapbooker, and laundry queen.