Ten Busy Things Of Thankful, More Or Less

When last we met, I had been so very, very busy that I had to do two weeks worth of thankfuls in one post.

Sooo, this week will have to be THREE weeks worth, but I PROMISE it won't be three times as long. Nobody likes me enough to read all that.

I made the commitment to do the A to Z Challenge, so part of the reason I have been too busy to take the time to write is that I have been working on my challenge posts. Okay, the writing has only taken place inside my head, but it's still preparation! 

We're getting into the busy time of year for preschool. Or maybe I should say "busiest" instead, because we're ALWAYS busy. It starts in mid-March with Big Wheel Day, an event where we set up the gym with centers to resemble a town, and the kids bring tricycles and big wheels and ride them on the "streets" of the town and visit the centers. For example, we have a bank (you get play money and a sucker), a grocery store (play grocery carts and empty food containers, such as cereal boxes and milk cartons, all cleaned and taped closed), a beauty shop, a tattoo parlor (before someone says it, of COURSE they're temporary ones), and a McDonald's. The McDonald's is a HUGE hit, because the kids pick up a pretend Happy Meal there: a "hamburger" made with a vanilla wafer bun, an oreo "burger" made from a spring Oreo (the kind with the yellow filling - cheese, get it?) and some red frosting (you guessed it - ketchup) and shoe string potatoes for the french fries. These Happy Meals are so well loved that we all have to take one home to our own kids, most of whom are graduates of the preschool. Here's one of those kids now:

Med School Boy's last Big Wheel Day
was 18 years ago....

A reporter from one of our local tv stations came to tape a segment about Big Wheel Day for that evening's news, and I was standing there, MINDING MY OWN BUSINESS, when he asked who was doing the interview, and the director said, "SHE is," pointing to me. This is how I had dressed that day, and believe me, it's not what I would have chosen had I known I was going to be interviewed:

I didn't want to see myself babbling on tv while wearing pigtails and, ironically, a Razorback hat, so I avoided the news all day. That evening, however, I got a text from a preschool mom telling me how excited her son was to see me on tv at Big Wheel Day on the news that evening. Ahh, my heart!

Got some spring going on around here! Hyacinths and daffodils have been up for a couple of weeks. The Bradford pears are blooming, the trees are budding and a few have baby leaves making an appearance, the tulips have thrown up bulging buds, and the grass is greening by the day. 

Anyone know who Chris Long is? You do?! Cool! For those of you who don't, he is a defensive end for the Philadelphia Eagles (you know, that team that won the Super Bowl this year); his dad is Howie Long, now a sports analyst for Fox Sports. I started following Chris Long on Twitter a few months ago because he's funny. The other day, he tweeted about Three Billboards in Ebbings, Missouri, and while I wouldn't ordinarily reply to a tweet from a celebrity, this one time, I did:

AND THEN THIS HAPPENED:

Rode that high for quite awhile.

This past week was Spring Break. Teachers LIVE for Spring Break, even part time preschool teachers (sometimes ESPECIALLY part time preschool teachers). My daughter and I road tripped to Nashville to spend part of the week with my best friend and her daughter. We ate entirely too much very good food and we talked and laughed more than you would think was possible. I wish Terri and I could tesser back and forth, because it's a hella long drive and we need to be able to spend more time together.

I have never been away from Nora Pearl that long before, and she was beside herself when I finally got home. 

The Med School Student came home for Spring Break as well (there's another thankful: all three of us, at three different schools in three different states, had spring break the EXACT SAME WEEK). The whole family took a quick trip to Kansas City to visit my brother and his wife. We visited the Nelson-Atkins Museum and saw the visiting Picasso exhibit and ate my favorite Kansas City pizza (and probably favorite pizza of all time). 

Saturday, my husband and I attended the March For Our Lives in Kansas City. It was FREAKING COLD, with 6,000+ in attendance, but what an uplifting, promising event! Two of my childhood friends were also in attendance, and thanks to the miracle called the interweb and me being next to the biggest tree in the entire park, we managed to find each other.

Dana (friends since we were 11) and
Teresa (friends since we were 4)

Initially, his reason for attending with me was
to make sure I didn't get arrested....

The A to Z Challenge starts ONE WEEK FROM TODAY. YIKES! Once again, I am doing a Pinterest Challenge theme, so feel free to send me interesting Pinterest pins you would like me to try to replicate. PLEASE, I BEG OF YOU! In spite of what I said in the first paragraph, I am woefully underprepared for the A to Z Challenge and need ideas! Nothing is too bizarre for me to consider! 


Linking up with Josie Two Shoes and Ten Things Of Thankful