Another Grumbling Post

Sorry!  I realize this is two in a row.  On the positive- someone gave Sam a Valentine late.

So sweet!

But here is the real post:

So I realize that I am not very articulate.  It is not a quality I possess.  I also realize that I am not eloquent in writing (although someone better tell the AP administration about that and fire whoever gave me a 3 on my English AP exam!) But am I really that bad that people take offense at the the slightest thing? Am I really so bad that when I am trying to agree with someone they think I am disagreeing?  Am I really so bad that people completely block any interaction with me?  I have had people tell me that I ramble and make no sense.  I have been told that I shocked people with the things I said.  When rereading comments, I found nothing shocking whatsoever.  I found badly managed arguments, but those shocking bits of information that I supposedly said, were not in there.  Maybe it was the poor choices of words that distracted them and made them think I was insinuating something that I was not.  But as far as I am concerned, I have decided it's not me at all.  I am putting the blame squarely on the shoulders of social media, because this is my blog and I can say anything I want on it.  And... there you have it- the problem in a nutshell!  "This is my Twitter, Facebook Page, whatever, so I can say anything I want."  I can put out there how annoying your dog is and that you don't follow the rules of keeping him on a leash for the whole world to see, but I won't tell you face to face.  What's worse, is that people have begun to say it face to face.  The rudeness level today is unbelievable!  And people are taking offense quicker than ever too.  That's probably because of all the people talking about them and judging them right there for everyone to see, so if anything is said that might pertain to them, they flip out.  I tell you it's caused a lot of grief- almost enough for me to say- "forget it!" and cancel my Facebook page and my blog and just worry about my own family.  I know I have had to stop communicating with several people, because no matter what I say and how nicely it's said, it gets turned around.  Something positive becomes a negative and I don't even know how.  The only reason I don't cancel it all, is for those few people I hold dear whom I want to keep up with and who enrich my life.  For that, social media is a good thing and I am happy for it.  I just wish the rest of the world would use it for the same purpose!

February- How I loath thee- Let me count the ways...

#1 You are the coldest month right when I am done with being cold.
#2  Ground hog day- it makes no sense!  If the ground hog saw it's shadow, shouldn't that be a good thing?  That means the sun is out!
#3  Every 4 years you are a day longer.  Why couldn't we add that extra day to... say...July?
#4 Valentine's day- never liked it!  I was always on the outs with boys during Valentine's and for some reason my friends always forgot me too.  After Elementary school, I don't think I ever got another Valentine's, ever!  Rob must have been the same way, because now we mostly ignore the existence of it.  The only thing that keeps bring it to our minds is..
#5  Making Valentine's- Ok, this is mostly my own fault.  I can't possibly be one of those mom's that has their kid sign a boughten card and maybe stick something onto it.  Nope, I have to do something different.  I toned it down this year on account of I ran out of time, (what with the making of cake pops

 and decorating a #10 can to look like a zombie for Max's Valentine day haul)

but I still searched for the perfect Valentines cards on the internet and printed them myself.  Love these little Minions.

Joseph wanted to know why I gave him baby cards.  I explained that Minions are the height of cool and everyone likes Minions!  It helped when his older brother agreed that Minions were super cool! and..
#6  Now I have to deal with my children's emotional trauma.  Sam was the only one that came home empty handed and it made him sad.  No one remembered him at all.  Of course, he didn't give anything except some cake pops (that I tied up in the shape of flowers for teachers) to one of his teachers.  Joseph and Max got the regular haul and Joseph even got a crush gram sent to him (anonymously.)  Emma has a stalker, so she got something unwelcome from him.  Then she had to take him out of class and explain to him that she didn't like him that way.  She is a sensitive soul, so that made her cry.  She explained to us that she was just rubbing her eyes and then she was walking near onions, but we all know the truth!  The next day she learned from a friend that the stalker thought he just needed to give her a little more time.  There's nothing like Valentine's to make all of this suppressed crazy come to a head,  people feel inadequate and our children feel completely unloved!  Stupid holiday!!
Now can we move onto March already!

My kids are better than Yours

Well, we've done it- we won.  All the boys have now been given an award at school- which means mom no longer has to run up there.  Joseph was the first (a couple of months ago) and got Student of the Month.

  Max got Student of the Month, today.

 Sam decided to get 4 awards at once and not tell us about any of them.  Ok- he didn't know- and for some reason they didn't email us about Sam.  Of course he got the big award- Student of the Semester which came with a $10 gift card.

I decided to comment about us not being informed and the secretaries apologized, but assured me that I would have been one of 3 parents that did showed up for middle school awards.  I guess that's not cool to have your mom there trying to take a picture of you elbow bumping the germaphobic Principal's elbow.
Max was sad for his sister, today, that she still hasn't been awarded anything.  Poor loser sister.  Or is it loser High school that doesn't give out awards for cutest, sweetest, best darn girl in the whole school?  I'm thinking it's the latter!

What I learned on an 8th grade Field Trip

1.  8th grade is the great divider!  You have your girls that definitely have some womanly ways going on, you have your boys who have gotten their man genes up and running, and then you have everyone else- the hyperactive, silly kids.  Sam fits in with the last group, but thankfully is not the hyperactive, silly type.  I looked really close and he is starting to get a Fu Manchu mustache.  He told me he was going to grow it out, but Dad says, "oh no, we'll take care of that!"

2. Girls like Sam, but not the womanly ways girls and I am OK with that!!  He talks with the other girls and actually has a girl type friend, but he says going out with her like a girlfriend would be super awkward!

3.  Boys are different than girls.  Dad tried to tell me that a long time ago!  I'm learning Dad.  We had a 2 hour window where we had nothing to do (seriously, 2 hours!!  This teacher, I think, just likes to get out of the school!)  When we all got back together, one of the chaperones asked me what we did.  I said, "We ran up and down the tower stairs 2 1/2 times."

We were all trying to touch the netting on top, but only Sam and I could jump up and get it, so they found a little platform where they all could reach.  The baby does not belong to our group, it is just some random Elementary that came on their own field trip.  Ignore the Asian baby!

"Oh, that's right, you have boys!" She said.  Then she explained that she had a girl group and they went out to the main shopping area and shopped at H&M, and the Accessory store and the soap and lotion store.  I asked my boys if they wanted to go out onto Köngistrasse

and they asked, "what's that?"  I said, "it's the main shopping area."  "Ew, shopping?  No!"  Yep-  I had boys + one girl who has not developed womanly ways!  She was perfectly fine being put with the boys.  My calves hurt so bad for 4 days after that adventure and I now knows what's going in my workouts as a track coach (yes, I am signed up to be a track coach for the spring.)

4.  The selfie game!  You didn't even know it existed?  You are not alone.  I learned all about it and all about #selfieswithstrangers!  I don't think I won, because this is the only selfie I took that day.

If you look real hard, you can just see Jordan's (the one girl in the group, besides me)hair on the left.

5.  Boys eat a lot of food.  We left the school soon after we got there- so naturally most of them had just had breakfast not an hour before.  When we arrived at the Hauptbahnhof, the boys proceeded to get breakfast at McDonald's.  I had a hot chocolate which doesn't taste the same in Germany.  Not an hour later and they wanted to eat lunch, then it was french fries and then candy and then the lunch they brought.  Where do they put it all??

6.  Since Samuel begged me to sign up to be a chaperone, I know that my son is not ashamed of me and that is the best knowledge of all!

Out the back door

It's amazing what you can find, in a country as old as Germany, out your back door.  We went for a walk the other day and found the Hohenheim schloss, botanical gardens and exotic gardens.  The exotic gardens were gorgeous even in the winter- we can't wait to go back in the spring and have a picnic under those amazing, old trees.  In the garden there were also Roman ruins- baths, columns and temples.  This one is from a temple to Jupiter.

The schloss is now used by the university and has been since the 1800's, so most of the rooms are offices and libraries, etc.

It is still beautiful on the outside and the grounds are kept up with gardens and a vineyard.

Love that you can find those things within minutes of your own house.  We talked to someone who is almost ready to PCS and they hadn't even heard of it.  So many wonderful things just waiting to be discovered!